# Dominoes Game Online — full content

> Dominoes is a tile-matching game for 2–4 players using a double-six set of 28 tiles: deal seven tiles each, take turns adding a tile to either open end of the line so the touching numbers match, and score the pips your opponents are left holding. Block, Draw and All Fives are the three standard games.

This document aggregates the reference content of https://dominoesgameonline.com/ for AI ingestion.
Canonical URLs are listed per section — cite the URL, not this file.

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## Play Dominoes Online Free

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/

Play dominoes free against the computer: Block, Draw or All Fives on a double-six, -nine or -twelve set, with full rules, scoring and measured strategy.

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## How to Play Dominoes: Full Rules

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/rules

To play dominoes, shuffle a double-six set face down, take seven tiles each for two players (five each for three or four), and place the highest double to start. Take turns adding one tile to either open end of the line, matching the number of pips. If you cannot play, you draw from the boneyard in the Draw game, or simply pass in the Block game. The round ends when someone plays their last tile or nobody can move, and the player with the fewest pips left scores the difference.

### What you need

A double-six set (28 tiles, 168 pips in total) covers two to four players and is the set nearly every household already owns. Larger sets exist for bigger tables and for Mexican Train.
| Set | Highest end | Tiles | Total pips | Players |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Double-six | 6 | 28 | 168 | 2–4 |
| Double-nine | 9 | 55 | 495 | 2–6 |
| Double-twelve | 12 | 91 | 1092 | 2–10 |
| Double-fifteen | 15 | 136 | 2040 | 4–12 |
| Double-eighteen | 18 | 190 | 3420 | 6–14 |
Every tile is divided into two ends, each carrying between zero and six pips on a standard set. There is exactly one tile for each unordered pair, so the 3–5 and the 5–3 are the same tile, and a set contains no duplicates. Tiles with the same number at both ends are doubles, and the seven of them are the awkward, valuable tiles that decide most rounds.
You will also want something to keep score on, because pips add up fast, and a game usually runs to 61 or 100 points across several rounds rather than being settled in one.

### How to play dominoes, step by step

These are the rules of the Draw game, which is the version most people mean by "dominoes". The Block game is identical except that there is no drawing. The difference is explained in full below.
1. Shuffle and deal: Turn all 28 tiles face down and swirl them around. Two players take seven tiles each; three or four players take five each. The tiles nobody took stay face down in a pile called the boneyard.
2. Decide who opens: Whoever holds the highest double leads, and must lead with that tile. If nobody was dealt a double, which happens in roughly three deals in a thousand with seven tiles each, the heaviest tile leads instead.
3. Match the open ends: Play passes to the left. On your turn, add one tile to either end of the line so that the touching ends have the same number of pips: a 4–2 can go onto an end showing 4, or onto an end showing 2. The number you did not match becomes the new open end.
4. Lay doubles crosswise: A double is traditionally placed at right angles to the line. In the basic game this is decoration, since the line still has two ends, but it matters in All Fives, where a crosswise double at an end counts both of its halves towards the score. Many American households go further and treat the first double as a spinner, branching the line off all four sides. That is a popular variation rather than the base rule, and both positions are set out with their sources in "The rules people argue about" below.
5. Draw when you cannot go: If no tile in your hand matches either open end, take tiles from the boneyard until you can play one. The last two tiles of the boneyard are never drawn: once only two remain, a player who cannot go passes instead.
6. End the round: The round ends the moment somebody plays their last tile and calls "domino", or when the line is blocked and no player can move. Either way, everyone counts the pips still in their hand.
7. Score and deal again: The player with the fewest pips wins the round and scores the total of everyone else’s pips, minus their own. Shuffle and deal again. The match goes to 100 points with two players, or 61 with three or four.

