Game Night Rules
Clear, no-nonsense rules for classic card, board, dice and lawn games, plus free tools to help you play.
Rules
Card games
Canasta Rules: How to Play Classic Canasta
Learn canasta rules: how to play classic canasta, card values for every rank, the 50/90/120 minimum-meld ladder, natural vs mixed canastas, freezing the pile, and partnership scoring.
Cribbage Rules: How to Play, Score, and Win
Learn cribbage rules: the deal and the crib, how pegging works during the play, the full scoring table for the show, two worked example hands, and how a game ends at 121.
Euchre Rules: How to Play, Order Up, and Score
Clear euchre rules covering the deal, ordering up, calling trump, the bower ranking, going alone, and scoring 1, 2, and 4 points to a 10-point game.
Gin Rummy Rules: How to Play, Knock, and Score
Learn gin rummy rules: the ten-card deal, drawing and discarding, deadwood counts, knocking, going gin, undercut scoring, and reaching 100 points.
How to Play Hearts: Rules, Passing, and Scoring
Learn how to play hearts: the 13-card deal, the passing rotation, first-trick rules, scoring, and shooting the moon, plus the hearts rules that differ by table.
Phase 10 Rules: How to Play, Score, and Win
Phase 10 rules explained end to end: the 108-card deck, the ten-card deal, laying down and hitting phases, Skip and Wild cards, scoring, and how the game ends.
How to Play Rummy: Setup, Rules, and Scoring
Learn how to play rummy: rummy rules for the basic/straight card game, the deal by player count, melds, laying off, going rummy, deadwood scoring, and 500 rummy's differences.
How to Play Solitaire: Klondike Rules & Setup
Learn how to play solitaire the standard Klondike way — tableau setup, turn-three draw, scoring and the stock/waste/foundation layout — checked against pagat.com and Wikipedia.
How to Play Spades: Rules, Setup, and Scoring
Learn how to play spades: partnership bidding, nil bids, bags, scoring, and the spades rules that differ between house, tournament, and three-player games.
Board games
American Mahjong Rules: Setup, Charleston & Scoring
Learn American mahjong rules: the yearly NMJL card, the Charleston, jokers, and scoring, checked against the National Mah Jongg League and pagat.com.
How to Play Backgammon: Rules, Setup & Scoring
Learn how to play backgammon: starting position, turn order, hitting and the bar, bearing off, the doubling cube, and scoring, checked against USBGF and bkgm.com rules.
How to Play Checkers: Rules, Setup, and Scoring
Learn how to play checkers: the starting position, forced captures, kings, winning the game, and how these checkers rules differ from international draughts.
How to Play Dominoes: Rules, Setup, and Scoring
Learn how to play dominoes: setup, turns, scoring, and how a hand ends for both the draw game and the block game, plus common variations and house rules.
Jewish Mahjong: What It Is & How It Compares
What is Jewish mahjong? An explainer on the American mah jongg game — the NMJL card, jokers, the Charleston — its history, and how it compares to Chinese mahjong.
How to Play Mahjong: Rules, Setup & Scoring
Learn how to play mahjong the Hong Kong way — tiles, setup, turns, melds, scoring and how American mahjong differs — checked against WMO/MIL, pagat.com and NMJL sources.
Mahjong Tiles: Every Tile Named, Meanings & Hands
Every mahjong tile shown and named with its common nickname, how many tiles each style uses, what a pung, chow, kong and pair are, and what to look for when buying a set.
Mancala Rules: How to Play, Setup, and Scoring
Learn mancala rules for Kalah: setup, sowing, the capture and extra-turn rules, scoring, and how the game ends, plus Oware and other mancala variants explained.
Mexican Train Rules: How to Play, Setup, and Scoring
Learn mexican train rules: how to play, setup, turn order, and scoring, plus how a hand ends and the common variations on doubles and the Mexican train.
Riichi Mahjong Rules: How to Play Japanese Mahjong
Learn riichi mahjong rules (Japanese mahjong rules): the 136-tile set, the dead wall and dora, declaring riichi, furiten, the one-yaku rule, and simplified han/fu scoring, checked against the European Mahjong Association and pagat.com.
