I used to play board games in America, usually Monopoly, chess, or checkers, and other stuff like that. When we came to live with Tariq's family I was introduced to Ludo. Tariq and his brother and sisters(and every one in his huge extended family) can play this game for hours on end without getting bored. One of his sisters is a real Ludo expert. It is very difficult to win against her, today alone I lost six games in a row!
This is our Ludo board, Tariq and I found it in a local market, I think it was 50PKR,(less than one USD). Very inexpensive, and tons of fun. We play with some variations, like instead of one die we use two, and we can only come out of the "house" by rolling a six(some people allow you to come out on a one also). If you roll double sixes you get another turn and also if you hit another player that's an extra turn.
It is a lot of fun and one of our main forms of entertainment during load shedding times. The only problem now is that Saad is just getting old enough to want to play himself or "help" mama and daddy to play. It is cute, but it can be a bit frustrating when he rolls the dice and they get lost under the sofa, or throws a temper tantrum and one of the gollees(round playing pieces) flies under the showcase. We are looking around for a simpler type of game that he can learn more easily, so we can all play together.
Here is the Wiki on Ludo, in case you don't play and want to read more.