### Block or Draw: the two games behind “dominoes”

Almost every argument about "the real rules" comes down to this. Block and Draw are the same game apart from one rule, whether the boneyard is live, and that one rule changes the game far more than it sounds like it should.
|  | Block | Draw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Boneyard | Dead: the leftovers are not used | Live: draw until you can play |
| If you cannot play | You pass | You draw, then pass only if the boneyard is down to two |
| Deal (2 players) | 7 each | 7 each |
| Deal (3 players) | 5 each | 7 each |
| Deal (4 players) | 5 each | 6 each |
| Rounds that end blocked | 61% | 19.2% |
| Match target | 100 (2 players) · 61 (3–4) | 100 (2 players) · 61 (3–4) |
That blocked-round figure is the reason the distinction matters. In the Block game, 61% of two-player rounds end with the line jammed and tiles still in every hand, so the blocked-game scoring rule is not an edge case you can settle later, it decides the majority of rounds. In the Draw game it falls to 19.2%, because a player who cannot go refills instead of stalling.
This is also where a lot of published rules go wrong. Wikipedia’s dominoes article describes the Block game as one in which a player unable to move "must continue drawing tiles from the stock", which is the Draw game. Pagat is unambiguous: in Block, a player who cannot play passes, and the boneyard is not used at all.

### How scoring works

The winner of a round scores the pips their opponents are still holding. The detail worth settling before you start is whether the winner subtracts their own remaining pips. Respected sources genuinely differ, and on a blocked round the two rules give different answers.
Pagat’s rule is that the lowest hand "is credited with the sum of the scores of the losers, minus his own total". The version repeated on most other sites drops the subtraction and simply awards the total of everyone else’s pips.
When somebody empties their hand the two rules agree, because the winner has nothing left to subtract. They diverge only on a blocked round, which in the Block game is most rounds. The game on this site implements both; the toggle is in Options, and the full worked comparison is on the scoring page.
- Everyone counts the pips left in their hand. A 6–4 is ten, a 3–3 is six, a 0–0 is nothing.
- The lowest total wins the round.
- That player scores the sum of everyone else’s totals, minus their own if you are using pagat’s rule.
- If two players tie for lowest, nobody scores.
- First to 100 (two players) or 61 (three or four) wins the match.

### The rules people argue about

Dominoes has no governing body, which is why two rule books can both be right. Rather than quietly pick one, here is who says what, so you can settle it at your own table and know you are not simply misremembering.
| Question | Positions | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How many tiles does each player draw? | pagat, Block: 7 for two players, 5 each for three or four.; pagat, Draw: 7 for two players, 7 for three, 6 for four.; Common household practice: 7 each for two players, 5 each for three or more, regardless of game. | There is no single official deal. Two players take 7 in every source; beyond that, agree the number before the first tile is laid. Fewer tiles in hand means a longer boneyard and a slower, more tactical round. |
| When the game blocks, does the winner subtract their own pips? | pagat: Yes: the lowest total scores the sum of the others, minus their own remaining pips.; Most published summaries: No: the winner simply takes the total of everyone else’s pips. | Both are played. They give the same answer when someone empties their hand and different answers on a blocked round, so settle it before you start rather than during the argument. |
| Is the first double a spinner you can build on all four sides? | pagat, Block and Draw: No. The layout is a single line with two ends.; Common American house rules: Yes: the first double is a spinner and the line branches from it. | Spinners are a genuine and popular variation, not the base rule. They matter enormously in All Fives, where extra ends mean more scoring chances. |
| How many tiles does each player draw in Mexican Train? | pagat: Up to 4 players take 15, 5–6 take 12, 7–8 take 10, 9–10 take 8.; Wikipedia: Publishes ranges rather than fixed numbers: for a double-twelve set, 12–16 for two players, 10–15 for three, 11–14 for four, 9–12 for five to eight. | Pagat’s fixed numbers are the cleanest starting point. The ranges exist because the right hand size depends on how long a game the table wants. |
| Is the double-blank worth 50 penalty points? | pagat: No: it is not mentioned. Tiles score their pips, so the double-blank scores 0.; Wikipedia: Lists it as an option: blanks “could be scored” as 25 each, with the double-blank at 50. | It is a house rule, and a popular one, because a 0-value tile is otherwise a free pass to hold. If you want it, agree it before the deal. |

