How to Play Dominoes
Draw a hand from the 28 face-down tiles — seven each with two players, five each with three or four. The highest double opens. On your turn, lay a tile whose half matches a number showing at an open end of the layout; if nothing fits, draw until something does. Doubles go down crosswise and count both halves. The first hand emptied wins the pips left in the others.
The rules, step by step
- 1Shuffle and draw your handTurn the 28 tiles face down and mix them. Two players take seven tiles each; three or four take five each. Whatever is left is the boneyard, and it is never reshuffled.
- 2The highest double opensWhoever was dealt the highest double has to lay it, and it becomes the spinner. If nobody holds a double at all, the heaviest tile opens instead — the highest pip total, with the larger half breaking a tie.
- 3Match an open endOn your turn, lay a tile so that one of its halves touches an open end showing the same number. The tile's other half becomes the new open end there.
- 4Doubles go down crosswiseA double is laid sideways across the line and both of its halves count as open pips. The first double played is the spinner: once the line runs past both of its sides, its two halves become ends you can build on, giving the layout four open ends.
- 5Draw only when nothing fitsIf no tile in your hand matches an open end, draw from the boneyard and keep drawing until one does. You may not draw to improve a hand that already has a legal play.
- 6Pass when the boneyard is emptyWith nothing to play and nothing left to draw, your turn passes. If every player passes in succession, the hand is blocked and the lowest pip count takes it.
- 7Score the handThe first player to lay their last tile wins and scores the pips left in every other hand. In All Fives, add whatever the open ends paid during the hand, and round the end-of-hand award to the nearest five.
Try it — the rules above, running
The table is empty. The highest double opens.
North is thinking…
Tap a tile that matches an open end — only those are enabled. A tile that fits one end goes straight down; one that fits several waits while you tap the end you want, and Esc puts it back. With nothing to play, Draw takes from the boneyard, and when that is empty the same button becomes Pass. The three-dot menu holds the table size and the choice between All Fives and plain block scoring.
Your statistics · 2-fives
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
A deal counts as a win when you are the first to lay your last tile, or when a blocked deal leaves you holding the fewest pips. Best score is your biggest single deal. Kept per table size and scoring rule, in this browser only.
Keyboard
- Tab
- Move through your tiles and the ends
- Enter
- Pick up the tile, or lay it on the end
- Esc
- Put the tile you picked up back
- D
- Draw, or pass when the boneyard is empty
- H
- Hint — the tile the opponents would lay
- N
- New deal
- F
- Full screen
What do you need to start a game of dominoes?
- 1Turn the set face down and mix itA double-six set is 28 tiles. Shuffled face down, they are drawn at random — this is the only chance element in the game.
- 2Draw your handTwo players take seven tiles each and leave 14 in the boneyard. Three or four players take five each, leaving 13 and 8.
- 3Find the highest doubleWhoever holds it lays it, and it becomes the spinner. About one seven-tile hand in ten has no double in it at all, and about one five-tile hand in five, but somebody at the table almost always does.
- 4Play to the left of the openerTurns go round in order. From here every turn is the same thing: lay one tile against an end it matches, or draw until you can.
How do you know which tiles you can play?
Look at the numbers showing at the open ends and look for those numbers in your hand. A tile is legal if either of its halves matches an end — and it goes down with that half touching the end, so the other half becomes the new number there. A three-five laid on a three leaves a five; the same tile laid on a five leaves a three. Which end you choose is a real decision, and in All Fives it is often the whole decision.
- Two ends — the ordinary layout, before any double has been played.
- Three or four ends — once the first double is down and the line has run past both of its sides.
- A double at an end — legal on the number it shows, and it then counts twice.
- Nothing legal — draw, one tile at a time, until something is. Then you must play it.
Why does the spinner matter so much?
Because it is the only tile in the layout that can be built on from four sides, and because its two halves keep counting as open pips for as long as they stay bare. Lay a double-five to open and the layout shows 10 immediately. Build the line past both of its sides and those two fives are still showing, on top of whatever the two line ends now read. That is how All Fives totals climb past 12 — a thing a two-end layout can never do.
The awkward corner, and the one worth getting straight: the sides of the spinner that the line attaches to show no pips. A six-six spinner contributes 12 to the count, not 24, and when it is still the outermost tile on a line end that end adds nothing on top. It is an easy thing to get wrong, and software that gets it wrong will tell you a six-six opening is worth 24.
How is the hand scored when it ends?
Somebody lays their last tile, or nobody can move. If a player goes out, they score the pips in every other hand. If the hand is blocked, the lowest pip count wins it and scores the difference between their hand and the others; a tie on the lowest count scores nothing for anybody. In All Fives the award is rounded to the nearest five, so 23 pips becomes 25 and 22 becomes 20 — and that sits on top of whatever the open ends paid during play.
| Situation | What counts |
|---|---|
| A tile at an open end | Its exposed half |
| A double at an open end | Both halves |
| A spinner with bare halves | Both halves, and nothing for its line sides |
| A tile left in your hand | Both halves, to whoever wins the hand |
How do you win more often?
- Count the sevensEvery number sits on exactly seven tiles of the set. Once you can see five of the sixes — in your hand and on the table — only two are unaccounted for, so leaving a six showing is close to a lock. This one count is the whole of domino card-counting.
- Make both ends the same numberIf you can leave both open ends showing a number you are long in, your opponent has to find one of the few remaining tiles carrying it or draw. Two ends of the same number is one of the strongest ordinary positions in the two-handed game, and it is usually worth giving up a small score to reach.
- Get your doubles down earlyA double fits one number and one number only, so it is the tile most likely to be stranded in your hand when the ends move away from it. Lay it the first time it is legal unless holding it wins you something concrete, and remember that a double left in your hand counts both its halves against you — a six-six is twelve points to whoever takes the hand.
- Read what a draw tells youWhen an opponent draws, they have just told the table they held nothing matching either open end at that moment. That is free information and it stays true until they take a tile from the boneyard. Steering the ends back to a number they failed once is the cheapest pressure in the game.
- In All Fives, look at the reply before the scoreTaking 10 is worth nothing if it leaves the ends sitting at 15 for the next player with half the set able to reach it. Before you claim a five, check what the layout would then pay somebody else — the board's hint does exactly this arithmetic over every tile it has not seen.
- Weigh a block honestlyAt most about one two-handed deal in ten ends blocked, and fewer still once All Fives is counting, so playing to protect your pip count is usually playing for the rarer outcome. Shed heavy tiles when they are otherwise equal, not at the cost of leaving yourself no answer next turn.
Common questions about dominoes
- How many dominoes do you start with in a 2-player game?
- Seven each, from a double-six set, leaving 14 tiles in the boneyard. With three or four players it is five each, leaving 13 and 8 respectively.
- What is the spinner in dominoes?
- The first double played. The line of play runs through it and its two halves stick out either side, so once the line has been built past both of its sides the layout can grow in four directions rather than two.
- Do you have to play a domino if you can?
- Yes. Drawing is only permitted when nothing in your hand matches an open end. A hand with a legal tile must play it, and you may not draw to improve a playable hand.
- What does it mean to be muggins in dominoes?
- It is the traditional name for the All Fives variant, from the rule that a player who fails to claim a score they made can have it taken by an opponent calling muggins. This board counts every score for you, so nothing is ever left on the table.
- How do you win a blocked game of dominoes?
- By holding the fewest pips when nobody can move. You score the difference between your hand and every other hand, and if two players tie on the lowest count the hand is a wash for everyone.
Ready to stop reading? Play dominoes on the full board, with controls and statistics tailored to that game.