How to Play Moon Domino Game

Moon dominoes are among the most popular Texas board games. Its gameplay is similar to the famous Texas 42 but in a reduced form. The invention of the Moon game dates back to the XIX century when priests taught people that card games are sinful, and domino games substituted them for this reason. That’s why Dominoe Moon’s rules have similarities with card games.

The name of this game derives from the phrase ‘to shoot the moon,’ which means to win high.

Today, we’ll learn how to play Moon dominoes in our blog article. We welcome you to try it and add it to your favorite party games list.

Moon Domino Objective

Moon Dominoes is a trick-taking game where every round is a trick each player can take to win. At once, like in Texas 42 dominoes, in Moon dominos, you also make bids to win. So, your goal is to place a winningly high bid and take as many tricks as you can.

“Moon Domino is a domino with a moonlight strategy. Not everything is visible at first glance.”

The Setup for a Moon Domino Game

What do you need to play the Moon Domino game? First, the game is typically played by 3, rarely by four players. Then, you need a standard six-double domino set.

The difference from Texas 42 is that in Moon Dominoes, a zero suite is represented only by a zero-zero tile, and all other dominoes with zeroes are excluded from the game.

As this game is running for getting points, a scoresheet will also come in handy.

Basic Domino Moon Rules

So, what is the algorithm for the Moon Domino game?

1. Place all the dominoes, excluding zeroes, face down and shuffle them.
2. Each player has to pick up seven tiles to form the hand.
3. One domino from the remaining pile is set apart, and it is called ‘the widow tile.
4. Then, each player makes bids about how many tricks they can get. The smallest bid is four, and the highest is 7. Each next bid should be higher than the previous one. If a player does not want to increase the bid, he can make no bid (‘pass’). After the bid of 7 is made, the next player can increase it and bid 21; this is getting 21 points for winning all seven bids. This is a ‘shooting the moon’ bid.
5. If no one makes a bid, all dominoes are collected and shuffled again to form new hands.
6. The player who wins the bidding has to put one domino from his hand to the boneyard and pick a ‘widow’ tile instead of it.
7. Then, the winner of the bidding names the Trumps. In Domino Moon, trumps can be different:
   • One of 7 suits from 6 to 0;
   • Doubles;
   • No trumps at all (this variation is called ‘Follow me’).

Trumps are tiles which can win in any case, even with the highest tile from the suit being played. In the ranking of tiles’ value, the most valuable are trumps, then doubles, and then tiles with a higher number of dots from each suite. For example, if a player puts 6:3 domino, it can be won either by 6:4 tile, or by 6:6 as a double, or by any trump tile.

8. It’s time for the first trick. The player who won the bidding makes the first trick. If it is a trump, all other players have to follow it with trumps (if there are no trumps, any domino can be played). If the trick starts with a tile that is not a trump, its higher-end defines the suit to play. For example, if a player discards 5:3, all other players have to follow it with tiles from suit five or with trumps. The highest tile wins and gets 1 point to his score.
9. The player who wins the trick plays the next trick. The game goes on until someone’s hand is empty.

Scoring the Game

The score in Dominoes Moon is calculated in points, with 1 point for each trick played. After the round is over, all players calculate the number of points they get. Then, it’s time to compare them with the bids made.

• If a player gets more points than he claimed as a bid, he gets as many points as his bid was. For example, if your bidding was five and you got seven tricks, your score is still 5.
• If a player gets fewer tricks than his bidding was, he gets the score with the minus. For example, if your bid was seven and you won 5, your score is -7.
• The player whose bidding was 21, if succeeded, wins the game (if only his previous score was positive). If the previous score was negative, the game continues. If this bidding fails, the player gets -21 points.

Who’s the Winner in Domino Moon?

The winning score of the game is 21+. So, when someone gathers 21 points, he becomes a winner. Typically, when played for three players, Moon Dominoes’ strategy for players with lower biddings is to cooperate against the highest-bidding player. In the variation for four players, typically, two partnerships compete one against another.

Conclusion

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