### Common questions

**How many dominoes do you get each?**
In a two-player game, seven each. That is the one figure every source agrees on. For three or four players it varies: pagat’s Block rules say five each, its Draw rules say seven for three players and six for four, and many households simply deal five each regardless. Agree it before the first tile goes down; fewer tiles in hand means a bigger boneyard and a slower, more tactical round.
**Who goes first in dominoes?**
The player holding the highest double leads, and must open with that tile. If nobody holds a double the heaviest tile leads instead, but with seven tiles each that almost never happens, because somebody is dealt a double in 99.7% of deals.
**What happens if you cannot play a domino?**
In the Draw game you take tiles from the boneyard until you find one you can play. In the Block game there is no drawing at all, so you simply pass and play moves on. In either game, once the boneyard is down to its last two tiles nobody may draw, so you pass.
**What is the boneyard in dominoes?**
The boneyard is the pile of face-down tiles left over after the deal. In the Draw game you take from it when you cannot play; in the Block game it is not used at all. Its last two tiles are never drawn.
**Do you have to play a domino if you can?**
Yes. You may choose which end to play on and which tile to use, but you may not pass while holding a legal move. Passing when you could have played is how a blocked round gets manufactured, which is exactly what the rule prevents.
**What does it mean when dominoes is “blocked”?**
A round is blocked when no player can legally play and the boneyard is exhausted or unavailable. Play stops immediately and everyone counts the pips still in hand, and the lowest total wins the round. Roughly six in ten Block-game rounds end this way, against fewer than two in ten Draw-game rounds.
**How many dominoes are in a set?**
A standard double-six set has 28 tiles and 168 pips in total. A double-nine has 55 tiles, a double-twelve 91, a double-fifteen 136 and a double-eighteen 190. The pattern is that a double-N set holds (N+1)(N+2)/2 tiles.
**Why are there 28 dominoes in a set?**
Because a double-six set holds every unordered pairing of the numbers 0 to 6, including each number with itself. That is 21 mixed tiles plus 7 doubles, which is 28. No combination is duplicated, which is why the 6–3 and the 3–6 are the same tile.
**How much is a spinner worth in dominoes?**
Nothing on its own. A spinner is a branching rule rather than a scoring one, so playing it earns no points by itself. What it changes is the shape of the layout: extra open ends mean more places to play and, in All Fives, more ends whose pips are added up when scoring.
**What is a spinner in dominoes?**
A spinner is a double that the line is allowed to branch from, so the layout gains extra ends to play on. It is a popular variation rather than the base rule. Pagat’s Block and Draw rules keep the layout to a single line with two ends. Spinners matter most in All Fives, where more open ends mean more chances to score.

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## Mexican Train Dominoes Rules

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/mexican-train

The Mexican Train dominoes game is played with a double-twelve set by two to ten players over thirteen rounds. Each round opens with a double, the 12-12 first, then the 11-11, down to the double-blank, and every player builds a personal train out from that centre engine. If you cannot play, you place a marker on your train and anyone may then play on it, until you play on it yourself and close it again. The round ends when someone empties their hand, and the pips you are still holding count against you.

### What you need and how many tiles

Mexican Train uses a double-twelve set of 91 tiles, plus a marker for each player and one more for the Mexican Train itself. Traditionally these were coins: a penny per player and a nickel for the shared train.
| Players | Tiles each (pagat) |
| --- | --- |
| 2–4 | 15 |
| 5–6 | 12 |
| 7–8 | 10 |
| 9–10 | 8 |
These are pagat’s numbers. Wikipedia gives ranges instead, 12 to 16 tiles for two players on a double-twelve set, 10 to 15 for three, 11 to 14 for four, 9 to 12 for five to eight, because the right hand size really depends on how long a game the table wants. Neither is wrong. If your set came with an instruction leaflet giving a third number, that is not wrong either.
A hub is convenient but not required. Any way of marking the centre double and leaving room for a train per player plus the Mexican Train will do.

### Thirteen rounds, one engine each

The 12-12 opens the first round, the 11-11 the second, and so on down to the double-blank for the thirteenth.
A full game is thirteen rounds. The first is opened by the 12-12, the second by the 11-11, and so on down to the double-blank. Before each round, that round’s engine is set aside, the rest are shuffled face down, and everyone draws their hand.
Scores accumulate across all thirteen rounds and the lowest total wins. Mexican Train is a game you lose slowly rather than win quickly.

