Game Guides: Rules, Strategy and FAQ
Learn how to play every game on Sartaba Mind Games. Each guide explains the rules with diagrams, then moves on to practical strategy and answers to the questions players ask most often.
If you are new to a game, start with the rules, read the strategy page once you can play a full game, and use the FAQ when a specific situation comes up. Chess, Backgammon, Dominion, and Walls each have three separate pages. Connect 4 and Checkers each have one complete guide.
Chess
The classic game of kings, played against our AI or a friend online.
- Chess guide overview: where to begin and how the pages fit together.
- Chess rules: board setup, how each piece moves, castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, stalemate, and draws.
- Chess strategy: a glossary of chess terms, opening principles, tactics such as forks, pins, and skewers, middlegame planning, and endgame basics.
- Chess FAQ: common rules questions, plus step-by-step help for starting a game against the AI or inviting a friend.
Connect 4
A fast game of timing and traps where the first to line up four wins.
- Connect 4 guide: the complete rules with diagrams, winning strategy such as center control, threat counting, and odd and even parity, and an FAQ covering draws, setup, and tactics practice.
Checkers
American and International rules on the same board.
- Checkers guide: the complete rules with diagrams, including mandatory captures and chain jumps, the difference between stepping kings and flying kings, winning strategy, and an FAQ.
Backgammon
A classic mix of dice, probability, and racing.
- Backgammon guide overview: where to begin and how the pages fit together.
- Backgammon rules: setup and the starting position, dice and movement, doubles, hitting and the bar, bearing off, and normal, gammon, and backgammon wins.
- Backgammon strategy: a glossary of terms, pip counting, blots and shots, primes and anchors, and the four main game plans.
- Backgammon FAQ: doubles, entering from the bar, forced moves, gammon scoring, luck versus skill, and setup help.
Sartaba Dominion
An original Sartaba Mind Games strategy game played on a hex board.
- Dominion guide overview: an introduction to the game and how the pages fit together.
- Dominion rules: the hex board and armies, movement, pawn strength, pushing, supply lines, hidden flag objectives, and the Nexus siege.
- Dominion strategy: a glossary of terms, attacking in pairs, protecting supply lines, cutting enemy corridors, racing for flags, and defending your home Nexus.
- Dominion FAQ: who moves first, how pawns are eliminated, why a push can be blocked, how supply and flags work, and setup help.
Walls
A race across a 9 by 9 board where you can also place walls to slow your opponent.
- Walls guide overview: an introduction to the game and how the pages fit together.
- Walls rules: the board and goal rows, moving or placing a wall each turn, pawn movement, the path rule, jumping, and winning the race.
- Walls strategy: a glossary of terms, counting the race, wall economy, blocking versus racing, and keeping walls in reserve.
- Walls FAQ: who goes first, whether a wall can trap a player, what happens when pawns meet, common beginner mistakes, and setup help.
Puzzles
Once you know the rules, test your tactics with the daily puzzle and the puzzle archive for Chess and Connect 4.