Learn to Play Chess

History of Chess
The origins of chess are not exactly clear, though most believe it evolved from earlier chess-like games played in
India almost two thousand years ago. The game of chess we know today has been around for more than 500
years!
The Goal of Chess
You and your opponent are each in charge of an army. Your goal: to catch the other army's king (before they catch
yours)! When you have him attacked and he can no longer escape, it's called "checkmate," and you win!
You each start with a trusty army of 16: the King, Queen, two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights, and eight Pawns.

Starting a Game
At the beginning of the game the chessboard is laid out so that each player has the white (or light) color square in the
bottom right-hand side. The chess pieces are then arranged the same way each time. The second row (or rank) is filled
with pawns. The rooks go in the corners, then the knights next to them, followed by the bishops, and finally the queen,
who always goes on her own matching color (white queen on white, black queen on black), and the king on the
remaining square.
The player with the white pieces always moves first, so it's only fair to take turns playing white and black. On each turn
you get to move one of your pieces (except for one special move). Then it's your opponent's turn. And back and forth,
you take turns until one of the kings is cornered... or your whole army is tired out!

How the Chess Pieces Move

Each of the 6 different kinds of pieces has its own shape for moving. Most pieces cannot move through other pieces-only the knight can jump over anyone who gets in his way! Also no piece can ever move onto a square with one of their
own pieces. However, they can be moved to take the place of an opponent's piece: that's how you capture the
enemies!

The King
The king is the most important piece, since losing him means the end of the game. But he
is also one of the weakest. So very often he needs his friends to protect him. The king
can move one square in any direction - up, down, to the sides, and diagonally.
The king may never move himself onto a square where he could be captured (no losing
on purpose). If your opponent ever moves their king onto a square where you can take it,
don't grab the king and laugh "hahahaha, I win!" Instead, you should explain why they
can't move there. Then your opponent can put the king back where it was, and choose a
different move.

Check and Checkmate

When another piece threatens to capture the king, it is called 'check.' When there is no way for the king to escape check, it
is called 'checkmate.' As stated before, that is how you win. There are only three ways a king can get out of check: move out
of the way, block the check with another piece, or capture the piece threatening the king. If a king cannot escape checkmate
then the game is over. Customarily the king is not captured or removed from the board, the game is simply declared over.

The Queen

The queen is the most powerful piece. Like the king, she can move in any one straight direction forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally - but unlike him, she's very speedy. In fact, she can
move as far as you like as long as she does not move through any other pieces. And, like with all
pieces, if the queen captures an opponent's piece, that's the square she stops on..

Check and Checkmate

When another piece threatens to capture the king, it is called 'check.' When there is no way for
the king to escape check, it is called 'checkmate.' As stated before, that is how you win. There
are only three ways a king can get out of check: move out of the way, block the check with
another piece, or capture the piece threatening the king. If a king cannot escape checkmate then the game is over.
Customarily the king is not captured or removed from the board, the game is simply declared over.

The Queen
The queen is the most powerful piece. Like the king, she can move in any one straight
direction - forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally - but unlike him, she's very
speedy. In fact, she can move as far as you like as long as she does not move through
any other pieces. And, like with all pieces, if the queen captures an opponent's piece,
that's the square she stops on.

The Bishop
The bishop is the "other half" of the queen. It moves as far as it wants, but only diagonally.
You start with one bishop on a light square and one bishop on a dark square, and you will
notice, only moving on diagonals, each one is stuck on the color it starts on. Bishops work
well together because each covers the squares the other one can't.

The Bishop vs. ?

The Knight
Knights move in a very different way from the other pieces - going two squares in one
direction, and then one more move at a 90 degree angle, just like the shape of an "L".
Knights are also the only pieces that can move over other pieces. People often say knights
"hop" because of that special ability. Check out these
knight hops:

The Pawn

Half of your starting team is pawns, so it's very important to understand how to use these
little guys, even though they are not very strong. Pawns are unusual because they move in
one way, but capture in a different way. When they move, they just go forward, but when
they capture they go diagonally. Pawns can only move forward one square at a time, except
for their very first move where they can move forward two squares or one. Pawns can only
capture one square diagonally in front of them. They can never move or capture backwards.
Because they move and capture differently, the pawn is the only piece that can get blocked
by enemy pieces: if there is another piece directly in front of a pawn he cannot move past or
capture that piece.