### How to play Mexican Train

1. Set the engine: Take out the round’s double, the 12-12 for the first round, and place it in the centre. Shuffle the rest face down and deal each player their hand. The remainder is the boneyard.
2. Start your train: On your first turn, build a train outwards from the engine, starting with a tile that matches the engine’s number. On this first turn only you may lay as many tiles as you like, as long as they form one valid train.
3. Mark a train you could not start: If you cannot start your train at all, you do not draw. Place your marker where your train would have begun, and from that point anyone may start it for you.
4. Play one tile a turn: After the opening turn, you play a single tile per turn. It may go on your own train, on any train carrying a marker, or on the Mexican Train. You may not play on another player’s unmarked train.
5. Start or extend the Mexican Train: From the second turn onwards, any player may start the shared Mexican Train with a tile matching the round’s engine, and mark it with the odd marker. Anyone may play on it at any time thereafter.
6. Answer every double: Playing a double obliges you to play one more tile, which may go anywhere on the layout you are allowed to play, and it does not have to go on the double. But if the double is still uncovered when your turn ends, the next tile anyone plays must go on it.
7. Draw, or mark your train: If you cannot play, draw one tile from the boneyard. If that tile plays, play it. If it does not, or the boneyard is empty, place your marker on your own train, which opens it to everyone until you play on it yourself.
8. Count up: The round ends when a player runs out of tiles or the layout blocks completely. Everyone else scores the pips left in their hand. After thirteen rounds, the lowest total wins.

### The doubles rule, stated properly

This is the rule most summaries get wrong, and it is worth getting right because it is the rule that swings rounds.
The familiar version, "play a double and you must immediately cover it yourself", is looser than the real rule in one direction and stricter in the other. Pagat: Playing a double obliges you to play one more tile, and it may go anywhere on the layout you are allowed to play, not necessarily on the double itself.
And then: If the double is still open when your turn ends, the next tile added to the layout by anyone must be played on that double. So the extra tile you owe can be played anywhere useful, but an uncovered double freezes the whole layout until somebody answers it, including opponents, who must deal with your double before doing anything they would rather do.
That asymmetry is what makes holding doubles dangerous and playing them at the right moment powerful.

### Markers: when a train opens and closes

- A marker on a train means anyone may play on it. You place one when you cannot play at the end of your turn.
- Playing on your own marked train removes the marker, and it is private again. Pagat: “If the owner of a marked train plays on their own train, the marker is removed and other players can no longer add to that train.”
- The Mexican Train is permanently open. It carries a marker from the moment it starts and never closes.
- A train marked because its owner could not start it can be started by anybody, and closes as soon as its owner plays on it.

### Scoring, and the double-blank myth

Every player scores the pips left in their hand as penalty points. The lowest total after the final round wins.
The double-blank scores zero, because it has no pips. The widely repeated “double-blank is 50” is a house rule. Wikipedia lists it as an option, and pagat’s rules do not mention it. Agree it before you deal or not at all.
It is a good house rule, because without it the double-blank is a free tile you can hold forever at no cost, which is not much of a game. But it is a choice your table makes, not a rule you are getting wrong if you skip it.

### Mexican Train questions

**How many dominoes do you start with in Mexican Train?**
Pagat’s rules give fifteen tiles each for up to four players, twelve for five or six, ten for seven or eight, and eight for nine or ten. Wikipedia publishes ranges instead, 12 to 16 for two players for instance, because hand size is really a dial for game length. Pick a number and stick to it for all thirteen rounds.
**Can you play on someone else’s train in Mexican Train?**
Only if it is marked. A marker means the owner could not play on their own train last turn, and until they do, anyone may add to it. Playing on your own marked train removes the marker and closes it again.
**What happens if you cannot play in Mexican Train?**
Draw one tile from the boneyard. If it can be played, play it. If it cannot, or the boneyard is empty, put your marker on your own train, which opens it to every other player until you play on it yourself.
**Do you have to cover a double in Mexican Train?**
You must play one extra tile after a double, but it can go anywhere on the layout you are entitled to play, and it does not have to go on the double. If the double is still uncovered at the end of your turn, though, the next tile played by anyone must go on it. The layout is frozen until the double is answered.
**Is the double-blank worth 50 points in Mexican Train?**
Only as a house rule. Pagat’s rules do not mention it, and by the ordinary scoring, where you count the pips left in your hand, the double-blank is worth nothing. Wikipedia lists 25 per blank and 50 for the double-blank as an option. Plenty of families play it; just agree it before you deal.
**How many rounds are in a game of Mexican Train?**
Thirteen with a double-twelve set, one for each double from the 12-12 down to the double-blank. Shorter games are usually made by playing fewer rounds rather than by changing anything else.
**Can you play Mexican Train with a double-six set?**
Yes, and it is a good way to try the game. You get seven rounds instead of thirteen, and hands of about five tiles for two to four players. It is a noticeably tighter game, because 28 tiles do not leave much of a boneyard.

