Play Dominoes Online

Dominoes Rules

Dominoes can be played with either 2 or 4 players. It starts with the players shuffling all of the tiles face-down and distributing 5 to each when they are 4 players. In a 2 player game each player receives 7 tiles. The initial starting player is chosen at random from amongst them and places the first tile face up to start.

Game Goal

Tiles and Combinations

Learning how to play Dominoes is simple, yet exciting. It is played with 28 rectangular tiles. Each tile is divided by a line into 2 equal spaces (squares) in which are situated numbers from 0 to 6. The value of either side is the number of spots (also known as pips). The tiles cover all possible combinations with these numbers.

Gameplay

The player who begins the game is selected at random. Then, the first player rotates in the direction of play.

For the next games, the role of the first player rotates in the direction of play.

Placing tiles on the line

After the first player places the starting tile, the rest of the players start playing in turns in the direction of play. The general rules – for both Draw and Block games – for playing a tile are as follows:

• The tiles are placed on the table in a line. The line can bend in different ways so that it fits within the table.
• The two ends of the line are the only places where a tile can be played.
• A player can play only one tile during his turn.
• A tile can be placed at the end of a line only when one of the halves of this tile contains the same number of pips as the end where it is placed.

End of a game

A game ends when one of the following occurs:

• A player plays his last tile on the line.
• All players pass; that is, nobody can play a tile on the line.

Scoring

Scoring in Dominoes online happens as follows:

Draw and Block games

Draw

If the player is not able to make a play, he/she draws additional dominoes. The process finishes when the player takes tile that fits.

Block

In Block mode the players do not draw extra tiles. If nobody from the players can’t make a play, the round ends. The tiles are turned face up to count the pips for the round scoring.

Interesting Facts

The direction of play determines the order in which players play tiles, and also who would play the first tile in the next round.

In general, by now you should be familiar with the rules of dominoes, but certain parts of the world have their preferences for the direction of play:

• Clockwise for games from North America, North and West Europe, and Russia.
• Counter-clockwise for South and East Europe, Asia, and Swiss games.

If you enjoy tile games like Dominoes, you will probably also love games such as Backgammon, Ludo and Yatzy.

You can read more about other interesting board games at our blog post here.