Learn Dominoes: Free Draw Dominoes Tutorial
Dominoes is a race to empty your hand. In eight steps on a real board, you open a round, match the ends, draw from the boneyard, go out, block a round and learn when to play a double.
Step 1 of 8
The tiles and the deal
Playboard plays Draw dominoes with a double-six set: 28 tiles, one for every pair of numbers from 0 to 6. A tile with the same number on both halves, like your 2-2, is a double.
With two players, each gets 7 tiles. With three or four, each gets 5. The rest lie face down as the boneyard, here 14 tiles. Whoever was dealt the highest double leads with it, and it is the only tile they may play. If nobody was dealt a double, the heaviest tile leads.
Your move
Lead the round with your highest double.
Match an open end
The line has two open ends: 5 on the left and 3 on the right. On your turn you add one tile to either end, and the half that touches the line must show the same number. The other half becomes the new open end.
Only the ends count, never the numbers inside the line. Your 4-4 and 1-4 fit neither end yet.
Your move
Play a tile that leaves a 4 at one end, so your 4-4 or 1-4 can follow next turn.
Doubles and the spinner
A double is played like any other tile, against an end that shows its number, but it lies crosswise. The board labels the round's first double as the spinner.
In some dominoes games a spinner opens new ends on its long sides. In Playboard's game it doesn't: the line runs straight through the double, so there are only ever two open ends.
Here the 4-4 opened the round, and the ends are 2 and 5. Can your 3-4 go against a long side of the 4-4?
Draw from the boneyard
The ends are 3 and 0, and no tile in your hand has either number. You may not pass while the boneyard still has tiles. Draw one tile at a time until you pick up one that fits, then play it in the same turn.
Your move
Draw until you can play, then play the tile you drew.
Go out
Play your last tile and you go out: the round ends, and you score every pip left in your opponents' hands. Points carry over from round to round, and the first player to reach 100 wins the match.
You have two tiles left. Your 2-5 fits the 5 now. Your 3-3 needs a 3, and no end shows one yet.
Your move
Play your tiles, one per turn, until your hand is empty.
A blocked round
When the boneyard is empty and nothing in your hand fits, you pass. If every player passes in turn, the round is blocked and ends there.
This is a four-player round. The boneyard is empty, both ends show 0, and all seven tiles with a 0 are already on the line, so nobody can play. Bots 1, 2 and 3 have passed.
The board folds the middle of a long line, so you can't count those 0s yet. When the round ends, it lays the whole line out.
Your move
Pass, and end the round.
Score a blocked round
In a blocked round, the player with the fewest pips in hand wins. They score all the pips in the other hands, minus their own.
Your 1-1, 1-3 and 2-2 make 10 pips, the fewest at the table. Bot 1 holds 31 pips, Bot 2 holds 38 and Bot 3 holds 35. How many points do you score?
Play doubles early
A double fits only one number, so it is the tile most likely to get stuck in your hand. When a double and another tile fit the same end, it is usually right to play the double first.
Your 5-5 and your 2-5 both fit the 5 on the left. The 5-5 is 10 pips, too.
Your move
Play the tile that keeps your hand flexible.
What you learned
- Two players get 7 tiles each, three or four get 5, and the highest double leads.
- A tile goes on an open end that shows one of its numbers. Its other half becomes the new end.
- A double lies crosswise, but the line never branches: it always has two open ends.
- With nothing to play, draw until a tile fits. You pass only when the boneyard is empty.
- Go out to score every pip in your opponents' hands. The first player to 100 wins the match.
- In a blocked round, the lightest hand scores the others' pips minus its own.
- When a double and another tile fit the same end, it is usually right to play the double first.
Take it to the table.
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