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## Dominoes Scoring: Every Version

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/scoring

In most domino games you score the pips your opponents are left holding. The player with the fewest pips wins the round, and scores the total of everyone else’s tiles, and under pagat’s rule minus their own remaining pips. Matches run to 100 points with two players or 61 with three or four. All Fives is different: there you score during play, every time the open ends add up to a multiple of five.

### Counting the pips

Every tile is worth the number of pips on it. A 6–6 is twelve, a 6–4 is ten, a 0–0 is nothing. That is the whole valuation system.
| Game | Players | Target | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Block / Draw | 2, or partnerships | 100 | pagat |
| Block / Draw | 3 or 4 | 61 | pagat |
| All Fives (Muggins) | 2 | 250 | pagat |
| All Fives (Muggins) | 3 or 4 | 200 | pagat |

### The blocked-game rule sources disagree on

When a round jams and everyone still holds tiles, does the winner subtract their own pips? Pagat says yes. Most published summaries say no. Both are played, and the difference is worth real points on the scorepad.
| Rule | Calculation | You score |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pagat, subtracting your own | 12 − 3 | 9 |
| Simplified, opponents’ pips only | 12 | 12 |
Pagat’s wording is that the lowest hand "is credited with the sum of the scores of the losers, minus his own total". The simplified rule drops the subtraction entirely.
Both give the same answer when a player empties their hand, because there is nothing to subtract. They differ only on blocked rounds, and in the Block game, 61% of rounds end blocked, so this is not a technicality. It decides most of the game.
The game on this site plays either way; the toggle is in Options. If you are settling an argument at a physical table, the honest answer is that you are both right and you should have agreed it first.

### All Fives (Muggins) scoring

After a tile is played, add up the two open ends of the layout. If the total is a multiple of five, the player scores that total immediately.
All Fives is the scoring game, because you accumulate points during play rather than only at the end of a round. After each tile you lay, add up the two open ends of the layout. If the total divides by five, you score it immediately.
A double turned crosswise on an end counts its whole pip value. Pagat: “[5-5] counts ten points, [6-6] counts twelve.” This is the single most commonly mis-scored rule in dominoes, and it is worth being firm about: a crosswise double at an end is not showing one number, it is showing both.
| Open ends | Total | Score |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 5 and 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 4 and 6 | 10 | 10 |
| 5–5 double and 0 | 10 | 10 |
| 6–6 double and 3 | 15 | 15 |
| 3 and 4 | 7 | Nothing |
| 6–6 double and 1 | 13 | Nothing |
In many families, a player who fails to claim their own score before the next tile is laid can have it taken by the first opponent to call “Muggins!”. Pagat’s Muggins page does not document this; treat it as a house rule to agree before you start.

### Printable score sheets

- [Dominoes score sheet (PDF)](/downloads/dominoes-score-sheet.pdf)
- [Mexican Train score sheet (PDF)](/downloads/mexican-train-score-sheet.pdf)
- [All Fives scoring reference (PDF)](/downloads/all-fives-reference.pdf)

### Scoring questions

**How do you score dominoes?**
At the end of a round, every player counts the pips left in their hand. The lowest total wins the round and scores the sum of the other players’ pips, minus their own remaining pips if you follow pagat’s rule. Play continues until someone reaches 100 points (two players) or 61 (three or four).
**What happens if two players tie for the lowest hand?**
Nobody scores. Pagat is explicit that a tie for the lowest total awards no points at all, and play moves on to the next deal.
**How many points is a double-six worth?**
Twelve, if you are caught holding it. Pips are pips. In All Fives, a 6–6 sitting crosswise on an open end also contributes twelve to the open-end total, which is why it can be worth so much or cost so much depending on which side of it you are.
**What does “muggins” mean in dominoes?**
Muggins is another name for All Fives, the game where you score whenever the open ends total a multiple of five. It also refers to a house rule in which an opponent can claim points you forgot to take for yourself by calling "Muggins!", though pagat’s Muggins page does not document that rule, so treat it as one to agree in advance.
**What score do you play dominoes to?**
Pagat gives 100 points for a two-player or partnership game and 61 for three or four players. All Fives runs longer: 250 for two players, 200 for three or four. Plenty of groups play to 150 or 200 instead. It changes the length, not the game.

