MATERIALS IN SCRABBLE

Game board -- This is what the game is played on. In most versions, the board consists of grooves where tiles fit into. The board is square and different grooves correspond to different ways of scoring.

Tiles -- These are what each player uses to form words. The tiles are about a square-inch big and have letters etched into them with a point value in the lower right hand corner. Many choose to place these in a pouch for letter-choosing, but this is not required. You can simply turn all the tiles over and have players choose their letters that way.

Letter Rack -- The racks are used to hold each player's tiles so they can see them and slide them around to form words before his/her turn as well as keep them from the eyes of other players. They are usually long, thin racks made of wood or plastic.

Pen and Paper -- Self-explanatory, you need these items to keep score. Timer (optional) -- Some Scrabble players prefer to use a timer to set a limit on each

person's turn. Though this is not an official rule, it is commonly practiced to keep the game moving at a reasonable speed.

Scrabble dictionary (optional) -- Though using this during a game is not always accepted, some use this as a guide for letter combinations they are not sure are words. However, most true Scrabble players don't use the dictionary while playing; they see it as a crutch.

Basic Rules

Here is a brief overview of Scrabble rules. For more precise rules, seek an official Scrabble rulebook.

For each Scrabble game, there must be at least two-players and no more than four. The person who draws the earliest letter in the alphabet plays first. Once the order of turns is established, each person draws six more tiles in that order. The game progresses as each player lays down tiles on the board that make up words that

connect to already played words, like making one big crossword puzzle. Tiles can only be placed from left to right or from top to bottom. Words placed

diagonally or backwards are not allowed. After each turn, the tile values are added up and placed on the score sheet, and the person

draws the number of tiles they used for their last play, always having seven tiles until all tiles run out.

The person with the most points at the end of the game wins.

CHESS

King

When a king is under direct attack by one (or possibly two) of the opponent's pieces, the player is said to be in check. When in check, only moves that remove the king from attack are permitted. The player must not make any move that would place his king in check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there are no moves that remove the king from attack.

The king can move only one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Once in the game, each king is allowed to make a special double move, to castle. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook, then moving the rook onto the square over which the king crossed. Castling is only permissible if all of the following conditions hold:

The player must never have moved both the king and the rook involved in castling. There must be no pieces between the king and the rook. The king may not currently be in check, nor may the king pass through squares that are under

attack by enemy pieces. As with any move, castling is illegal if it would place the king in check. The king and the rook must be on the same rank (to exclude castling with a promoted pawn).

3.1.2. Rook

The rook moves any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally (it is also involved in the king's special move of castling).

3.1.3. Bishop

The bishop moves any number of vacant squares in any direction diagonally. Note that a bishop never changes square color, therefore players speak about "light-squared" or "dark-squared" bishops.

3.1.4. Queen

The queen can move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically.

3.1.5. Knight

The knight can jump over occupied squares and moves two spaces horizontally and one space vertically or vice versa, making an "L" shape. A knight in the middle of the board has eight squares to which it can move. Note that every time a knight moves, it changes square color.

3.1.6. Pawns

Pawns have the most complex rules of movement: A pawn can move forward one square, if that square is unoccupied. If it has not moved yet, the pawn has the option of moving two squares forward, if both squares in front of the pawn are unoccupied. A pawn cannot move backward. When such an initial two square advance is made that puts that pawn horizontally adjacent to an opponent's pawn, the opponent's pawn can capture that pawn "en passant" as if it moved forward only one square rather than two, but only on the immediately subsequent move. Pawns are the only pieces that capture differently than they move. They can capture an enemy piece on either of the two spaces adjacent to the space in front of them (i.e., the two squares diagonally in front of them), but cannot move to these spaces if they are vacant. If a pawn advances all the way to its eighth rank, it is then promoted (converted) to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. In practice, the pawn is almost always promoted to a queen.

3.1.7. Remaining movement rules

With the exception of the knight, pieces cannot jump over each other. One's own pieces ("friendly pieces") cannot be passed if they are in the line of movement, and a friendly piece can never replace another friendly piece. Enemy pieces cannot be passed, but they can be "captured". When a piece is captured (or taken), the attacking piece replaces the enemy piece on its square (en passant being the only exception). The captured piece is thus removed from the game and may not be returned to play for the remainder of the game. The king cannot be captured, only put in check. If a player is unable to get the king out of check, checkmate results, with the loss of the game.

