Strategy/Tactics
 Count your opening tiles. Don&rsquo;t track specific pairs at this stage, just count the numbers where you hold a majority eg (ignoring the rightmost 2:5 tile in d) above you have seven tiles. If those tiles had all been in your starting hand you would count 5x5s, 3x3s, 3x2s, 2x0s 1x4
 Play to your majority 5s Start with 5:5 for 10 points (ends total 5+5)
 &nbsp;if your opponent replies with 5:6 or 5:1 you respond 5:4 gaining 20pts or 15pts for ends 20 or 15
 Else if they play 5:0 they score 10pts. Then if you have 0:0, play that for 10pts &hellip;but if you don&rsquo;t have 0:0 how should you prioritise?
 Play another 0 tile if you can rather than your 5s which you can play any time (your opponent would need 2 turns to block both fives). Ideally play toward your next majority number&hellip;from above you had 3x3s and 3x2s so 0:3 or 0:2 
 Now should your opponent play 2:2 or 3:3 in keeping with versatility (doubles are easier to block so dump them when no other priority) you respond 2:5 or 3:5 !! now you score and have 3x5 end points likely your end point control will block your opponent forcing pickup of tiles
 Play away from scarcity&hellip;if you have only 1 of a number prioritise playing it first hoping to deny your opponent their best majority play
 If your opponent then has several more tiles than you, prioritise maximising end points you can use over and above scoring, hoping to pick up bonus points from tiles left in their hand when you go out.
 Blocking has been mentioned but sometimes there is an opportunity for Total blocking which occurs if you can block every end-tile by using up the last tiles of one or more numbers. Then your opponent has to pick up every remaining tile before the round ends giving you a potentially huge end-point bonus ! The opportunity is more likely where you have a significant majority in your start hand
 If you have more tiles than your opponent try to work out a sequence to grab endpoint control before they can go out, whilst trying to maximise your point scoring with high value first in case they do go out soon
 Advanced Tactics (psychological)&hellip; your better opponents know all the above too, so just occasionally feed them some misinformation by faking a preference 😉
 Speed of play&hellip;be careful cos this tactic is rife for misinformation too but if your opponent plays quickly, especially when not scoring, it may mean they had only one choice
 If your opponent is close to winning and you cannot achieve end point control it may not be wise to force partial pickups
 Likewise, without end point control you can still aim to minimise the range of end point numbers available hoping the remaining numbers are still in the boneyard and forcing opponent pickup
 Towards round end check for exact tile pairs as yet unplayed, might help identify blockers or sequences

Dominoes

Tips in Dominoes

Strategy/Tactics
 Placement
 <ol>
 <li>Note opponent placement at end of previous game</li>
 <li>Place your ships differently &hellip;or not!</li>
 <li>Scout and Sub are hardest to find with only two and three squares</li>
 <li>In general ships placed directly adjacent are more susceptible to accidental discovery during neighbouring ship attacks</li>
 <li>..but this also means your opponent may well avoid or reduce targeting adjacent squares to existing destroyed ships</li>
 <li>.. so variety could include placing your scout alongside a larger vessel or between larger vessels, perhaps similar with your submarine</li>
 <li>Another tactic is to put all your larger vessels close together leaving oceans of space to hide your scout and sub, a severe test for most</li>
 </ol>
 Search patterns
 <ol start="8">
 <li>Watch opponent searching tactics for predictable patterns, favourite quarters etc</li>
 <li>Don&rsquo;t give too much away re your own search patterns butbe careful to minimise spaces in later game requiring extra shots to be sure of hitting the smallest remaining vessel eg 3 squares for certain hit on scout, 5 squares for sub</li>
 <li>If you&rsquo;re a chess player you might like to try knight&rsquo;s move pattern</li>
 <li>some players habitually avoid targeting where they&rsquo;ve put their own ships, and some do the opposite&hellip; another pattern to look out for</li>
 </ol>

Oh Ship!

