Dominoes is a matching game played with rectangular tiles. Each tile has two halves marked with pips, and players take turns laying tiles end to end so that touching halves show the same number. The first player to play every tile in their hand wins the hand and scores the pips the others are still holding. This guide covers the double-six set, how to deal, who leads, how a turn works, the Draw game and the Block game, blocked hands, and the scoring used to play a match to a target. These are exactly the rules the Dominoes game on this site uses.
Overview
| Players | 2 to 4 |
| Time | About 15 to 30 minutes for a match to 100 |
| Equipment | A double-six set of 28 tiles. Here the tiles, boneyard and scores are built in |
| Skills | Matching numbers, counting pips, remembering what others could not play |
| Goal | Be first to reach the target score by winning hands |
The double-six set
A double-six set holds 28 tiles, one for every pair of numbers from 0 (blank) to 6. Seven of them are doubles, from the double blank up to the double six. The other 21 tiles have two different numbers, such as 6-3 or 2-0.
A few facts about the set are worth knowing because good play relies on them:
- Each number appears on 7 tiles. For example, the sixes are 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 and the double six. When all seven sixes have been played, nobody can ever play on a six again.
- The whole set holds 168 pips. The heaviest tile is the double six with 12 pips; the lightest is the double blank with none.
- Tiles are named by their numbers, usually the higher number first: “six-three”, “double four”.
Setting up
Turn all 28 tiles face down and shuffle them. Each player then draws a hand:
- 2 players: 7 tiles each. The 14 tiles left over form the boneyard.
- 3 players: 5 tiles each, 13 left in the boneyard.
- 4 players: 5 tiles each, 8 left in the boneyard.
Players keep their tiles hidden from each other. On this site the shuffle and the deal happen for you, and with two or more people a pass screen makes sure only the person holding the device sees their own hand.
Objective
Each hand, you want to be the first to empty your hand, which is called going out or “domino”. If the hand gets stuck before anyone goes out, you want to hold as few pips as possible. Points from each hand are added up, and the first player to reach the target score, 100 by default, wins the match.
Who leads
The hand begins with the highest double:
- Whoever holds the double six sets it down as the first tile.
- If nobody has it, the double five leads, then the double four, and so on down to the double blank.
- If nobody holds any double at all, which is rare, the highest tile leads instead. Tiles are compared by total pips, and if two tiles have the same total, the one with the higher end wins: 6-3 leads before 5-4.
This first tile is called the lead or the set. Play then passes to the leader’s left, which on this site means the next player in the list, and continues around the table. Every hand of a match starts the same way, with a fresh shuffle and the highest double leading.
How a turn works
The line of play has two open ends. At the start, both ends show the number of the lead tile, so after a double six both ends are sixes.
On your turn, choose one tile from your hand with a number that matches one of the open ends, and place it against that end with the matching half touching. The other half of your tile becomes the new open end. For example, if the ends are 6 and 6 and you play 6-4, the ends become 6 and 4.
If your tile matches both ends, you choose which end to play it on. That choice matters: it decides which number stays open for the next player.
Doubles are placed crosswise, across the line instead of along it. They still have only two open ends: the line simply continues straight past them, and the open number stays the same. Playing the double four on a 4 leaves a 4 open.
When the line reaches the edge of the table, it turns a corner and runs back the other way. The corner changes nothing about the rules; it only keeps the line on the table.
When you cannot play
The Draw game
In the Draw game, which is the default here, a player with no matching tile must draw from the boneyard. You draw one tile at a time and stop as soon as a tile fits, then you play it. On this site drawing is only allowed when you cannot play, so you can’t draw to save a tile for later. Some rule sets allow drawing at will (see the house rules below).
If the boneyard runs out before you find a tile that fits, you pass. From then on, any player who cannot play passes too.
On this site the drawing is done for you, and everyone sees how many tiles you drew. Only you see which tiles they were.
The Block game
In the Block game nobody draws. The tiles left over after the deal stay face down and out of play for the whole hand. A player who cannot match an end simply passes.
Block games are shorter and tighter. With fewer tiles in play, ends close quickly and hands are more often blocked, so the pip count of your hand matters from the first turn.
