How to Play Dominoes: a Guide for Game Enthusiasts

Domino is a matching board game with adverse rules and multiple variations making it a convenient and challenging gaming option for pairs, families, and friendly companies. Besides being extremely funny, this tile game helps develop logical thinking, attention, and a strategic mindset.

The homeland of Domino is China. There, in the 12th century, the first types of bones domino game were created. But the real boom for playing domino games started in the XIX-XX centuries in Europe and North America. Since that time, classic domino rules have been updated and diversified, and multiple types of domino sets were created. Today, there are numerous domino rules games, and in this article, we are going to enclose a couple of the most popular ones among them.

Dominoes Variations and the Basic Dominoes Rules

What is domino? It is a game which is provided with the help of a special set of small pieces typically divided into two ends with a number of dots on each end. A standard set of domino tiles is a double-six which contains 28 tiles from zero-zero to six-six. Besides, there are special sets of dominoes (double-9, double-12, and double-15) for some specific variations i.e., for Mexican Train, Spinner Domino, etc.

“Dominoes aren’t about luck. They’re about who’s the first to figure out what kind of dice are hiding in the silence.”

The most popular variations of bones domino games are as follows:

• Draw Domino which is the simplest game with tiles following the basic rules of dominoes: playing tiles with matching ends, no spinners except the first double played, and no trumps or chicken feet are available). It is played by companies of 2 to 4 people taking random 7 tiles each. The mission is to discard all dominoes from the hand by putting them on the layout with matching ends of the previous dominoes.
• Chicken foot is a subtype where each double when played requires the next three players to play tiles only matching with this double forming a chicken foot.
• Block domino is similar to draw domino except its objective is to block other players from winning.
• Matador Domino has another twist. While playing with double-9 or double-12 sets, it has a special ‘matador’ tile (typically, 9:9 or 12:12) which is a wild card and can be played anytime and anywhere.

Besides these types, let’s learn two staple domino games, namely All-Five and Mexican Train. We’ll describe each of these dominoes game rules in a simple way as they differ a bit from classic dominoes rules.

Playing All-Five Dominoes at a Glance

So, how to play dominoes in an All-Five game? It is a game played typically by 2-4 players with a standard double-six set of tiles.

All Five Dominoes Objective

The objective of All-Five is to get rid of tiles from your hand by placing them in your turn and matching the ends of the layout. Besides, in All-five, if the ends of a layout after you played a domino are a multiple of five, you get extra points, namely the number of dots in sum.

Setup and Gameplay

You need from two to four players, a table, and a double-six domino set to start the game. As the game is scoring, a scoresheet is also required. The game starts with all players picking up 7 tiles from a pile lying face down. In the case of 3 or 4 players, the hand is formed with 5 tiles. The rest of the tiles are the boneyard, the reserve each player can use when there is no matching domino in the hand.

The game starts with a player with the highest double in his hand.

When this double is 5:5, a player gets an extra bonus of 10 points. The first double on the table is a spinner, thus, all four sides can be used to start a line. Other doubles are not spinners.

If at the very start, no one of the players has a double to start, then each player takes an additional tile from the boneyard until the double is not found. After the first time, the turn goes to a player left to the starter, who needs to play a domino matching the double played. Then, the next player does the same. If during the turn the sum of dots on the layout’s ends is a multiple of 5, the player who possessed the last tile gets points (if the sum is 10 – it is 10 points, if the sum is 15, it is 15 points).

Scoring Domino Game Rules for All Five

The winner of a round in All Fives is a person who finished his hand first. Then the score is calculated. Each player’s scores during the round are fixed, and the number of dots on the tiles remaining in their hands is added to a winner of the round’s score. The game continues until someone gets a certain number of points after a couple of rounds, namely, 100 pts for 2 players, or 61 pts for 3-4 players.

Playing Mexican Train Domino – the Basics

Mexican Train is a special matching tile game which differs from others. It combines the rules for the game of dominoes with specific terms.

The Objective of Mexican Train

Like in any domino game, the objective is to play all your tiles but you cannot play them anywhere on the table except for your own line (a so-called train) or a public train (a line which doesn’t belong to anyone).

Setup and Gameplay for Mexican Train Dominoes

Mexican Train is played with a double-12 or double-15 set. From 2 to 8 players can join the game. Besides the tiles, special figurines of trains are typically used to mark players’ trains or public trains. The instructions for the The instructions for the dominoes game called Mexican Train are as follows: are as follows:

• The game starts from the center of the table with a double (the first round is at 12:12, the second – is at 11:11 and until 0:0 double is played).
• Each player picks up a certain number of tiles (the more players, the fewer tiles they get to their hands).
• The player with the double assigned for the round starts the game with it.
• The next players start to build their trains in the direction from the center to their places by playing dominoes matching the central double and the following tiles they have in their hands.
• Then the game runs in circles until someone finishes the round by playing the last domino from his hand.
• If the player has no matching dominoes in his hand to continue his train, he can get a tile from the boneyard. If there is no tile matching, the player can play any domino from his hand but his train becomes public, and anyone else can play it with their tiles until the turn comes again to the train’s owner and he plays another tile to get his train back.
• Besides private trains, after the first turn, any player can start the Mexican Train, the public train each player can use. It is started diagonally from the first double and then, each player can play their tiles to its end instead of their private one.

Scoring and Winning

After someone finishes his hand, other players score the number of pips on tiles remaining in their hands and their score is written to the scoresheet. The winner of the round gets zero points. Scores are fixed after each round until all doubles are played as central pieces. Then the total score is calculated for each player, and the winner is either the player with maximum zero scores during the game or the player with the minimal total score.

Conclusion

All games with tiles are challenging and curious. Once you learn how to play dominoes bones, you can easily try all other variations of dominoes. We hope that our guide will unveil the secrets of Dominoes to you and motivate you to start your successful domino gaming habit with your friends.