Chess games do not have to end in checkmate — either player may resign if the situation looks hopeless. Games also may end in a draw (tie). A draw can occur in several situations, including draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition of a position, the fifty move rule, or a draw by impossibility of checkmate (usually because of insufficient material to checkmate).

3.2. Timed Games

Games can be played with a time-limit by setting a move time when creating a new game. In timed games each player has a certain amount of time available for deciding which moves to make, and the time remaining for each player decreases only when it is their turn to move.

3.3. Game Draw

A game that ends without victory for either player. Most drawn games are draws by agreement based upon the rules. The other ways that a game can end in a draw are stalemate, three-fold repetition, the fifty-move rule, and insufficient material. A position is said to be a draw (or a drawn position) if either player can, through correct play, eventually force the game into a position where the game must end in a draw, regardless of the moves made by the other player.

3.3.1. Stalemate 3.3.2. Threefold repetetion 3.3.3. Fifty move rule 3.3.4. Insufficient material

3.3.1. Stalemate

A stalemate is a position in which the player whose turn it is to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. A stalemate results in an immediate draw.

3.3.2. Threefold repetetion

The game is drawn if the same position occurs three times with the same player to move, and with each player having the same set of legal moves each time (the latter includes the right to take en passant and the right to castle).

3.3.3. Fifty move rule

The fifty move rule states that the game is drawn after fifty moves from each side without a pawn move or capture.

3.3.4. Insufficient material

An endgame scenario in which all pawns have been captured, and one side has only its king remaining while the other is down to just a king or a king plus one knight or one bishop. The

position is a draw because it is impossible for the dominant side to deliver checkmate regardless of play. Situations where checkmate is possible only if the inferior side blunders are covered by the fifty-move rule.

Dominoes Game Rules

GameColony offers 2 ways to play domino online:

Domino Live app for Android Phones & Tablets

Browser-based Java Dominoes

Variations

There are 3 versions of online domino games at GameColony.com:

Five-up (also referred to as Muggins or All Fives) Draw Block

Five-up Variation

Object

To be the first person to attain the agreed-upon number of points (100 - 500). Points may be awarded during the play of the hand by making the exposed ends of the chain total to a multiple of five (5). The winner at the end of each hand also scores points for all the pips remaining in the other player's hand rounded to the nearest multiple of five.

Examples

A player scores points if the sum of the two open ends totals a multiple of 5.

If the dominoes on table are:

The player who put the last bone scored 5 points - the some of ends of the above chain: 1+4=5 (multiple of 5)

If the next player places:           

the new chain will become:  

The player who put the last bone scored 10 points - the sum of ends of the above chain: 6+4=10 (multiple of 5)

If the double is at the open end, both sides of the double counted. In chain below, the last player scored 15 points: 5+5+5=15

Deal

At the beginning of a game, the hands are dealt by randomly shuffling all tiles and distributing seven (7) tiles (also called bones or dominoes) to each player. The remaining dominoes are placed in the boneyard to be drawn from by a player when he/she cannot play a tile from his hand. If this is the first hand of a game, the player with double six must play it first (also see options below - random 1st hand). If no one has the double six, the call goes out for double five, then double four, and so on until one of the players can produce the called for tile. Players then take turns. In subsequent hands, the winner of the previous hand starts the next game (see Options below: rotated start). When leading in a hand other than the first one in the game, the choice of play may be any tile in the lead player's hand.

Game Play

Once the lead tile has been played, the tiles that may be played are constrained to match the exposed ends of the chain.

If the tile is not a double it is placed horizontally

If the tile is a double, it is placed vertically Players take turns. If a player does not have any tiles which have a number of pips that matches one of the exposed ends of the chain, that player must draw from the boneyard one tile at a time until he/she draws one which may be played. If there is no boneyard or are no more tiles left in the boneyard, that player must pass. If a player has at least one tile that matches one of the exposed ends of the chain, that player must play a tile and cannot pass. Play may proceed off both ends of the chain, or from the exposed ends of the first double that is played once that double has had dominoes played from both its sides. That double is referred to as the spinner because the chain sprouts from all four sides of the domino. At most there will be four ends of the chain exposed; no other double may have additional dominoes played from it.

In the picture below, double six was the first double placed in the chain and it became a spinner.

The dominoes can be placed in 4 directions indicated by hotspots - empty rectangular placeholders. Please note: in the above picture, the bottom portion of the spinner is not 'activated' for scoring yet -- since no bone was placed there yet. Thus, in the above domino chain, the some of the end tiles is: 10 (4 + 4 + 2).