Promotion
Now pawns may be small and weak, moving slowly and having trouble fighting against the faster guys on the board. But
pawns still have big dreams! They want to be the hero who rules the chessboard and brings you victory. And pawns have
one more special ability that can help make their dreams come true.
If a pawn reaches the other side of the board it can become any other chess piece (called promotion), except a pawn or
king. [NOTE: A common misconception is that pawns may only be exchanged for a piece that has been captured. That is
NOT true.] A pawn is usually promoted to a queen, because she is the most powerful piece. Only pawns may be promoted;
no other piece can do this!
En Passant
The last rule about pawns is called "en passant", which is French, meaning "in passing." If a pawn moves out two squares
on its first move, and by doing so lands to the side of an opponent's pawn (effectively running past the other pawn's ability to
capture it), that other pawn has the option of capturing the first pawn as if it only moved one space. This special move must
be done on the very next move after the first pawn has moved past, otherwise the option to capture it is no longer available.
Click through the example below to better understand this odd, but important rule.

Castling
One other special rule is called castling, the only time you can move two pieces in one move. This combination move
allows you to do two important things all in one turn: get your king to safety (hopefully), and get your rook out of the
corner and into the game. On a player's turn he may move his king two squares over to one side and then move the
rook to the other side of his king. (See the example below.) In order to castle, however, the following conditions must
be met:
it must be that kings very first move
it must be that rooks very first move
there cannot be any pieces between the king and rook to move
the king may not be in check or pass through check
Notice that when you castle one direction the king is closer to the side of the board. That is called kingside. Castling to
the other side, through where the queen sat, is called castlingqueenside. Regardless of which side, the king always
moves exactly two squares when castling.

Draws
Occasionally chess games do not end with a winner, but with a draw. There are 5 reasons why a chess game may end
in a draw:
1. The position reaches a stalemate where it is one players turn to move, but his king is NOT in check and yet
he does not have another legal move
2. The players may simply agree to a draw and stop playing
3. There are not enough pieces on the board to force a checkmate (example: a king and a bishop vs a king).
Draw by exhaustion!

4. A player declares a draw if the same exact position is repeated three times (though not necessarily three times
in a row)
5. Fifty moves in a row have been played by each player, without anyone moving a pawn or capturing a piece.
This means no progress is being made!
If you've made it this far, you are ready to play! After this come extra rules for tournaments, variants, and some first
advice for how to play chess well.

Chess960
Chess960 (also called Fischer Random) is a chess variant that follows all of the normal rules of chess, except that the
starting position of the pieces is randomly chosen at the start of each game.
There are two rules for placing the pieces: the bishops must be on opposite colors, and there must be one rook on
each side of the king. The black and white pieces are in a mirrored position.
There are exactly 960 possible starting scenarios that follow these rules (thus the name "960").
The only odd rule is with castling: the rules are mostly the same (king and rook cannot have moved and cannot castle
through check or in check), with the additional rule that the squares between where the king and castled rook will end
up must be vacant from all pieces except the king and rook. And instead of moving exactly 2 steps towards your rook,
you always castle so that it looks like in normal chess: King goes to g1 when you castle "kingside" and to c1 when you
castle "queenside."

Some Tournament Rules

Many tournaments follow a set of common, similar rules. These rules do not necessarily apply to play at home or online

Touch-move
If a player touches one of their own pieces they must move that piece as long as it is a legal move. (of course you can't
"touch" a piece online, so this is a tournament rule which does not matter on our website). If a player touches an opponent's
piece, they must capture that piece. A player who wishes to touch a piece only to adjust it on the board must first announce
what they are doing, usually by saying "adjust."

