Strategy guides & rules
Practical tactics for the games on this site, written to be tried straight away. Each guide ends with a link to play the game free in your browser.
Strategy
Plans and tactics that win more games.
- Sudoku
Advanced Sudoku Techniques: Pairs, X-Wing and Swordfish
Solve hard and expert Sudoku without guessing: pencil marks, hidden singles, naked and hidden pairs, pointing pairs, X-Wing, XY-Wing and Swordfish explained.
- Checkers
Checkers Strategy: Forced Jumps and Endgame Tactics
Win more checkers games: use the forced-jump rule to set traps, keep your back row, trade when ahead, and win king endgames with the double-corner technique.
- Chess
Chess Opening Principles for Beginners: 10 Rules
Play better chess openings without memorising lines: control the centre, develop knights and bishops, castle early and avoid common beginner traps.
- Four in a Row
Four in a Row Winning Strategy: Centre, Threats and Zugzwang
Win more Four in a Row games: play the centre column, build double threats, know odd and even rows, and stop your opponent's traps before they form.
- FreeCell
FreeCell Winning Tactics: Win Nearly Every Deal
FreeCell tactics that win: free the Aces first, keep free cells empty, value empty columns, count your supermove and plan the whole move before you start.
- Tic Tac Toe
How to Never Lose at Tic Tac Toe (and When You Can Win)
Tic tac toe strategy that never loses: the best first move, how to answer corners and edges as O, how forks win, and why perfect play is always a draw.
- Mahjong Solitaire
How to Win Mahjong Solitaire: 9 Proven Tactics
Win more Mahjong Solitaire games: free the long rows first, open the tall stacks, count the four copies of each tile and know when to hold a pair back.
- Klondike Solitaire
Klondike Solitaire Odds: Is Every Game Winnable?
What are the odds of winning Klondike Solitaire? How many deals can be won, why Draw 3 is harder than Draw 1, and the habits that raise your own win rate.
- Minesweeper
Minesweeper Patterns and Probability: Solve Without Guessing
Learn the Minesweeper patterns that solve most boards: 1-1, 1-2, 1-2-1, 1-2-2-1, safe chording, and how to pick the safest cell when you have to guess.
- Nonogram
Nonogram (Picross) Logic Guide: Solve Without Guessing
Solve nonograms with pure logic: the overlap rule, edge forcing, crossing out gaps, joining and splitting runs, and a routine that works on 5×5 to 15×15 grids.
- Number Merge
Number Merge (2048) Corner Strategy: Reach 2048 Every Time
Reach the 2048 tile more often: keep your biggest tile in a corner, build a chain along one edge, avoid the fourth direction and plan merges a move ahead.
- Pyramid Solitaire
Pyramid Solitaire Rules and Strategy: Pairs of 13
How to play Pyramid Solitaire: card values, exposed cards, the stock and waste, kings, how many passes you get, and strategy to clear the pyramid more often.
- Spider Solitaire
Spider Solitaire 4 Suits Strategy: How to Win More
Beat 4-suit Spider Solitaire: empty columns early, build in suit when it counts, never deal blind, and use same-rank cards to untangle mixed runs.
Rules
How the rules work, and how rule sets differ.
- American Mahjong
American vs Hong Kong Mahjong: Key Rule Differences
American and Hong Kong Mahjong side by side: tiles, jokers, the Charleston, the yearly hand card, chows, faan scoring and how a winning hand is built.
- Chess
Chess Special Moves: Castling, En Passant and Promotion
The chess rules beginners ask about most: how castling works and when it is illegal, what en passant is, how pawn promotion works, plus stalemate and draws.
- Hong Kong Mahjong
How Mahjong Scoring Works: Faan and Points Explained
How do you score Mahjong? Faan (fan) explained for Hong Kong rules: common scoring patterns, the 3-faan minimum, the faan-to-points table and who pays.
- Backgammon
How to Play Backgammon: Rules for Beginners
Learn backgammon in one read: the board and setup, how checkers move, doubles, hitting and the bar, bearing off, gammons and a simple first strategy.
- Dominoes
How to Play Dominoes: Draw and Block Rules
Dominoes rules for beginners: the double-six set, who goes first, matching ends, the Draw and Block games, how scoring works and how to win more rounds.
- Hearts
How to Play Hearts: Rules, Passing and Shooting the Moon
Hearts rules explained: passing three cards, the two of clubs lead, breaking hearts, scoring the Queen of Spades and when shooting the moon is worth the risk.
- Mahjong Solitaire
Mahjong Tiles Explained: Names, Suits and Meanings
What do Mahjong tiles mean? A guide to the 144 tiles: dots, bamboo and characters, the winds and dragons, flowers and seasons, and how they match in solitaire.
- Spades
Spades Bidding Explained: Nil Bids, Bags and Scoring
How does bidding work in Spades? Learn how to count your tricks, how team bids score, what Nil is worth, why bags cost 100 points and how to bid better.
Tips
Quick habits that make every game a little easier.
Free printable
American Mahjong Guide & Printable Scorecard (2026). A one-page reference to the 9 American Mahjong hand categories, exposed and concealed hands, jokers and point values, with a free printable scorecard (PDF).