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## Dominoes Strategy, Actually Measured

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/strategy

Most domino strategy advice is handed down rather than tested. We ran 15,000 simulated rounds per experiment through the same engine that powers the game on this page, and three findings stand out: leading is worth more at a four-player table (+7.6 points of win rate) than heads-up (+4.3); six in ten Block-game rounds end blocked against fewer than two in ten Draw rounds; and a heavy starting hand is not the liability everyone says it is.

### How these numbers were produced

Every figure on this page comes from 15,000 simulated rounds per experiment on a double-six set, seed 20260805, run through the exact engine that plays the game above. The script is scripts/run-sim.mjs in the site’s source, seat order is alternated to cancel the opening advantage, and the seed is fixed so anyone can reproduce the figures rather than take our word for them. The simulations play the single-line base rules, with no spinner, because those are the rules these pages document; the game above offers the spinner variant as well.
One limitation stated plainly: these are results between computer opponents, not between people. They measure what the described strategies are worth against each other under the rules as implemented. They are evidence about the game, not about your family.

### What is leading actually worth?

"Whoever holds the highest double leads" is the rule everywhere, and it is usually described as an advantage without a number attached. Here is the number.
| Table | Opener’s win rate | Baseline | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Two players | 54.3% | 50% | +4.3 |
| Four players | 32.6% | 25% | +7.6 |
Leading is worth about four points of win rate heads-up: real, but not decisive. At a four-player table it is worth nearly eight, almost double. That is the opposite of the intuition that a crowded table dilutes any single player's edge.
The mechanism is tempo: with four hands to get through, the opener is consistently a move ahead of three opponents rather than one, and rounds end sooner relative to the number of tiles each player holds. It also means the “highest double leads” rule hands out a bigger advantage the more people are playing, which is worth knowing if your group plays a long series and never rotates who deals.
A related figure: somebody is dealt a double in 99.7% of deals, so the "heaviest tile leads if nobody has a double" fallback almost never fires. In a thousand deals you will see it about three times.

### How often rounds end blocked

| Game | Blocked rounds |
| --- | --- |
| Block, two players | 61% |
| Draw, two players | 19.2% |
| Draw, four players | 15.6% |
This is the most practically useful number on the page. In the Block game, 61% of rounds jam, so the blocked-game scoring rule is not a footnote, it is how you win or lose most rounds. If your group plays Block and has never settled whether the winner subtracts their own pips, you have an unresolved argument sitting under the majority of your scorepad.
In the Draw game it collapses to 19.2%, because a stuck player refills instead of stalling. Adding more players lowers it further still (15.6% at four), since more hands means more chances that somebody can answer the open ends.

### The heavy-hand advice is wrong

"Get rid of your heavy tiles early" is the most repeated tip in dominoes. Tested, it does not hold up the way it is usually stated.
| Starting hand | Rounds ending blocked | Average pips left at the end |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Light (under 35 pips) | 20.3% | 10.9 |
| Average (35–49 pips) | 18.7% | 10.3 |
| Heavy (50+ pips) | 19.2% | 9.3 |
The blocked rate barely moves with hand weight, from 18.7% to 20.3% across the whole range. And the players dealt the heaviest hands finish holding slightly FEWER pips (9.3) than those dealt the lightest (10.9).
That looks backwards until you think about what a light hand is. A light hand is full of low tiles and blanks, which match fewer numbers and give you less to do, so you sit on them. A heavy hand is full of tiles you are motivated to spend and that fit the layout, so you spend them. The advice is not wrong about wanting to shed weight; it is wrong about a heavy deal being bad news.
The practical version: your starting weight is not the thing to worry about. The number of DIFFERENT numbers you hold is. A hand of seven tiles spread across six numbers can always answer something; a hand of seven tiles concentrated in three numbers is the one that gets stuck.