Introduction to Clocks and Timers

Most tournaments use timers to regulate the time spent on each game, not on each move. That's because when they first
started having chess tournaments in the 1800s, some guys would just sit there and not move if they were in a losing
position. This perfect strategy kept them from ever losing... and the tournament from ever finishing! Then they invented the
chess clock, and it became normal at most tournaments.
Each player gets the same amount of time to use for their entire game and can decide how to spend that time. Once a
player makes a move they then touch a button or hit a lever to stop their clock from running and start the opponent's clock. If
a player runs out of time and the opponent calls the time, then the player who ran out of time loses the game (unless the
opponent does not have enough pieces to checkmate, in which case it is a draw). Click here to watch two players quickly
playing a timed game of chess!

Basic Strategy
There are four simple things that every chess player should know:
#1 Protect your king
Get your king to the corner of the board where he is usually safer. Don't put off castling. You should usually castle as
quickly as possible. Remember, it doesn't matter how close you are to checkmating your opponent if your own king is
checkmated first!
#2 Dont give pieces away
Dont carelessly lose your pieces! Each piece is valuable and you cant win a game without pieces to checkmate. There is an
easy system that most players use to keep track of the relative value of each chess piece:
A pawn is worth 1
A knight is worth 3
A bishop is worth 3

A rook is worth 5
A queen is worth 9
The king is infinitely valuable
At the end of the game these points dont mean anything it is simply a system you can use to make decisions while
playing, helping you know when to capture, exchange, or make other moves.

#3 Control the center

You should try and control the center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you control the center, you will have more
room to move your pieces and will make it harder for your opponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example
below white makes good moves to control the center while black plays bad moves.

Scrabble Rules - Scrabble Official Rules

When playing Scrabble, anywhere from two to four players will enjoy the game. The object when playing is to score more
points than other players. As words are placed on the game board, points are collected and each letter that is used in the
game will have a different point value. The main strategy is to play words that have the highest possible score based on the
combination of letters.

The Scrabble Board

A standard Scrabble board will consist of cells that are located in a large square grid. The board offers 15 cells high and 15
cells wide. The tiles used on the game will fit in each cell on the board.

Scrabble Tiles
There are 100 tiles that are used in the game and 98 of them will contain letters and point values. There are 2 blank tiles that
can be used as wild tiles to take the place of any letter. When a blank is played, it will remain in the game as the letter it
substituted for.
Different letters in the game will have various point values and this will depend on how rare the letter is and how difficult it
may be to lay that letter. Blank tiles will have no point values.

Tile Values
Below are the point values for each letter that is used in a Scrabble game.
0 Points - Blank tile.
4 Points - F, H, V, W and Y.
1 Point - A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T and U.
5 Points - K.
2 Points - D and G.
8 Points - J and X.
3 Points - B, C, M and P.
10 Points - Q and Z.

Extra Point Values

When looking at the board, players will see that some squares offer multipliers. Should a tile be placed on these squares,
the value of the tile will be multiplied by 2x or 3x. Some squares will also multiply the total value of the word and not just the
single point value of one tile.
Double Letter Scores - The light blue cells in the board are isolated and when these are used, they will double the value of
the tile placed on that square.
Triple Letter Score - The dark blue cell in the board will be worth triple the amount, so any tile placed here will earn more
points.
Double Word Score - When a cell is light red in colour, it is a double word cell and these run diagonally on the board,
towards the four corners. When a word is placed on these squares, the entire value of the word will be doubled.
Triple Word Score - The dark red square is where the high points can be earned as this will triple the word score. Placing
any word on these squares will boos points drastically. These are found on all four sides of the board and are equidistant
from the corners.
One Single Use - When using the extra point squares on the board, they can only be used one time. If a player places a
word here, it cannot be used as a multiplier by placing another word on the same square.

Starting the Game

Without looking at any of the tiles in the bag, players will take one tile. The player that has the letter that is closest to A will
begin the game. A blank tile will win the start of the game. The tiles are them replaced to the bag and used in the remainder
of the game.
Every player will start their turn by drawing seven tiles from the Scrabble bag. There are three options during any turn. The
player can place a word, they can exchange tiles for new tiles or they can choose to pass. In most cases, players will try to
place a word as the other two options will result in no score.
When a player chooses to exchange tiles, they can choose to exchange one or all of the tiles they currently hold. After tiles
are exchanged, the turn is over and players will have to wait until their next turn to place a word on the board.
Players can choose to pass at any time. They will forfeit that turn and hope to be able to play the next time. If any player
passes two times in a row, the game will end and the one with the highest score will win.