Pure Psychology

&nbsp;Game Play
 Yatzy can be played with 2 - 6 players. Players take turns rolling five dice. After each roll, the player chooses which dice to keep, and which to reroll. A player may reroll some or all of the dice up to two times on a turn. The player must put a score or zero into a score box each turn. The game ends when all score boxes are used. The player with the highest total score wins the game.
 &nbsp;Scoring
 The following combinations earn points:&nbsp; Upper Section:
 <ul>
 <li>Ones: The sum of all dice showing the number 1.</li>
 <li>Twos: The sum of all dice showing the number 2.</li>
 <li>Threes: The sum of all dice showing the number 3.</li>
 <li>Fours: The sum of all dice showing the number 4.</li>
 <li>Fives: The sum of all dice showing the number 5.</li>
 <li>Sixes: The sum of all dice showing the number 6.</li>
 </ul>
 If a player manages to score at least 63 points (three of each number) in the upper section, they are awarded a bonus of 50 points.&nbsp; Lower Section:
 <ul>
 <li>One Pair: Two dice showing the same number. Score: Sum of those two dice.</li>
 <li>Two Pairs: Two pairs of dice. Score: Sum of dice in those two pairs.</li>
 <li>Three of a Kind: Three dice showing the same number. Score: Sum of those three dice.</li>
 <li>Four of a Kind: Four dice with the same number. Score: Sum of those four dice.</li>
 <li>Small Straight: Fo.ur consecutive numbers. Example: 3,4,5,6. Score: 30 points.</li>
 <li>Large Straight: Five consecutive numbers. Example: 1,2,3,4,5. Score: 40 points.</li>
 <li>House: Any set of three combined with a set of two. Score: 25 points.</li>
 <li>Chance: Any combination of dice. Score: Sum of all the dice.</li>
 <li>Yatzy: All five dice with the same number. Score: 50 points.</li>
 </ul>
 Tactics 
 Tempting though it might be to concentrate on the high scoring lower section its best usually to keep options open for any combination your first roll turns up, and the 50 bonus for your top half reaching 63 is crucial in most games
 That needs 3 of each denomination 1-6, any less means you need four of a bigger denomination to compensate. So early on if your first roll turns up a pair or more save those and reroll. You might make yatzy too. Choice of pairs, pick the higher. If you already have that denomination in the upper section look for options&hellip;with eg 5 or 6 look for 2 pairs with 1,2,3 look for full house
 If your starting roll is a full house with low denominations keep it, but if eg its 3x 6s reroll the pair looking for 4 x6s or jatzy. with 4 x 6s you could still hit your 63 with only 2x1, 2x2, 2x3 That can be so helpful if you get 3x6s early on, consider posting 3 of a kind hoping for 4x6s later for the upper section. But with 5x6s take the yatzty.
 Straights&hellip; keep these open until your starting dice are 2,3,4,5 n gives you 2 rerolls to get either a 1 or a 6. If you don&rsquo;t make it but end up with 2x5 consider posting a pair keeping small straight open for next opportunity
 As the game develops if you have a healthy upper section(4x6s, 4x5s &hellip;) and your start roll is 2,3,5,n,n or 2,4,5,n,n go for straights if the ns match denominations you already have in the upper section, else consider full house when you have 2 pairs. 
 If you don&rsquo;t make your combination register the least damaging score eg a pair or 1x1 in upper where you already have 4x2s or more. The Chance slot is worth keeping for 25+ points
 In late game, consider least likely slots for the zero scores, especially if your opponent is behind you or has zeroed the same slot already, so jatzy often first major sacrifice unless scores opponent is too far ahead. Also consider fallback options, you don&rsquo;t want to be aiming for opposites like 4 of a kind or a straight in your 2nd and 3rd rolls

Yatzy

Yatzy Tactics

<h1>Some pointers to getting your chips home</h1>
 <ul>
 <li> Generally it is important to have a minimum of two pieces on a rank to avoid getting bumped back to start.</li>
 <li> Consequently, often using doubles to move two pieces together is a good idea, and sometimes moving the same two pieces twice is a good idea.</li>
 <li> Also, if you get doubles, try to move your pieces that are closest to the start so that they quickly move out of the starting area and cannot be bumped.</li>
 <li> If you get a 6 and a 5 early in the game move one of the starting pieces so that it lands on your other pieces in the far left column and cannot be bumped.</li>
 <li> If you get a 5 or two 5s early on in the game, move the column farthest to the left to the left center column to avoid getting bumped.</li>
 <li> Try to fill up with a minimum of two pieces on each rank on the side close to the end of the board so that if your opponent gets bumped he cannot place his piece or pieces quickly.</li>
 <li> If you get a 3 and a 1 early on in the game, move the left center column three then the right center column one.</li>
 <li> Towards the end of the game, move all your pieces into the conclusion area as quickly as possible before moving within the area so as to maximize high rolls getting your pieces in to the goal area.</li>
 <li> In contrast, sometimes it is useful to leave a few pieces near the conclusion area prepared to move in, instead of moving pieces in the conclusion area because it allows for greater flexibility in choosing which pieces to move into the goal area. This is useful for when your opponent has pieces that are starting again and you are trying to decide which place to move a piece to bump the opponent again.</li>
 <li> Sometimes it is useful to leave a few pieces near the end of the conclusion area but not inside it, in case you get a high roll and need to move the pieces in to bump your opponent’s starting pieces as soon as they are placed.</li>
 <li> It is a good idea to bump your opponent’s pieces at every opportunity so that they have to restart often, and especially if you have doubles so that you can take over a column with at least two pieces to make sure your pieces stay safe.</li>
 </ul>

