Chess rules explained
Setup, pieces, check, mate, castling, en passant and promotion. Includes a stalemate diagram and notes on our game version.
Read guideGAME GUIDES
Game guides
Board, card and casino game guides: rules, variants, strategy and history. Find games alphabetically or search for a specific topic.
Rules, variants and background across games. Search for a game or topic or use the alphabetical directory. Every guide is readable without an account.
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Make better decisions: chess strategy for beginners
A practical thinking routine covering development, king safety and threats. Includes an original example position and common beginner mistakes.
Read guideThree chess puzzles with explained solutions
Practise spotting a loose piece, a knight fork and mate in one. Original board diagrams, hints and expandable explanations.
Read guideHow chess became the game we know
From early predecessors through Persia to changing pieces and modern chess. A concise history with museum and federation sources.
Read guideChess variants: standard chess, Chess960 and time formats
Distinguish a changed starting position from a changed time control. What Chess960 changes and what GameFinder.pro actually supports.
Read guideCompetitive chess: from legal moves to tournament procedure
Clocks, notation, touch-move, draws and fair assistance: an introduction to tournament practice beyond browser play.
Read guideHow to play draughts: rules and capture sequences
8×8 draughts: setup, compulsory captures, multiple jumps, promotion and our two local settings. Includes explained board diagrams.
Read guideDraughts around the world: which rules change?
Compare English, international, Russian, Brazilian and Italian draughts. Separate board size, capture direction, capture priority and king movement.
Read guideDraughts strategy: make compulsory captures work for you
Calculate complete capture sequences, protect promotion routes and distinguish material from mobility. Includes original exercises.
Read guideCompetitive draughts: establish the rules first
Free openings, drawn starting positions, notation, clocks and draw procedures: prepare for a draughts tournament.
Read guideDraughts history: a family rather than one game
Why draughts has different names and rules, how to read historical evidence and what a solved game actually means.
Read guideNine Men’s Morris rules: place, move, capture and fly
Understand the 24-point board: nine counters, valid mills, protected rows and flying with three pieces. Includes labelled diagrams.
Read guideMorris variants: nine counters, Lasker and Morabaraba
Compare Nine Men’s Morris, smaller relatives, Lasker Morris and South African Morabaraba. Understand different boards and special rules.
Read guideMorris strategy: mobility and double threats
Plan beyond placement, open mills deliberately and check legal capture targets. Original study positions with hints and explanations.
Read guideCompetitive Morris: rules, clocks and fair decisions
What a Morris event must specify: flying, double mills, repetition, time control, scoring and assistance in online play.
Read guideMorris history: boards, evidence and a living tradition
Historic game boxes and modern variants reveal how Morris spread. Why an old pattern alone cannot establish complete rules.
Read guidePoker fundamentals and our five-card duel
Understand check, call, raise and fold. Pots, antes and showdown explained, including the actual rules and settings of our poker edition.
Read guidePoker hands: rankings, kickers and split pots
From high card to straight flush: compare tied categories, recognise the low ace and solve original exercises.
Read guideTexas Hold’em: play, position and betting limits
Two hole cards and five community cards: preflop, flop, turn, river, heads-up order and no-limit, pot-limit and fixed-limit betting.
Read guideOmaha: PLO, Hi/Lo, Big O and Courchevel
Learn the exactly-two-plus-three rule with a worked example. Compare four, five and six hole cards, eight-or-better, split pots and Courchevel.
Read guideStud poker: seven-card, five-card and Hi/Lo
Upcards, downcards, the bring-in and five betting rounds. Compare seven-card stud, stud eight-or-better and five-card stud.
Read guideRazz: when the lowest hand wins
Ace-to-five low without an eight qualifier: bring-in, exposed cards and original exercises comparing low five-card hands.
Read guideDraw and lowball: five-card draw, 2–7 and A–5
Understand card replacement, single draw and triple draw. Why the same hand scores differently in deuce-to-seven and ace-to-five.
Read guideBadugi: four suits, four ranks, low cards
Evaluate badugi hands and understand three draws. Worked examples cover duplicate suits, paired ranks and the best valid subset.
Read guideShort deck and 6+ Hold’em: what actually changes
Understand a named 36-card rule set, A–6–7–8–9 and flush over full house, while recognising house-rule differences.
Read guideMixed games: HORSE, 8-game and dealer’s choice
Game rotations, high/low switches and different betting limits. A clear guide with a study checklist for every change.
Read guideOther poker forms: pineapple, Chinese and casino poker
Understand pineapple and open-face Chinese; distinguish three-card poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em and pai gow from player-versus-player poker.