The First Word Score

When the game begins, the first player will place their word on the star spin in the centre of the board. The star is a double
square and will offer a double word score. All players following will build their words off of this word, extending the game to
other squares on the board.
Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board.

Replacing Scrabble Tiles

Once tiles are played on the board, players will draw new tiles to replace those. Players will always have seven tiles during
the game. Drawing tiles is always done without looking into the bag so that the letters are always unknown.

The Fifty Point Bonus

Exciting rewards can come when players use all seven tiles to create a word on the board. When this happens, players will
receive a 50 point bonus, in addition to the value of the word. If the game is near the end and players are not holding seven
tiles, they do not get the bonus for using all of their tiles. This is only collected for seven letter words placed.

The End of a Scrabble Game

Once all tiles are gone from the bag and a single player has placed all of their tiles, the game will end and the player with the
highest score wins.

Tallying Scrabble Scores

When the game ends, each player will count all points that are remaining on their tiles that have not been played. This
amount will be deducted from the final score.
An added bonus is awarded to the player that ended the game and has no remaining tiles. The tile values of all remaining
players will be added to the score of the player who is out of tiles to produce the final score for the game.
The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied wins.

Accepted Scrabble Words

Any word that is found in a standard English dictionary can be used in the game of Scrabble. There are also Official
Scrabble Dictionaries that can be purchased for more word options.
There are some words that are not allowed to be played and these include suffixes, prefixes and abbreviations. Any word
that requires the use of a hyphen or apostrophe cannot be played in the game. Any word that required the use of a capital
letter is not allowed.
When playing an English version of the game, foreign words are not allowed to be placed on the board. However, if the
foreign word does appear in a standard English dictionary, it is allowed. The reason for this is due to the fact that the word is
spoken enough and is considered part of the English language.

DOMINO RULES

ABOUT YOUR DOUBLE 6 DOMINO SET

The set consists of 28 dominoes. There are 7 doubles (same number on both ends from double blank to
double six) and 21 singles (different numbers on both ends or a number and a blank).

FUNDAMENTALS OF DOMINOES
There are countless different domino games and within each game, there are many variations of play
available. The purpose of this set of rules is to get you started with a few simple and popular games. Later,
we'll give you reference information for finding many other games you would enjoy.
One of the wonderful things about dominoes is that anyone can learn the basics very quickly, but as you
play and progress, you will find many additional levels of the game and as your experience and skills

develop, you will become a more and more formidable player. Get started with these simple games and
you will find yourself getting smarter every time you play. Dominoes is a good game for your brain.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
Two to Four people can play the games we'll show you here. If Four are playing, each person can play
individually or you can group into two teams.

MATCHING
The basis of most domino games is to lay down a domino next to another domino so that the numbers (or
blanks) on adjacent dominoes match each other.
The first domino played is call the "set". It could be anything, but here is an example

Singles dominoes are placed on the table making a line of play.

Double dominoes are played across the line of play

TURNING FOR CONVENIENCE

Although you normally play in a line, if you run out of table space, you can play a domino at a 90 degree
angle to give yourself more room.

And then further play continues in a linear fashion from either end.

WHO DRAWS FIRST? WHO PLAYS FIRST

There are variations, but here is a starting point:Turn the dominoes upside down on the table and mix them
around. Then have each player draw one domino. The player who draws the highest domino (based on
total number of dots) will draw first and also make the first play of the game.
Now return those dominoes to the table and mix them again. Now draw the dominoes for the playing of the
hand. The person who won the right to play first draws first. Each player may draw all the dominoes for the
hand or you can go around the table with each player drawing one domino until all have the dominoes
needed to start play.
Each player places the dominoes on their side with the back facing the other players so they cannot see
which dominoes their opponents are holding.

THE PLAY
Each player in turn lays down a single domino according to the rules of the game being played. Play
proceeds clockwise around the table. If a player has a playable domino, he must play it when his turn
comes. You cannot hold back a playable domino for strategic reasons.