Let’s learn how to play one of the simplest, yet no less challenging domino games. Meet the guide to Domino Block which will discover to you the specifics and objective of the game often known as Block Dominoes, Domino Block, or Alias.
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Block Domino Objective and Specifics
Domino’s block game is a positioning game to discharge all the tiles from the hand to win the game. The core difference of Block Domino is that no boneyard is available in it. Each round is played only with tiles a player gets from the start, and thus, the possibility of the block (the situation when no one of the players has a matching tile to continue the game) increases.
The objective of Domino Block is to gain points for the pips that remain in the hands of other players. The first one who receives 100 points in total is the winner of the game.
“Dominoes are not just tiles with dots. They are a game where one correct decision can topple the entire game, like a chain of falling dominos.”
The Setup You Need to Play Domino Block Game
For the domino block game, you need a casual double-six domino set and a scoresheet to write down the points after each round.
The number of players can be from 2 to 5, and the number of players determines the size of the ‘hand’, or how many tiles each player gets.
- For 2-3 players, seven tiles form a hand.
- For 4 players, five dominoes form a hand.
- For 5 players, four dominoes form a hand.
Domino Blocks Gameplay
The dominoes block game starts with placing all tiles face down and shuffling them. Then each player takes dominoes to their hands as we mentioned below. For example, in a game of two, each takes 7 tiles. All the rest tiles are removed from the desk and they are not taking part in the current round. The player’s hand should be hidden from other players.
The game starts with a player who has the highest double in his hand.
Then they move clockwise to the next players. Each one can place only one tile per move and this tile should match one of the open ends of dominoes lying on the desk. For example, if the first player discarded 5:5, the next player has to play any tile from the five suites. If he plays 5:1, the next player has an opportunity to play either a tile from the five suites (remained the open end of the first double) or from the one suit (the open end of the previous player’s tile).
The round goes on clockwise. Keep in mind that dominos blocks have no spinners, and even the first double in the game has only two open ends.
In the case the player has no matching tiles in the hand, he claims ‘Pass’ and the turn goes to the next one. The round keeps going until either someone discharges all his hands (he has to shout ‘Domino’ after matching the last tile to stop the round), or until no one has matching tiles in their hands, and the game becomes blocked.
After the first round is over, the next is opened by the player left to the starter of the first round independently if he has a double or not. The number of rounds is unlimited and typically the game finishes when someone manages to get 100 points.
Scoring the Block Game in Dominoes
During the game of Domino Blocks, players manage to get points. The points are calculated by the following formula: the number of pips remaining in each other player’s hand minus the number of pips remaining in the hand of a player with the lowest score. For example, if the game is blocked, and player 1 has 4:4 and 1:3, player 2 has only 2:2, and player 3 has only 1:1, which is 2 points the last one is a winner of the round as he has only 2 points while player 1 has 12 points, and the player 2 has 4 points. He gets all the points from lost players minus his own score. That is, player 3 gets 12-2=10 points from player 1, and 4-2=2 points from player 2. He gets 12 points for this round.
Each round’s results are fixed on a scoresheet. If the player wins the round by discharging all tiles from his hand, his score is 0, and he gets all the points for the number of dots remaining on other players’ hands.
The Results of the Game: Who Wins?
Although the winner of each round in Domino Blocks can be different, the game-winner is the first player who gets 100 points in total.
Conclusion
Domino Block is one of the most family-friendly games you can teach your kids to play. Yet, if you want to learn more complex and strategic domino games, you are welcome! In our blog, we have multiple articles about various trick-taking and positioning domino games, so you can try lots of variations to get more fun.
