How we write rules
Rules pages fail in two ways: they copy the box word for word and add nothing, or they mix house rules in without saying so. Here is how we try to avoid both.
1. Start from the publisher's sheet
For each game we find the rule sheet published by the company that makes it, read it in full, and link to it from the page. If a publisher has revised its rules, we use the current sheet and note any older version people still play.
2. Write it fresh
How a game plays is not anyone's property, but the wording of a rule sheet is. We never copy it. Every explanation, example and table layout on this site is written by us, and the worked examples (a full Farkle turn, a 5 Crowns hand count) are our own.
3. Label house rules
Most games have popular variations. We list them in their own section, say which ones are official options from the box and which are house rules, and build them into the score keeper as switches instead of quietly changing the scoring.
4. Test the math
Every score keeper's scoring logic has automated tests that check it against the publisher's scoring table and the worked examples on our pages. Odds we publish, such as the chance of a farkle with each number of dice, are calculated by counting every possible roll, not copied from elsewhere.
Roleplaying tools
For roleplaying games we work from the free System Reference Documents rather than a publisher's rule sheet, and only from what those documents actually contain. If a table people expect is not in them, we leave it out and say so on the page rather than copying it from a book. Each tool page credits the SRD in the exact words its license requires, and the math (dice parsing, point costs, encounter budgets) has tests built from the SRD's own worked examples.
5. Re-check every year
Each page shows the date it was last checked against the publisher's sheet. We re-check at least once a year and whenever a publisher releases a new edition.