Onboarding project | Ludo King

📄

Onboarding project | Ludo King

Ideal Customer Profile

Before jumping into the Ideal Customer Personas ( ICPs ) let's quickly understand the product at one glance:

🔎 Background+ Reason for selection:

What is Ludo King? 🤔

Ludo King is a digital version of the classic board game Ludo, available on mobile devices (iOS and Android) and PC. The objective of the game is to move all four tokens from start to "Home" before opponents.

Is it a big deal? 🤔

A very very big deal !!! Take a look at its stats :

- 1B+ downloads on Google Play Store
- Consistently ranked among the top casual games on Android and iOS.
- Over 1 million daily active users globally.
- Maintains a 4+ star rating on major platforms, showing high user satisfaction and retention.

What are Ludo King's core value propositions? 🤔

1. Convenience and Accessibility

Ludo King makes the game easy to play anywhere, anytime—no need for a physical board or other players. Simply grab your phone and play, whether alone or with a group.

"One game... many ways to play! 😁
No board? No problem. Just grab your phone and roll the dice! 🎲📱"

2. Offline Playing Experience (Pass and Play)

Allows players to enjoy the game locally with friends and family by passing the device around, making it a great option to play offline even in the absence of a board

3. Classic Ludo Gameplay with a Modern Twist

Combines traditional gameplay with a contemporary user interface and features, appealing to both nostalgic players and newcomers.

4. Casual and Fun Gameplay with simple user interface

Designed for quick, enjoyable sessions that suit players looking for casual, stress-free entertainment.

5. Multiplayer Experience

The game's large, active community and social media integration make it engaging, fostering global connectivity and friendly competition. It enables to play locally with known friends and with strangers anywhere across the globe.

One game - many ways to play!!! 😁

Ludo King offers a plethora of options to choose from and has something for everyone.

Bored and have no friends? Play online with anyone across the globe

Want to play with friends during a house party but have no game board? Use Pass and Play

A group of six, but the board you own only has 4 player option? Use the Play with friends mode and choose the 6Ps option

There is something for everyone !

Why care to choose Ludo King as my product for onboarding? 🤔

⭐Popularity

1B + downloads worldwide. Highest played mobile game in India.

What even gets better than studying and understanding the onboarding of a product that's taking over the world ??

( Downloads as high as almost 1/8th of the world's population to be precise😄 WOOOF! )

⭐Familiarity

Ludo is a universally recognized and nostalgic board game, loved for its simple rules and social nature, now widely accessible through digital platforms like Ludo King.

⭐Simple Onboarding

Easy-to-understand gameplay mechanics, making it simple to design a quick and effective onboarding process.

⭐Interactive & Engaging

Games are ideal for understanding effective onboarding as they combine interactivity, engagement, and data-driven methods, ensuring users learn while enjoying the process. With Ludo King being one of the top games on the app store, it’s a perfect example to analyze and optimize onboarding.

Now that we have a fair bit of idea about the game, let's look at who is playing it?

🤝Ideal Customer Profiles for Ludo King:

Process followed to arrive at the Ideal Customer Personas ( ICPs ) Ludo king

👉Step 1: Conducting Qualitative Research by talking to users.

👉Step 2: Logging user call data

👉Step 3: Analyzing insights gathered from calls

👉Step 4: Mapping out ICPs

👉Step 5:Prioritizing ICPs basis ICP Prioritization Matrix

Step 1 & 2


Name	Aakancha Kadam	Aditya Vaidya	Piyush Gudhka	Manoj Tiwari
Age	47	19	32	38
What do they do?	House Maker	Student ( Engineering)	Working Professional	Security guard
Family Status	Married with 1 kid	Not Married	Married	Married
City	Mumbai	Pune	Mumbai	Mumbai
Income Levels	Upper Middle Class	Upper Middle Class	Upper Middle Class	Lower Middle Class

Behavioural ( Gaming Related)	-Starts her day with a busy morning routine gym, getting kids ready for school, and getting breakfast ready for the family. -Sends family off, takes a few moments for herself. -Uses Ludo as a way to relax and de-stress, enjoying "me-time" before engaging in household duties again.	-Constantly juggling academic responsibilities -gaming is a form of escape from the intense focus required by studies. Ludo King allows him to disconnect and have fun without the pressure as no strategy or extended concentration needed as such. His behavior - driven by need to relax and have fun as opposed to gaming for high scores or mastery.	-Deals with deadlines, meetings, and high levels of responsibility due to nature of work. -Gaming provides him with an outlet to unwind and take a mental break. -The low-stakes nature of Ludo King allows him to enjoy a light-hearted, stress-free gaming experience, which helps him recover from the demands of his professional life.	-His job as a watchman gets boring due to monotonous nature of work. He often plays the game to take a break when bored. Uses it as a form of escapism. Sometimes end up playing with other watchmen in the building . Out of 144 watchmen here- atleast 20 of them are found playing ludo king He toggles between this and watching content on instagram
Need	A stress-relieving activity to unwind after a hectic morning.	Game that focuses on interaction and enjoyment, rather than competition or deep engagement with the game mechanics.	Needs entertainment during idle moments (e.g., commutes, waiting for meetings) that doesn’t require heavy commitment	Escape from repetitive natured job
Where other apps do they use?	Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, Zomato, Swiggy Nykaa, Myntra, Ajio, Facebook	Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, Zomato, Swiggy, Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Slick, Bumble, Tinder, Schmooze, Uber, Ola	Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, Zomato, Swiggy, Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, Kite, Moneycontrol, Uber, Ola	Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, Zomato, Swiggy, Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, Bumble, Tinder, Uber ola, Mygate