How a hand ends
Going out
When a player places their last tile, the hand ends at once. That player wins the hand and scores the total number of pips left in all the other hands.
Example. In a 3-player game, Maya plays her last tile. Leo still holds 5-5 and 4-1, which is 15 pips, and Ana holds 3-0 and 2-2, which is 7 pips. Maya scores 15 + 7 = 22 points.
A blocked game
A hand is blocked when nobody can play: no player holds a tile that matches either end and nobody can draw, either because the boneyard is empty or because it is a Block game. This often happens when every tile of the two open numbers is already on the table.
When the game is blocked, everyone counts the pips in their hand:
- The player with the lowest count wins the hand.
- They score the pips in all the other hands minus their own pips. With two players this is simply the difference between the two counts.
- If two or more players tie for the lowest count, nobody scores for that hand.
Example. In a 2-player Block game the hand blocks with Maya holding 1-1 (2 pips) and Leo holding 2-2 and 3-1 (8 pips). Maya wins the hand and scores 8 − 2 = 6 points.
Example with three players. The counts are 1, 13 and 7. The player with 1 pip scores 13 + 7 − 1 = 19.
The site ends a blocked hand as soon as it is certain that nobody can play, so you never have to sit through a round of passes.
Winning the match
After each hand the winner’s points are added to their score, and every hand is shown face up so everyone can check the count. The next hand is then shuffled and dealt, and the highest double leads again.
The first player to reach the target wins the match. The setup lets you choose 50, 100 or 150 points; 100 is the default. Only one player scores in each hand, so there are no ties at the finish.
Variants and house rules
Dominoes has many local versions. These are common ones you may meet at other tables:
- Seven tiles for everyone. Some groups deal 7 tiles each with 3 or 4 players. With 4 players that leaves no boneyard at all, so it plays like a Block game.
- Winner leads. In some homes the winner of the last hand leads any tile they like in the next hand instead of the highest double.
- Drawing at will. Some rule sets, including some published Draw-game rules, let you draw even when you could play, and keep drawing after a tile fits.
- Leaving tiles in the boneyard. Some published Draw-game rules never draw the last two tiles of the boneyard.
- Six or seven tiles at bigger tables. Some Draw-game rules deal 7 each to three players and 6 each to four, instead of the 5 each used here.
- Counting by fives. Some scorers round hand totals to the nearest five, a habit borrowed from point-scoring games.
- All Fives. A different game, also called Muggins, where you score during play whenever the open ends add up to a multiple of five. It uses spinners and different scoring.
- Partners. Four players can play in two teams, partners sitting opposite each other, and a team wins the hand when either partner goes out.
The game on this site sticks to the Draw and Block rules described above so that everyone at the table plays the same game.
Common mistakes and rule disputes
- Playing a tile on the wrong end. A tile must match the end it touches, not just any number on the table.
- Drawing when you could play. On this site you may only draw when nothing in your hand fits. Other tables may allow it, so agree before the first hand.
- Forgetting that doubles count double. The double five in your hand is 10 pips, not 5.
- Treating a double as a spinner. In these rules a double has two open ends, like any other tile.
- Ending a blocked hand too early. A hand is blocked only when nobody can play and nobody can draw; one player passing is not enough.
- Scoring your own pips after going out. The winner of a domino hand scores everyone else’s pips. Their own hand is empty.
Glossary
- Boneyard: the face-down tiles left after the deal, drawn from in the Draw game.
- Domino: going out by playing your last tile; also the name of a single tile.
- Double: a tile with the same number on both halves, placed crosswise.
- End: one of the two open numbers of the line where the next tile can go.
- Lead or set: the first tile of a hand.
- Pips: the dots on a tile. A tile’s weight is its pip total.
- Suit: all tiles that carry a given number, such as the seven fives.
- Blocked game: a hand where nobody can play and nobody can draw.
Play it now
You can try every rule on this page in the free Dominoes game: with a friend on one device, with up to four players, or against the computer. To improve your results, the Dominoes strategy tutorial explains how to count pips, control a number and read the other hands from what they draw and pass.