Although Uckers is often played on a Ludo board a true Uckers board is a mirror image so the red and green squares are presented to the player facing them in the correct Naval manner, i.e. red to port and green to
starboard. The game is played by either two or four people, if there are two people playing then each player takes two opposite colours, yellow and red vs green and blue or on a true Uckers board, green and yellow vs red and blue. If there are four players then the players opposite each other become partners, so Yellow partners with Red, and Green partners with Blue or on a true Uckers board, green partners with yellow, and red partners with blue. To travel around the board two
dice are thrown, players moving the amount shown on the dice, a six permitting an extra turn. To see who goes first each player throws the dice and whoever throws the highest starts. Some rules have evolved for the throwing of dice including no rolling of the dice from an open palm (Waterfall Technique), only tossing using the fingers. However, these are not used universally. If the dice leave the board, the IPS (International Playing Surface), accompanied by the call of "off the IPS" three times within the game this can be punished by losing the go up to all pieces home depending on which rules are being played. Unless the opponents deem it to have been done on purpose (for example to avoided moving a blob or mixing) then they may permit a re-roll. No dice rigging (no setting both sides to sixes and picking them up. Dice must be picked up as they landed during the previous throw). In order to exit the player's base it is necessary for a six to be thrown, which results in putting a piece on the coloured square joining the base known as the
doorstep. However, if on the very first throw
snake eyes (two ones) is thrown then all player (possibly partner's depending on which rules) pieces come out of the base onto the doorsteps—known as
out all bits. Play then continues with the next player. If on rolling snake eyes on the first throw a player again throws snake eyes on their second throw all of their pieces return to the base. Under WAFU Rules, a player must call "snake eyes" prior to his first roll to benefit from rolling two "ones". He cannot do this retrospectively. If playing with a partner, then only his pieces come out not his partners. A throw can be split up into the two separate numbers so it is possible to move two different pieces as in
backgammon. However, unlike
backgammon if a player is moving only a single piece, then they must move it the sum of the two dice rather than moving the value of the first die and then moving the value of the second die. If a player's piece lands on a square with an opponent's piece, then, as in Ludo, that piece is sent back to the opponent's base. If a piece lands on a square with a playing piece of the same colour then this is known as a
blob and is basically a barrier. An opposing piece is not allowed to jump over them, but friendly pieces can. The two ways an opposing piece can get by a blob is to destroy it, or by using an adjacent friendly blob to jump over it. A player can destroy the barrier by landing on an opponent's blob with a blob of their own or to
six the blob off. To do this they will need to have a playing piece adjacent to the blob and then on their turn throw X + 1 six where X = the number of playing pieces forming the blob. Note that if the blob is on its own colour doorstep, then an additional six (i.e. X + 2 sixes) must be thrown to remove the blob and exit the homebase. If one succeeds in knocking the blob off, then the single playing piece used to attack the blob is moved to the square that the blob was on and the pieces forming the blob are returned to the base. Play then continues to the next player. If a player's piece lands on a square with a playing piece that belongs to their partner or is their other colour, then this is called a
mixi blob (or a
mixed barrier). Unlike blobs, a mixi blob is equivalent to a single playing piece so the opponent can land on the square and send all the playing bits back to their relevant bases. The opponent can pass over a friendly mixi blob as it provides no barrier to movement; a blob may not be attacked by a piece from an adjacent opposing mixi blob. As in Ludo, one does need to roll the exact number of spaces left to get home, and if a player's pieces are in the tube (or
pipe, though the Navy uses blunter terminology) then they cannot be attacked unless they are playing
WAFU rules by invoking the "suckback" or "blowback" procedure. If playing with a partner and all their pieces get home first, then they can continue rolling in the hopes of getting a six. If they do roll a six, then, on their next turn, they can then roll for and move their partner's pieces as well. However, remaining pieces cannot be moved by the partner once they are in the tube. WAFU rules also require an exact out, not just a number in excess of that required to take the piece home. A player can either move normally or attack (or
six) a blob. A piece cannot be moved next to a blob and then, on the same go, attack it. If only one die value is able to be played, the higher value must always take preference. If a player(team) has all his pieces sent home as following the loss of an 8-piece mixi blob, he has been subject to an "8-piece dicking". == Advanced rules ==