When do they play the most?	10am -11 am	11:00pm -12:00am ( Before sleeping )	During ola rides- 9:00 am, 7 pm	2-4 pm When the gym is usually empty
Game usage Frequency	Daily	Daily	Daily	Daily
Who do they play with?	2 of her childhood friends or random people online	College friends	Random folks online occassionally with friends	random people, other watchmen
Game Features Valued	Quick and Casual Gameplay Competitive but relaxed Easy to learn	Multiplayer Modes +Social Integration: Quick and Casual Gameplay Offline Playability Competitive but relaxed	Quick Gameplay Multiplayer Stress Relief Simple Easy to learn	Quick and Casual Gameplay Competitive but relaxed Easy to learn Low effort
Why play ludo over watching TV?	- Nostalgia- childhood- plays on familiarity- growing up watched this game right amount of thinking timepass but challeging Not choosing- playing in the background- dopamine	all friends are playing timepass during class hours	Chai sutta break- ludo on phone- pass and play mode in office	Alternates between both. Instagram is boring now

Where do they spend time?	Plays Ludo King for 15-30 minutes during her "me-time" after everyone has left.	Plays Ludo King for 30 minutes in 2 intervals	Plays Ludo King for 20 minutes in 2 intervals	Plays 2-3 games- 30 mins 2 times a day

Step 4: Ideal Customer Personas ( ICP Table)

Step 5 : ICP Prioritization Framework

Basis the ICP prioritization table it is evident that ICP4 & ICP1 should be prioritized as they meet more of the parameters of the ICP table ( in the same order)

JTBD and validation

In order to understand the JTBDs -

Let's understand needs of the users:

For ICP 1 - College student

The needs are:

Has tight schedules, with little time to meet friends in person. A mobile game lets them socialize on their own time.
He feels disconnected from friends due to busy routines, and Ludo King provides a quick way to catch up and engage with friends
College life can be stressful, and the student wants to unwind in a simple, enjoyable way with his friends.

The Goal Type is a mix of Social and personal

Primary Goal However is Social

For ICP 2 - Working Professional

The needs are

The professional feels mentally fatigued / stressed by the demands of work.
Limited free time means the game must be quick and easy to engage with, fitting into brief breaks during the day.
Long hours of desk sitting. Sitting at a desk for long hours can feel monotonous, and the professional seeks a distraction that is mentally engaging without being physically demanding.

The Goal Type is Personal

Goal Priority

Goal Type

ICP

JTBD

Validation approach

Validation

Primary

Social

ICP 1

Student

Create a game where users can play while socializing with known friends.

User interviews

“The best part of Ludo King for me is that I can

play it with my friends at anytime without a board"

Personal

ICP 4

Working Professional

Create a game with simple mechanics, quick rounds, and low cognitive load, perfect for short scheduled breaks.

User interviews

"I use my 10-minute chai breaks to play Ludo King and reset before my next meeting."

Onboarding Teardown

Here's everything you need to know about Ludo King's onboarding before jumping into the tear downs and details

If you're also thinking-

How well was the game built?🤔🤔🤔

Sadly, more negatives than positives. The negatives outweigh the positives!

All things LUDO KING

Summary of What's working and what isn't for each of the following stages for ?

( PS: Comprehensive Doc attached after the summary)

Wait,

And didn't we previously- right at the very beginning of the project learn that this has over 1B+ downloads?

HOW?

Some digging revealed it had a lot to do with:

Sheer luck due to first mover's advantage especially during Covid-19 when board games on app really picked up.

Pre Covid-19 era and before Jio disrupted the internet scene people really cheapened out and used games that could be played offline or consumed less data- this was another wave that helped Ludo King grow.

Very less to do with how good or bad the app + user journey really is.

More about it at a later date.

(PFA the tear down PDF below )

Teardowns Final (5).pdf

Activation metrics

Activation Metric

Users who complete their second game within 24 hours of installing the app are 50% more likely to return and play again in the next 7 days.

What makes this the right activation metric?

When a user completes their second game within 24 hours, they’ve successfully -

passed through several key engagement barriers ( in this case- multiple pit stops of ads back to back to earn coins)
overcome any initial learning curve ( game rule different- can only go home after defeating opponent)
UI ( barest minimum in terms of UI- decent speed though)
controls
Most importantly- they have experienced the full game loop. ( won a game- experienced what the aha moment felt like + experienced value proposition of the game)

This action is a clear indication that the user is engaged and is likely to return. The app has proved it's value to said user. The second game completion is a strong predictor of future retention and habit formation.

In short

24 hours important because - it's the right amount of time for a user to return and play a second time anything longer than this would not signal retention

50% If a game is played within the set time frame user has learnt everything he needs to about the game and there is nothing then holding him back besides his own will to play.

7 days because it is a sweet spot for observing short-term user behavior while also capturing meaningful engagement trends.

Metrics to track

Second game completion within 24 hours- This shows how quickly users are progressing past initial barriers.
Return rate within 7 days after second game completion-This shows the success of your activation efforts and the stickiness of the app.
Retention of users who played second game (vs. those who didn't)- This highlights the importance of this milestone in driving long-term engagement.
Engagement duration and frequency of second game session- Higher engagement is a good indicator of user investment.
Completion of core game loops (e.g., movement, winning, or completing milestones)- This shows if they are successfully interacting with the game’s main mechanics, which is key to creating lasting engagement.