Rummikub Rules: How to Play, Setup, and Scoring
Learn Rummikub rules: how to play, setup, the initial meld, joker rules, scoring, and how a game ends, checked against the official rulebook and pagat.com.
Taiwanese Mahjong Rules: The 16-Tile Hand & Tai Scoring
Learn Taiwanese mahjong rules: the 16-tile hand, flowers and seasons as scoring tiles, the lian zhuang dealer streak, and tai scoring, checked against the Four Winds rule collection and Wikipedia's mahjong scoring overview.
Dice games
Example rules page
A scaffold example rules page, standing in for a real game's rules hub until real content is written.
Farkle Rules: How to Play, Setup, and Scoring
Learn farkle rules: how to play, the full scoring table for every dice combination, hot dice, banking strategy, and how a game is won at 10,000 points.
Yahtzee Rules: How to Play, Score, and Win
Learn Yahtzee rules: how to play, the full scoring table for every category, the upper section bonus, the Joker rule for extra Yahtzees, and how a 13-round game is won.
Lawn games
Bocce Ball Rules: How to Play, Score, and Win
Bocce ball rules explained: court setup, turn order, scoring with a worked example, and how backyard, USBF, and international bocce differ on court size and winning score - checked against official rulebooks.
Cornhole Rules: How to Play, Score, and Win
Cornhole rules explained: board distance, pitching order, cancellation scoring with a worked example, and how a game ends - checked against ACO and ACL rulebooks.
Pickleball Rules: How to Play, Score, and the Kitchen
Pickleball rules explained end to end: court setup, the serving sequence, the two-bounce rule, kitchen (non-volley zone) violations, and scoring, checked against the 2026 USA Pickleball rulebook and a second independent authority.
Shuffleboard Rules: Table and Deck Shuffleboard
Shuffleboard rules for table shuffleboard's 1-2-3 zones and hanger, plus deck shuffleboard's 10-8-7 triangle and 10-off zone, verified against two rulebooks.
More games
Tools
Bowling Score Calculator
Enter each roll of a ten-pin bowling game and get the frame-by-frame score, with strikes, spares and the tenth frame handled automatically.
Tournament Bracket Generator
Build a single-elimination tournament bracket for 2 to 64 entrants, with byes placed correctly, seeded or random draw, and a one-page printable layout.
Cornhole Scoreboard: Cancellation Scoring Tracker
A free cornhole scoreboard with cancellation scoring built in. Enter bags on the board or in the hole for each side, track the running score to 21, and turn on an optional bust rule.
Cribbage Scoring Calculator
Pick your cribbage hand and the starter card to instantly score every fifteen, pair, run, flush and nobs — with a crib toggle and a full breakdown.
Darts Scoreboard: 501, 301 and Cricket Score Tracker
A free darts scoreboard for 501, 301 and Cricket. Enter darts on a touch-friendly keypad, track remaining score, average per turn and bust/double-out rules automatically.
Example counter
A scaffold example tool page: a game-night tally counter, standing in for a real tool until real tools are built.
Farkle Score Sheet (Printable)
A free, printable Farkle score sheet for up to six players. Fill it in online and it totals each player's running score and a grand total for you, or print a blank sheet for the table.
Phase 10 Score Sheet (Printable)
A free, printable Phase 10 score sheet for 2 to 6 players. Fill it in online and it tracks each player's current phase and running score for you — or print a blank sheet for the table.
Round Robin Generator
Generate a round robin schedule for 3 to 24 players or teams. Every entrant meets every other exactly once, odd counts get a fair bye, and you can split matches across courts or tables.
Random Team Generator
Paste a list of names and split them into balanced random teams by team count or team size, with a shuffle-again button and copy-as-text results.
Yahtzee Score Sheet (Printable)
A free, printable Yahtzee score sheet. Fill it in online and it totals the upper and lower sections, the upper bonus and the Yahtzee bonus for you — or print a blank sheet for the table.