### What actually wins

| Matchup | Win rate |
| --- | --- |
| Hard vs Easy | 63.7% |
| Hard vs Medium | 55.6% |
| Medium vs Easy | 60% |
These numbers are a useful answer to "is dominoes a game of luck?". A player who counts unseen tiles and tracks what opponents have passed on beats a competent but unreflective player 55.6% of the time: a real edge, but a small one. Against a player who simply plays something legal, it rises to 63.7%.
So: dominoes is mostly luck in any single round, and skill is decisive over a long match. About five points of edge per round compounds into near-certainty across a race to 100.
- Count what is still out. Every number appears on seven tiles in a double-six set. If five of the 4s are visible between your hand and the table, an end showing 4 is very likely to stick your opponent.
- Remember every pass. A player who passes with 3 and 5 showing holds no 3s and no 5s for the rest of the round. That information never expires and it is free.
- Play doubles early. A double matches one number and one number only, so it is the hardest tile to place and the worst to be caught with.
- Watch for both ends showing the same number. If you hold several of that number it is a commanding position; if you hold none, you are one bad turn from passing on your own layout.
- Count the boneyard, not just your hand. In the Draw game the last two tiles are never drawn, so the moment the stock hits two, the game turns into Block and passing becomes possible again.

### Strategy questions

**Is dominoes a game of skill or luck?**
Both, in a measurable ratio. Across 15,000 simulated rounds, a player who counts unseen tiles and tracks opponents' passes beats a competent player only 55.6% of the time, so any single round is mostly luck. Over a race to 100 points that edge compounds, which is why the same people keep winning domino nights.
**Should you play your heaviest dominoes first?**
Mostly yes, but not for the usual reason. Heavy tiles cost you if the round blocks, so shedding them is sensible, but our simulation found that players dealt heavy hands actually end up holding fewer pips than players dealt light ones. Your real risk is holding tiles concentrated in a few numbers, not holding high numbers.
**What is the best opening move in dominoes?**
You rarely get a choice, because the highest double leads, and in 99.7% of deals somebody holds one. When you do have a choice of tiles later, favour the ones that leave an end you hold several of, and avoid spending your only tile in a number you are about to leave open.
**Does going first matter in dominoes?**
Yes, and more than you would expect at a big table. Heads-up, the opener wins 54.3% of rounds against a 50% baseline. At a four-player table the opener wins 32.6% against a 25% baseline, an edge of nearly eight points, almost double the two-player figure.

---

## Domino Games: Block, Draw & All Fives

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/variants

The same box of tiles plays dozens of games. The four that matter for most households are Block (no drawing), Draw (the usual game), All Fives (score during play on multiples of five) and Mexican Train (thirteen rounds, personal trains, a double-twelve set). Chicken Foot and Five-Up are the popular next steps.

### The games at a glance

| Game | Set | Players | What makes it different | Scoring |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Block | Double-six | 2–4 | No drawing at all. If you cannot play, you pass. | Pips left in hand at round end |
| Draw | Double-six | 2–4 | Draw from the boneyard until you can play. The default game. | Pips left in hand at round end |
| All Fives (Muggins) | Double-six | 2–4 | Score during play whenever the open ends total a multiple of five. | Running score, to 250 (2p) or 200 (3–4p) |
| Mexican Train | Double-twelve | 2–10 | Thirteen rounds, a personal train each, plus one shared train. | Lowest cumulative pips after 13 rounds |
| Chicken Foot | Double-nine or -twelve | 2–8 | Every double must be surrounded by three tiles before play continues. | Lowest cumulative pips |
| Five-Up | Double-six | 2–4 | All Fives with a spinner, so the layout has up to four scoring ends. | Running score, usually to 150 or 200 |

### Chicken Foot

Chicken Foot is Mexican Train’s louder cousin: the same round-per-double structure, but every double played stops the game until its open arms have been filled, forming the three-toed foot the game is named after.
- Usually played with a double-nine or double-twelve set, two to eight players.
- Each round opens with the next double down, exactly as in Mexican Train.
- The double that opens a round takes tiles on all four of its arms before any of them may be extended.
- When a double is played later in the round, the layout freezes: its three open arms must all be filled, forming the "foot", before normal play resumes.
- If nobody can complete the foot, players draw one tile and pass if it does not help.
- Scoring counts the pips left in your hand, lowest total wins, but the double blank is priced at 50 points rather than zero.