Backgammon

Best Strategies in Backgammon

<h1>Follow this if you want to achieve victory!</h1>
 <ui>
 <li> At the start of the game take note of which region has the most territories with your color and consider focusing your troops on that area.</li>
 <li> Try to take over a whole continent so that you get the bonus troops from contiguous dominance.</li>
 <li> When your opponent has a whole continent, try to disrupt it so that they do not get the bonus troops from contiguous dominance.</li>
 <li> Place the most troops on the borders where you can block people from invading your contiguous controlled areas. For example, in South America the majority of troops would be in the north and the east. In North America, the troops would be in Greenland, Alaska, and Central America. In Africa, the troops would be in the north west, north center, and north east. In Europe, the troops would be in Iceland, the states on the Urals, the Iberian peninsula, and the states on the Mediterranean. In Oceania, the troops would be in Indonesia, And in Asia, the troops would be on the area bordering the states with the Urals, the Middle East, South East Asia, and North East Asia.</li>
 <li> Every turn try to take over at least one area in order to get a card. If possible, go after a contiguous state that has minimal troops on it, even if your opponent reclaims the area. </li>
 <li> Sometimes it is useful to have an non-contiguous region where you just buildup forces to make sure that you have access to your opponent in order to take over their territory for a card.</li>
 <li> Sometimes it is useful to keep one state with a large number of troops on it near your opponent’s space that also has many troops on it so that you can try to out do them with a buildup in the number of forces.</li>
 <li> Sometimes in order to discourage an opponent from taking over swathes of territory it is a good idea to also make sure that each territory has a minimum of 3 troops.</li>
 <li> When playing with many people, it is important not to over extend in order to eliminate another player or you will be vulnerable to being eliminated soon after.</li>
 </ui>

World War

Best Strategies in World War

The most basic strategy of dots and boxes is to avoid drawing the third line of a box until you have to. Of course, you can draw the third line of a negative box because your and you opponent would normally want to avoid completing a box with negative points.
 The next step in the strategy is that near the end of the game when your opponent draws a line in a long chain (3 squares or longer), instead of snatching all the boxes up, do not take the last 2 boxes. Instead, draw a line on the other end of the 2 boxes to enclose them. That way, you will not have to draw a line into the next long chain and your opponent instead will be forced to even when he/she draws a line to take the two squares.
 Now you’ll want to know how to force the opponent to make the first move into a long chain. Here are the rules for doing that. Now keep in mind that the following applies because this game is a 5x5 square. It can change for even-by-even squares and other dimensions!
 Basically, the 1st player wants an even number of long chains to form while the 2nd player wants an odd number of chains to form. In other words, at the end of the game if there is an even number of chains, the 1st player will force the other player to start playing into the long chains and vice versa.
 However, the game is not so simple. A special thing that only Gambit seems to have is the dangerous negative point boxes. This leads to the creation of “dominoes” that are not made in a normal dots and boxes game. A “domino” is two or three adjacent squares with only their outlines drawn in. That’s why it’s called a domino. The funny thing with dominoes is that every time one of them is made, the number of chains each player wants switches! To put it simply,
 <ul>Without dominoes:
 <li>1st player: even chains</li>
 <li>2nd player: odd chains</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>But when a domino is made:
 <li>1st player: odd chains</li>
 <li>2nd player: even chains</li>
 </ul>
 <ul>When a second domino is made:
 <li>1st player: even chains</li>
 <li>2nd player: odd chain</li>
 </ul>
 
 
 There is more. At this point, I’ve only talked about chains. Loops are basically chains without any ends. If you think of a chain as a path, a loop would be a path with no entrance or exit! The shortest possible chain would be a 2-by-2 square with only its outline drawn in. Loops themselves do not count as a chain.
 