Read guidePoker strategy: pot odds, information and learning decisions
Original pot-odds and bluff-threshold calculations, plus useful hand reviews. Explicit assumptions instead of promises of profit.
Read guideTournament poker: stacks, side pots and procedure
Distinguish cash games from tournaments, work through main and side pots, and understand tournament staff and current TDA guidance.
Read guidePoker history: from game families to modern variants
Why poker need not have a single inventor and why card structure explains its development better than a simple origin legend.
Read guideBaccarat rules: Punto Banco step by step
Card values, naturals, the complete banker draw rule, main and pair bets. Examples and actual browser-edition settings.
Read guideBaccarat variants: Punto Banco, Chemin de Fer and Banque
Separate automatic drawing from player decisions. Mini baccarat, no-commission rules and banker-7 explained.
Read guideBaccarat payouts: expected value instead of streaks
Distinguish 8:1 from 9:1, commission from returned stakes. A transparent eight-deck calculation and the limits of betting systems.
Read guideBaccarat over time: from player-banker to fixed drawing
How banker and player roles changed. Historical development and modern table terminology without an invented origin story.
Read guideBlackjack rules: cards, decisions and settlement
Hit, stand, double, split, blackjack and push. Hard and soft hands with examples and the actual browser-game rules.
Read guideCompare blackjack variants and table rules
Peek versus no hole card, soft 17, 3:2 versus 6:5 and split rules. Includes Spanish 21 and our available settings.
Read guideLearn blackjack: decisions with explicit assumptions
Understand basic strategy, consider the dealer upcard and solve original exercises on soft totals, payouts and insurance.
Read guideBlackjack history: from card play to mathematical analysis
What Edward Thorp investigated in 1961 and why historical calculations do not establish results for every modern table.
Read guideFour in a Row: rules, gravity and settings
Seven columns, six rows and four connected discs: play, move selection, draws and actual local and live settings.
Read guideFour in a Row strategy: threats must be reachable
Gravity, preparation, central play and double threats. Includes an original position where a seemingly harmless disc unlocks the opponent’s winning square.
Read guideThree Four in a Row puzzles with explained solutions
Practise two winning columns, a support trap and a diagonal finish. Legal move sequences, original diagrams and expandable answers.
Read guideDistinguish Four in a Row from other four-line games
Why four in a row does not always mean the same rules: the fixed gravity board, larger free-placement tic-tac-toe and external pop variants.
Read guideTic-tac-toe rules for 3×3, 4×4 and 5×5
Winning lines, the starting player and actual settings. Local play, computer strengths and live-room rules explained distinctly.
Read guideTic-tac-toe strategy: wins, blocks and forks
A reliable decision routine for classic 3×3. An original fork position, defensive ideas and the limits of transferring them to larger boards.
Read guideTic-tac-toe on 4×4 and 5×5: detailed strategy tips
Ten or 28 winning lines, open threes, gaps, forks and offset diagonals. Original examples for our four-in-a-row winning condition.
Read guideTic-tac-toe puzzles on three board sizes
Five puzzles on 3×3, 4×4 and 5×5 with labelled boards, hints and answers. Every position comes from a legal move sequence.
Read guideTic-tac-toe variants: board size is only one rule
Distinguish our three sizes, free placement and four-line objective from gomoku, gravity games and spatial variants. Includes a clear comparison table.
Read guideBackgammon rules: from setup to bearing off
15 checkers, 24 points, compulsory moves, the bar and bearing off. Includes a setup diagram and actual local settings.
Read guideBackgammon strategy: racing, anchors and hitting risk
Read the pip count, build safe points and examine the whole turn before hitting. Practical advice without win guarantees.
Read guideBackgammon exercises: entry, compulsory play and bearing off
Three concrete study positions and a dice exercise with expandable answers. Moves are verified against our engine.
Read guideBackgammon variants: our editions and the doubling cube
Distinguish local and live openings. Understand the cube, gammons and match rules without implying extra browser modes.
Read guideBackgammon history, match play and the Crawford rule
Put a historical Nard illustration in context and understand tournament matches, Crawford, fair procedure and our browser edition.
Read guideBowling rules: frames, strikes, spares and scoring
Understand ten frames and the special final frame. Separate regular bowling scoring from our optional Plus points.
Read guideBowling tips: practise line, spin and remaining pins
Build a repeatable throw instead of relying on maximum power. Use the aiming guide and changing starting spots effectively.
Read guideBowling scoring: four exercises with answers
Calculate strikes, spares, the tenth frame and position factors. Every roll sequence is checked with our bowling engine.
