Dominoes Rules: The Draw Game to 100

The set

A double-six set has 28 tiles, each with two ends showing 0 to 6 pips. Every combination appears once, including the seven doubles (0-0 to 6-6). Each number appears on eight tiles (seven plus the double, which shows it twice). That last fact is the basis of all dominoes counting.

The rules

1. Deal: seven tiles each with two players, five each with three or four. The rest form the boneyard, face down.
2. The first tile: the player holding the highest double leads it. (If nobody holds a double, the heaviest tile starts.)
3. A turn: add one tile to either end of the line so that the touching halves match. Doubles are placed across the line but behave like any tile: only their own number can be played on them.
4. Cannot play? Draw from the boneyard until you can. When the boneyard is empty, pass.
5. Going out: the first player to play their last tile wins the hand and scores the total pips left in the other players' hands.
6. Blocked hand: if nobody can play and the boneyard is empty, the hand is blocked. The player with the fewest pips in hand wins it and scores the difference between their count and each other player's.
7. The match: the first player to reach 100 points (or 50 in the settings) wins.

Prefer no drawing? Choose the Block game in the settings: the spare tiles sleep face down and a player who cannot play simply passes, which makes counting tiles even more important.

Strategy 1: play heavy tiles early

Whatever you hold when a hand ends counts against you. The 6-6 is twelve points of risk; the 0-1 is one. Get the heavy tiles out while the line still offers places for them, and keep light tiles for the end. The exception is a heavy tile that is your only tile of a number you may need later; weigh the two.

Strategy 2: keep your options open

A hand with tiles of many different numbers can follow almost any end. A hand of four fives will be stuck the moment both ends show something else. When you have a choice of plays, prefer the one that leaves you a spread of numbers, and avoid playing the last tile you hold of a number unless it gets you closer to going out.

Strategy 3: count the numbers

Each number appears on eight tiles. Count how many of a number are on the table and in your hand; the rest are in the boneyard or in the other hands. If seven sixes are visible and you hold the eighth, nobody else can play on a six: setting both ends to six blocks every opponent and forces them to draw while you play on. This is the heart of dominoes: control the ends.

Strategy 4: watch what others cannot play

When a player draws or passes with a certain number at an end, they have none of that number. Remember it. Later, when you can set that number at an end again, you know that player is stuck. With three or four players this information builds quickly, and the Hard robot uses it against you, so give away as little as you can: when you must draw, play the first playable tile without hesitation rather than drawing several and revealing how short you are.

Doubles

Doubles are awkward: they can be played only on their own number and do not change the end. Play them when their number is at an end and you have another tile of that number to follow with; a double stuck in your hand at the end of a hand is heavy (the 5-5 is ten points). Leading with a double at the start is compulsory for the highest double holder, which is why you should not mind being dealt the 6-6: it goes first.

Common mistakes

1. Keeping heavy tiles for later. Later may not come.
2. Playing your only tile of a number. You may need it to follow.
3. Ignoring the count. Eight of each number: the whole game is in that fact.
4. Forgetting what other players passed on. Their voids are your blocks.
5. Drawing more than you must. Stop as soon as you can play.

Glossary

• Boneyard: the face-down tiles you draw from.
• Pips: the dots on a tile; the hand's total at the end counts against you.
• Double: a tile with the same number at both ends.
• Blocked hand: nobody can play and the boneyard is empty; the lightest hand wins.
• Going out: playing your last tile.