 Branches are like chains (using a path analogy) that has 1 or more forks in the path. It’s a little more complicated than loops. If there is only 1 fork, that is, there are three or four single branches that meet up to one square, you want to count the number of branches that have 3 or more squares (called “long branches”) ignoring the center square. Here’s how to count them as chains:
 <ul>
 <li>0 long branches (unlikely): 1 chain</li>
 <li>1 long branch: 1 chain</li>
 <li>2 long branches: 1 chain</li>
 <li>3 long branches: 2 chains</li>
 <li>4 long branches: 2 chains</li>
 </ul>
 
 
 The final phase is the endgame when all possible moves without making a box can be made. Take turns first sacrificing “short chains” (with only 1 or 2 squares). Warning! When drawing a line to give up a 2-square chain, draw the line separating the 2 squares. If you draw a line on one end of a 2-square chain, the opponent can choose to make another domino if they want to switch the number of chains for them to win! Of course, if the number of chains are wrong for you, it wouldn’t hurt to try and draw on one end of a 2-square chain and see if your opponent accidentally makes another domino in your favor.
 With long chains, as mentioned above, you want to take all the squares, except for the last 2, then draw a line on the other end of the 2 remaining squares, forming a domino. These dominoes do not change the number of chains you want, because it was part of a chain itself. Remember that a domino can be 2 or 3 squares, so you can also leave three squares as a domino if some or all of them are negative squares.
 Now to deal with loops during the endgame, you can take all but 4 squares in the loop, then draw a final line splitting the 4 squares into a couple dominoes. Remember that dominoes are 2 or 3 squares, so you can also make a couple of dominoes in a loop by splitting 5 or 6 squares. But it’s only a good idea to do that if most squares are negative.
 To deal with branches (with only 1 fork) during the endgame, give up the short branches as if they were short chains being careful as described above. You can then treat the long branches as long chains and always give up 2 or three squares as a domino. Now it’s not explained what to do with more than 1 fork.
 But generally, you can alter the number of chains depending on where you place the line. Try avoiding multiple forks or use it to confuse your opponent…just don’t confuse yourself!
 Finally, will all said and done. You should be able to win against players who do not know this strategy! Get out there and win!
 Here are some side notes for those who want to step up their game even more: To control the number of chains, try splitting up the board evenly if you want multiple chains, but… Avoid making long chains with only 3 squares and/or with bonus points (+2, +3, etc.) at the ends. This starts to give opponents more points than you because you will give up at least 2 squares. For example, if you have a 3-square long chain with 2 bonus squares, one on the end and one in the middle, the opponent can draw a side of the non-bonus square. You will then be forced to take only one square for one point and give up the two bonus squares as a domino!
 When a chain with bonus points at one end has already started forming, try to make that chain longer and also try ending the chain with bonus points on both ends to even out the net increase in points! Also, try avoiding making loops as you end up giving up 2 dominoes. Though, try making loops around negative squares so that you can give away most of them to your opponent. Though, be very careful when trying to do this, as your opponent can try to make some of those pesky dominoes before the endgame.
 Another worrisome thing is when an opponent draws into a long chain before the endgame. Try see if you should treat it as a long chain now, or see if you can take all the squares and still make another chain to replace it.
 An even higher strategy would be to look at the board right when the game starts and deciding whether it’s easier to force an even or an odd number of chains. Try making the domino you need with negative squares at the start before your opponent realizes which number of chains is easier to make. When both players becomes good at estimating the number of chains that can be made good luck! It becomes a battle for dominoes. At this stage, you can consider taking negative squares to avoid making any dominoes at all. Or start early and form a short long chain (3 squares) to save room for a couple long chains. Just be sure to have long enough chains made later on to make up for the losses!
 It will require careful planning and seeing ahead when trying to control the number of chains and whether you should make a sacrifice or not. Now be aware that even all this information is just the tip of the iceberg. There are players that are good at playing “defense”. They will purposely lose the battle of making the number of long chains and concentrating on forming loops and short chains with bonus squares at the ends. They will literally try and do what I just advised you to avoid! Sometimes, playing this defensive strategy will beat players who are not used to this version of play. Try playing this way against players who are really good at controlling the number of chains!
 There are extra tips on how to force chains to be made and to not be made, but that won’t be covered at the moment. Perhaps in a future update! Have fun and be square!

Strategy Guides