End of Play

The first player to use all his tiles wins the game. Once the winning piece is placed on the chain, the game is over and the players expose their remaining pieces to be counted in the scoring. No further plays can be made by any of the players. It is possible for the game to reach a dead end, where all play is blocked and no tiles may be played. This outcome is called a blocked or jammed game. In this case, the end of the game is determined when the boneyard is empty and all players pass consecutively (i.e., none of the players may make a legal play). To determine the winner, all tiles held by players must be exposed and counted. The player with the least number of pips on the dominoes still held is declared the winner.

If a player does not have any tiles which have a number of pips that matches one of the exposed ends of the chain, that player must draw from the boneyard one tile at a time until he/she draws one which may be played. If there are no more tiles left in the boneyard, that player must pass. If a player has at least one tile that matches one of the exposed ends of the chain, that player must play a tile and cannot pass. When placing tiles on the chain, doubles are placed crosswise so that the end of the chain touches the side of the double. If a tile is played that is not a double, the matching end of the tile is placed adjacent to the end of the chain to which it matches, with the domino placed in a lengthwise fashion. Play may proceed off both ends of the chain, or from the exposed ends of the first double that is played once that double has had dominoes played from both its sides. That double is referred to as the spinner because the chain sprouts from all four sides of the domino.

Scoring

When summing the ends of the chain, a blank counts as zero points. Any double which is exposed sideways on the end of the chain is scored counting both ends of the domino. For example, if one end of the chain has a double four and the other end has a two, the score is eight (8) for the double four and two (2) for the two giving a total of ten (10) points. Once the hand is over, the dominoes held by the other players are totalled and rounded off to the nearest multiple of five (5). This total is added to the winning player or team's match score. If the hand was blocked or jammed, the total does not include the number of points held by the jamming player. If the number of points held by each player is the same, the hand is declared a tie and no extra points are added to any player's score. If all scores are less than agreed-upon number of points for the game (100-500), the game continues by playing another hand.

Options and Defaults

Who starts the 1st hand and how?

By default, the highest double in the first hand is forced - whoever was dealt the highest double must start the 1st hand with it (in the rare instance that nobody had any doubles, the highest bone starts). A domino table can also be created with an option of Random start (when 'no 1st hand forced double' default option is unchecked). In this case, the server determines randomly which play er will start. If this option is in force, then the player is free to chose what bon e to start with.

Who starts the new hand? Winner of the previous hand?

By default, the winner of the hand starts the new hand. A domino table can also be created with a non-default option 'rotated start'. With 'rotated start' non-default option, the starter of the next hand (also called 'first down') alternates every hand.

With the default options (winner starts and 1st hand forced double), if the game is blocked (in Five-Up & Draw games), then the player with the highest double will start the next hand.

In the table listings, the options are shown in short notation as in the following examples:

100pt/5+ denotes the table set for 100 pt for Five-up (5) with a spinner (+) 125pt/5* denotes the table set for 125 pt for Five-up (5) without a spinner (no +) with no forced

double (*) 125pt/5+O denotes the table set for 125 pt for Five-up (5) with a spinner (+) with rotated start

(O) 200pt/Drw denotes the table set for 200 pt for Draw variation (Drw) without a spinner (no +) 100pt/Blk denotes the table set for 100 pt for Block variation (Blk) without a spinner (no +)

Draw Variation

As opposed to Five-Up variation above, points are not awarded during play for making multiples of five. Points are awarded only at the end of each hand. Each player tries to match the pips on one end of a tile from his/her hand with the pips on an open end of any tile in the chain. If a player is unable to match a tile from his/her hand with a tile in the chain, the player passes his/her turn. Each player may play only one tile per turn. If a player cannot match a tile with one in the chain, he/she must draw from the boneyard until the tile that can be played is drawn. If there are no tiles left in the boneyard, the player passes his/her turn. The first player to get rid of all dominoes wins the hand. If none of the players can make a play, the game ends in a block. If a hand ends in a block, the players turn the tiles in their hands faceup for counting. The player with the lowest total wins the hand and earns the points (1 point per pip) of all the tiles left remaining in his opponent's hand. The player who first reaches the agreed-upon number of points (100-500) or more is the overall winner.

Block Variation

This variation is similar to Draw variation above, except no player can draw from a boneyard. If none of the players can make a play, the hand ends in a block. The players turn the tiles in their hands faceup for counting. The player with the lowest total wins the hand and earns the points (1 point per pip) of all the tiles left remaining in his opponent's hand. The player who first reaches the agreed-upon number of points (100-500) or more is the overall winner.