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How to play backgammon, checkers, dominoes, ludo and Connect Four

The rules of backgammon, checkers, dominoes, ludo, Connect Four and Spades in two minutes each, then a free board in your browser to try them on.

Most people learned these games from someone across a table, and most of us learned a slightly different version from everyone else. Here are the rules as they are usually played, short enough to read before your first move, with a free game on SlowDen to try each one straight away.

Jump to: Backgammon · Checkers · Dominoes · Ludo · Connect Four · Spades

How to play Backgammon

  1. Two players, fifteen checkers each, twenty-four narrow triangles called points. You both race your checkers around the board in opposite directions.
  2. Roll two dice and move by those numbers: one checker by each die, or one checker by both. A double is played four times.
  3. You may not land on a point holding two or more of your opponent's checkers. Land on a point where they have exactly one (a "blot") and you hit it: it goes to the bar in the middle and must re-enter from the start before they can move anything else.
  4. Once all fifteen of your checkers are in your home quarter, you start bearing them off. First to bear off all fifteen wins.

The dice decide the numbers; you decide which checker moves. The game's own guidance on SlowDen is that over a long session strategy matters more than luck, and the most useful single habit is not leaving lone checkers where they can be hit.

How to play Checkers

  1. Played on the dark squares of an eight-by-eight board, so every move is diagonal. Twelve pieces each.
  2. An ordinary piece moves one square diagonally forward. You capture by jumping diagonally over an opponent's piece onto the empty square beyond it.
  3. Captures are compulsory: if you can jump, you must. If one jump lands you where another is possible, you keep jumping in the same turn.
  4. Reach the far row and the piece is crowned a king, which can move and capture backwards as well as forwards. You win by capturing every enemy piece or leaving your opponent with no legal move.

The two games here use different rule sets, and both say so in their listings. English Checkers Online Multiplayer plays English rules, against the computer, online or with a friend on one screen. Master Checkers plays Italian rules, which share everything above. If you learned on one, try the other and see which habits stop working.

How to play Dominoes

  1. A standard set has twenty-eight tiles, each showing two ends from blank to six. Players take a hand of tiles (how many depends on the version and the number of players); the rest stay face down as the boneyard.
  2. Tiles are laid end to end: you play a tile whose number matches an open end of the line on the table.
  3. This is the Draw game, which is what the Dominoes listing on SlowDen says it plays: if you cannot match either end, you draw from the boneyard until you can.
  4. First to play every tile in their hand wins the round.

Hold on to the numbers you have several of. They give you somewhere to play later, when your opponent is drawing from the boneyard.

How to play Ludo

  1. Each player has four tokens waiting in their start area. Roll a six to bring one out onto the track.
  2. After that, each roll moves one token of your choice forward by that number, all the way round the board and up your own home column.
  3. Land exactly on a square where an opponent's token is sitting and it is sent back to their start.
  4. First player to get all four tokens home wins. Some versions give an extra roll for a six; house rules vary.

Ludo Legend plays alone or with friends passing one device between turns. Its own listing puts it well: sending a token back to start is where most of the game is won and lost.

How to play Connect Four

  1. Two players take turns dropping a disc into one of the columns of an upright grid (the classic board is seven columns by six rows). The disc falls to the lowest empty space.
  2. Line up four of your own discs in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, and you win.
  3. If the grid fills with no line of four, it is a draw.

Discs in the middle column take part in the most possible lines, which is why most players open there. PlayConnect Live, made by Alsehli, lets you play the computer or share a private room with a friend.

How to play Spades

  1. A trick-taking card game. Each round, every player bids how many tricks they expect to win.
  2. The first card played sets the suit, and you must follow it if you can. Spades are always trump: the highest spade in a trick wins it.
  3. In standard rules you cannot lead a spade until one has been played on another suit ("spades broken").
  4. Score depends on making your bid exactly. The Spades listing on SlowDen notes that taking too many tricks costs you as well as taking too few.

This version deals you computer opponents, so there is always a table ready when you open the page.

Questions people ask

How do you play backgammon for beginners?
Roll two dice and move your checkers around the board by those numbers, avoiding points your opponent holds with two or more checkers. Hitting a lone opposing checker sends it to the bar. Once all fifteen of yours are in your home quarter, bear them off; first to bear off all fifteen wins.

Do you have to take a jump in checkers?
Yes, in both English and Italian rules captures are compulsory, and if one jump makes another possible you keep jumping in the same turn.

What happens in dominoes if you cannot play?
In the Draw game, which is the version SlowDen's Dominoes plays, you draw from the boneyard until you can match an open end.

What do you need to roll to start in ludo?
A six. It releases one token from your start area onto the track. Ludo Legend on SlowDen uses that rule.

Can I play these board games free without downloading anything?
Yes. Every game linked here runs in a browser tab on SlowDen, free, with no download.

More on SlowDen

Chess, solitaire and mahjong have their own guide: solitaire, mahjong, chess and card games you can play free. Most of the games above also sit on the 2 player shelf. None of them was made by SlowDen; each one credits the studio or developer who made it. Made a board game for the browser? Submit it.