Read guideBowling variants: classic, no-tap and challenges
Compare four available ten-pin variants, their attempts, scoring and position multipliers.
Read guideBowling history and fair competition comparisons
Understand bowling as its own discipline. Distinguish a classic 300 from Plus points and check competition conditions.
Read guideNine-pin skittles rules: full rack and clearing
Understand the nine-pin diamond, our ten-throw round and clearing rules. This uses a different system from bowling strikes and spares.
Read guideNine-pin tips: gaps, remaining formations and controlled adjustments
Practise full racks, clearing and figures with different objectives. Adjust direction, spin and power deliberately on mobile.
Read guideNine-pin exercises: pinfall, clearing and figures
Four scoring and rules exercises with expandable answers, using nine pins rather than borrowed bowling bonuses.
Read guideNine-pin variants: full racks, clearing, figures and lane types
Distinguish our three recreational variants from Classic, Bohle and Schere. Nine-pin skittles is different from nine-pin no-tap.
Read guideNine-pin skittles: history and competition formats
From club organization to regulated throwing programmes. A dated 120-throw example clearly separated from our browser rounds.
Read guideMau-Mau rules: an explicit tabletop ruleset
Suit or rank, wild jacks, sevens and eights: an explicit study agreement rather than supposedly universal rules.
Read guideMau-Mau strategy: preserve connections and useful suits
Plan suits, transitions and your last card using original examples under our declared Mau-Mau rules.
Read guideMau-Mau exercises: suits, jacks and turn order
Four original exercises with expandable answers and an explicit rule agreement.
Read guideCompare Mau-Mau, Crazy Eights, Switch and UNO
A shared shedding principle with different wild cards and drawing rules, plus direct links to each related game.
Read guideFair Mau-Mau play: declarations, rounds and comparisons
A rule card, clear declarations and comparable results for a private games evening, without inventing a tournament standard.
Read guideMau-Mau house rules: choose a clear agreement
Sevens draw two, eights or tens skip: house rules for stacking, jack-on-jack, multiple discards, drawing and finishing, with clear examples.
Read guideMau-Mau: comparing published rule variants
Compare specific Mau-Mau versions: Schmidt Spiele, LITE Games, 101, Pesten, Tschau Sepp and Mau-Mau to 100, with sources and important differences.
Read guideCrazy Eights rules: wild eights, suits and drawing
Understand the named Bicycle version without mixing rules from different shedding games, with original matching examples.
Read guideCrazy Eights strategy: plan wild eights and connections
When a wild eight helps, how matching connections work, and why one observation does not reveal an opponent’s hand.
Read guideCrazy Eights exercises: matching and declared suits
Four original studies on an ordinary queen, a wild eight, drawing and remaining-card values.
Read guideCrazy Eights variants: the same eight, different drawing rules
Separate Bicycle from reported variants and understand its relation to Mau-Mau, Switch and UNO.
Read guideCrazy Eights: remaining-card values and fair comparisons
Original scoring examples and a transparent private-round format, keeping different games’ scoring systems separate.
Read guideSwitch rules: an explicit shedding game with wild aces
An explicit study agreement for aces, eights, twos and jacks. Distinguish Switch from casino blackjack.
Read guideSwitch strategy: resolve the penalty before the suit
Read two chains and red-jack responses correctly using original scenarios and explicit assumptions.
Read guideSwitch exercises: aces, two chains and red jacks
Four original exercises under our explicit study rules, accounting for pending actions and drawing limits.
Read guideSwitch variants: action cards and the blackjack confusion
Put a particular digital implementation alongside our simplified study round and compare related games directly.
Read guideSwitch at the table: rule agreements and fair scoring
Announce action chains clearly, settle blocked play and compare round wins under a private table agreement.
Read guideUNO rules: base game, actions and Wild Draw Four
Check colour, number and symbol, judge Draw Four correctly and separate base play from house rules, with original diagrams.
Read guideUNO strategy: colour groups, tempo and legal actions
Choose useful colours, weigh remaining-card exposure and distinguish a conditional Draw Four from an ordinary Wild.
Read guideUNO exercises: colour, Draw Four and round scoring
Five original exercises with expandable answers, separating matching numbers, matching colours and pending draw penalties.
Read guideUNO variants: base game, FLIP!, All Wild and No Mercy
Distinguish named editions and app modes from classic rules and house rules, rather than treating action lists as interchangeable.
Read guideUNO history: a distinct game in a related family
Merle Robbins, a dated museum object and the relationship to Crazy Eights: a shared idea with different rules.
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