Chess
Beginner chess rules: how to set up the board, how each piece moves, castling, en passant, promotion, checkmate and draws — one clear beginner page.
A little less rulebook. A little more game night.
Less reading.
More playing.
Clear rules, quick guides, and smarter moves for your next game night.
What’s on the table?
Find your kind of game.A good place to start
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Hearts
Hearts rules for four players: passing, breaking hearts, shooting the moon and scoring — plus jack of diamonds, 3- and 5-player variants and a glossary.
Farkle
Farkle rules with the complete PlayMonster scoring table: rolling and setting aside dice, farkles, hot dice, the 500-point entry and the final round.
Also known as Farkel
Draw Dominoes
Draw Dominoes rules with a double-six set: hand sizes, the opening tile, matching open ends, drawing until playable, blocked hands and scoring to 100.
Also known as Draw game
Beyond the basics
Your next move,
a little smarter.
Small ideas that make a difference. Start with a few useful principles, then find your own way to play.
Common mistakesCommon Backgammon mistakes and how to check themAvoid illegal dice use, stranded checkers, broken primes and cube errors with a short turn-by-turn routine.Beginner strategyMake safer choices in BackgammonThree questions to ask before you move your checkers.Beginner strategyBackgammon opening movesThe fifteen backgammon opening rolls with standard moves and one-line reasons — plus doubles replies and how to handle the back pair.ScoringBackgammon scoring and the doubling cubeScore singles, gammons and backgammons correctly, then use the cube in a match without mixing in money-play rules.
Beginner strategyBlackjack basic strategy for beginnersSimple hit, stand, double and split guidance for a six-deck, stand-on-soft-17 game, plus what strategy cannot do.Common mistakesCommon Blackjack mistakesFrequent Blackjack errors: soft and hard hands, splitting, doubling, insurance, payouts and table habits.ScoringBlackjack payouts, pushes and insurance explainedHow 3:2, 6:5, even-money wins, pushes and insurance settle, with worked stake examples.
Beginner strategyCheckers beginner strategy: control, trades and kingsPractical American checkers strategy: centre control, back row, forced captures, trading and endgame kings.Common mistakesCommon checkers mistakes and how to avoid themThe errors beginners make in American checkers: missed jumps, unfinished multi-jumps, backward men, crowning timing and setting up opponent shots.Common mistakesSeven Chess mistakes beginners can catchA practical move-by-move checklist for avoiding loose pieces, unsafe kings and one-move blunders.Beginner strategyYour first ten moves in ChessA practical checklist for a calmer, more purposeful opening.Beginner strategyMake a plan after the Chess openingTurn a playable opening into a simple middlegame plan by improving pieces, reading pawns and limiting counterplay.
Beginner strategyConnect 4 strategy: centre control and threatsHow to win at Classic Connect 4: the centre column, building double threats, blocking and the odd-even rule.Common mistakesCommon Connect 4 mistakesFrequent Connect 4 errors: unsupported spaces, missed diagonals, ignoring three in a row, and misreading the rules.
Beginner strategyCribbage strategy for your first gamesChoose discards, plan pegging cards and use board position without trying to memorise every possible hand.Common mistakesCommon Cribbage mistakes in play and scoringCatch illegal totals, missed go points, incorrect runs, crib flush errors and counting-order problems.ScoringCribbage scoring with worked examplesCount pegging, hands and the crib in a fixed order, with examples for fifteens, pairs, duplicate runs, flushes and nobs.Beginner strategyDraw Dominoes strategy for beginnersPractical Draw Dominoes strategy: opening, doubles, tracking numbers, controlling the ends and managing the boneyard.Common mistakesCommon Draw Dominoes mistakesFrequent Draw Dominoes errors: matching ends, doubles, drawing, blocked hands and pip counting.ScoringDraw Dominoes scoring: dominoes, blocks and pipsHow to count pips in Draw Dominoes: going out, blocked hands, ties and reaching 100 points.
Beginner strategyEuchre beginner strategy: ordering up, leading and going aloneRules of thumb for calling trump, playing the bowers, leading, defending and going alone in four-player Euchre.Common mistakesCommon Euchre mistakesFrequent Euchre errors: left bower, following suit, ordering up, going alone, scoring and dealer rotation.ScoringEuchre scoring: euchres, marches and going aloneHow points work in Euchre: makers, defenders, marches, lone hands and reaching 10.Beginner strategyFarkle strategy: when to bank and when to rollHow risky each roll is in Farkle, when to bank your turn score, and how to use hot dice and the endgame.Common mistakesCommon Farkle mistakesFrequent Farkle errors: combining dice across rolls, keeping non-scoring dice, entry threshold, hot dice and the final round.ScoringFarkle scoring guide: combinations, hot dice and bankingAll Farkle scoring combinations from the PlayMonster table, with worked turns showing entry, farkles and the final round.
