How to Play Dominoes

Thought to have been derived from dice, dominoes are tiles, or "bones," whose faces represent all the possible rolls of two six-sided dice, plus zeros. Many domino games exist, but playing dominoes well requires strategy, particularly if the goal is to play your last domino ("to domino") before your opponents play theirs. Here are some tips on domino strategy.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

General Domino Strategy

1. Know the type of domino game you are playing. Domino games fall into four basic types: bidding games, played like card games; blocking games, where dominoes are matched in a line and scoring is done only off opponents' unplayed dominoes; scoring games, where the matched dominoes also score points; and round games, party games played by multiple players where the game ends when all possible dominoes are played. The two most common games are draw dominoes, a block game, and straight dominoes, a scoring game.

2. Familiarize yourself with the rules of the domino game you are playing. Some games require you to draw tiles from the bone yard if you don't have a playable tile until you have one you can play, others force you to draw only a single tile and still others force you to pass if you lack a playable domino.

3. Learn how the tiles are distributed in the game. A standard set of double-six dominoes has 28 dominoes, because there are that many ways to pair the numbers zero through six together. Each combination is represented only once. (A six and four combination is the same as a four and six combination.)

4. Pay attention to the tiles that are played and when your opponent must draw from the bone yard. That tells you that he doesn't have any bones with halves that match the available open ends, and if he plays a drawn bone, he won't have any more playable bones.

5. Block your opponent from playing by placing dominoes so that all open ends are the same number--and make sure that you have bones with that number on one end in your hand when you do. This will increase your chances of going down to one domino ("owning the domino") before your opponent does.

6. Know when to domino. The best times to domino are when you are close to winning the game, as doing so will let you lead in the next round of play, and when you can play a heavy (high-numbered) suit on one or more of the exposed arms.

Scoring Game Strategy

7. Be aware of the board count. The board count is the sum of all available open ends of the domino layout. Anytime this count is a multiple of five, the player who played the tile who made the board count a multiple of five adds the board count to his score.

8. Evaluate the ability of the bones in your hand to change the board count by determining the difference between the pips on each half. (For example, a bone with a six on one end and a four on the other can change the score by two points.) Connecting the smaller end to an open end raises the board count by this difference, while connecting the larger end lowers it. Doubles, in contrast, always add the denomination of the double; a double-three adds three points.)

9. Manipulate the board count to your advantage. Play scoring bones when the count is one away from a multiple of five or force the board count to be two away from a multiple of five to prevent your opponent from scoring. Know the bones that can adjust the board count by a multiple of five and play those when your opponent has just scored. Drive the board count up when you can make the scoring plays and down when you can't.

10. Employ blocking game strategies toward the end of a scoring game, as the opportunities for scoring plays dwindle.

Tips & Warnings

• A blocking strategy can backfire on you in games where the opponent must draw additional tiles when she can't play. Employed too early, the likelihood exists that the bones drawn will be bones that can be played against you instead of bones that will score you points when she's caught with them at game's end.

Resources

• Video on playing dominoes on Expert Village
• More about domino strategy