Beginner strategyGin Rummy strategy: deadwood, discards and knockingBeginner Gin Rummy strategy: keeping deadwood low, reading the discard pile, and choosing when to knock, go gin or wait.Common mistakesCommon Gin Rummy mistakesFrequent Gin Rummy errors: invalid melds, aces, knocking limits, laying off, undercuts and mixing bonus systems.ScoringGin Rummy scoring: knock, gin, undercutCount deadwood, apply layoffs, and score knocks, gin and undercuts with worked examples for the 20-point gin ruleset.
Beginner strategyGo beginner strategy for 9×9 gamesFirst principles for Go: liberties, connection, eyes, territory and playing sensibly on a small board.Common mistakesCommon Go mistakes for beginnersFrequent errors in Go: self-atari, filling own eyes, ko, dead stones at the end, and forgetting komi.ScoringGo scoring: how to count a finished gameHow to count territory, prisoners, pass stones and komi at the end of a Go game, with a worked 9×9 example.Beginner strategyHearts beginner strategy: passing, ducking and the queenStrategy for four-player Hearts: which cards to pass, how to duck tricks, handle the queen of spades and spot a moon shot.Common mistakesCommon Hearts mistakesFrequent Hearts errors: passing, first-trick rules, breaking hearts, the queen of spades, scoring and moon shots.ScoringHearts scoring and shooting the moonHow Hearts penalties are counted, what a moon shot does, and the game-end rule at 100 points.
Beginner strategyKlondike Solitaire strategy: how to win more oftenTips for draw-one Klondike: unblocking face-down cards, managing empty columns, foundation timing and the stock.Common mistakesCommon Klondike Solitaire mistakesFrequent Klondike errors: colour and rank, moving runs, empty columns, waste pile access and redeals.
Beginner strategyLiar’s Dice strategy: odds, bidding and bluffingHow to estimate dice counts in Perudo-style Liar’s Dice, choose safe bids, decide when to challenge and bluff.Common mistakesCommon Liar’s Dice mistakes and bid conversionsFrequent errors in Perudo-style Liar’s Dice: wild ones, bid order, switching to and from ones, and who opens.
Beginner strategyMancala (Kalah) strategy: extra turns and capturesHow to win at Kalah: plan extra turns, set up captures, defend your pits and time the end of the game.Common mistakesCommon Mancala (Kalah) mistakesFrequent Kalah errors: sowing into the wrong store, missing extra turns, wrong captures and the end-of-game sweep.
Beginner strategyRummy strategy: melds, discards and reading opponentsPractical Basic Rummy strategy: which cards to keep, what to discard, how to watch opponents and when to go out.Common mistakesCommon Rummy mistakesFrequent Basic Rummy errors: invalid melds, aces, laying off, discarding, going out and scoring.ScoringRummy scoring explainedHow card values, going out and the winner’s points work in Basic Rummy, with worked hands.
Beginner strategySpades bidding and play strategyHow to estimate a Spades bid, work with your partner, use nil safely and avoid bags.Common mistakesCommon Spades mistakesFrequent Spades errors: overbidding, bags, nil, leading spades, and mixing up team contracts and scoring.ScoringSpades scoring: contracts, nil and bagsA worked guide to Spades points: making and missing a contract, nil bonuses and the ten-bag penalty.
Beginner strategyTexas Hold’em strategy for beginnersPosition, starting hands, pot odds and outs explained simply for a first home game of no-limit Texas Hold’em.Common mistakesCommon Texas Hold’em betting mistakesAvoid under-raises, string bets, reopened action and showdown disputes using Poker TDA procedure as the reference.ScoringTexas Hold’em hand rankings and showdownsPoker hand rankings from straight flush to high card, with kickers, ties, split pots and showdown examples.
Beginner strategyUNO strategy: winning more roundsTips for UNO Classic: managing colours, saving wilds, timing action cards and playing the end of a round.Common mistakesCommon UNO mistakes and how to fix themSort official UNO rules from house rules: drawing, Wild Draw Four challenges, UNO calls and end-of-round scoring.
Beginner strategyYahtzee strategy: what to keep and where to scoreWhich dice to keep, how to chase the upper bonus, when to take a zero and how to use Chance and Yahtzee in Classic Yahtzee.Common mistakesCommon Yahtzee mistakesFrequent Classic Yahtzee errors: roll limits, category scoring, straights, full house, upper bonus and Joker rules.ScoringYahtzee scoring and the Joker ruleScore every box correctly, earn the 35-point upper bonus, and place extra Yahtzees under the Joker rule with worked examples.