### Spinners, and why they change everything

A spinner is a double the line may branch from, giving the layout more than two open ends. Pagat’s Block and Draw rules do not use them, since the layout is one line with two ends, but they are extremely common as a house rule, and they are the defining feature of Five-Up.
They matter most in scoring games. With two ends, an All Fives layout can total at most 24. With four ends it can reach far higher and score far more often, which turns the game from a gentle points trickle into something much sharper. If you are playing All Fives and it feels like nobody ever scores, adding a spinner is usually the fix.

### Variant questions

**What is the most common domino game?**
The Draw game: deal seven tiles each, match the open ends, draw from the boneyard when you cannot play. Pagat notes it is "often referred to as simply dominoes". Block is the same game with the boneyard removed.
**What is the difference between Block and Draw dominoes?**
Only the boneyard. In Draw you take tiles until you can play; in Block there is no drawing and you pass instead. It sounds minor and is not: about six in ten Block rounds end blocked, against fewer than two in ten Draw rounds.
**What are the rules of Chicken Foot dominoes?**
Chicken Foot follows Mexican Train’s structure, a round for each double descending, with one extra rule: a double played during the round freezes the table until its three open arms have been filled to form the "foot". The double that opens a round is the exception and takes four. Lowest cumulative pip total after the final round wins, counting the double blank as 50. Full rules and the deal table are on the Chicken Foot page.
**How many domino games are there?**
Pagat lists over 150, and that is only the ones with published rules. The half-dozen on this page cover essentially everything a household is likely to play.

---

## Dominoes for 2 Players: Rules & Tips

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/two-player

Two-player dominoes uses a double-six set with seven tiles each, the one deal size every source agrees on, leaving fourteen tiles in the boneyard. Play to 100 points. Heads-up is where dominoes is most tactical, because with only one opponent every pass tells you exactly what they are missing, and that information is enough to steer the whole round.

### The two-player game

- Use a double-six set. Deal seven tiles each; fourteen stay face down as the boneyard.
- The higher double leads, and must lead with it.
- Take turns adding one tile to either end of the line, matching pips.
- If you cannot play, draw until you can, but never take the last two tiles of the boneyard.
- The round ends on a domino or a block. Lowest pips wins and scores the difference.
- First to 100 points takes the match.
That fourteen-tile boneyard is half the set, which is what makes the two-player Draw game so forgiving early and so sharp late. For most of the round you can always refill; then the stock runs down, the game silently becomes Block, and every tile you kept becomes a decision you already made.

### Why two players is the thinking game

With three or four players, information is noisy, because somebody passing tells you about one hand out of three, and the layout changes twice before your next turn. Heads-up, every pass is a complete statement about the only hand that matters, and the layout is exactly as you left it.
The simulation bears this out from the other direction: the opener's edge is smaller heads-up (+4.3 points of win rate) than at a four-player table (+7.6). With one opponent, who led matters less and how you play matters more.
- Block is excellent with two. It is brutal, with six rounds in ten ending jammed, but every pass is decisive information and the scoring rule does real work.
- All Fives is the best two-player game in the box if you want a scoring race rather than a knife fight. Play to 250.
- Mexican Train works with two but is a different, gentler experience: thirteen rounds and a very long game. Deal 12 to 16 tiles each.
- Chicken Foot is poor with two, because the three-tile foot rule needs a crowd to be interesting.

### Two-player questions

**How many dominoes do you get with 2 players?**
Seven each. This is the one deal size no source disputes. Pagat gives seven for two players in both its Block and its Draw rules. The remaining fourteen tiles form the boneyard.
**Can you play dominoes with 2 players?**
Yes, and it is arguably the best version. With one opponent, every pass tells you precisely which numbers they cannot play, so the game rewards attention far more than it does at a crowded table.
**What do you play to in two-player dominoes?**
One hundred points, per pagat. All Fives runs to 250 with two players. Both are several rounds’ work rather than a single deal.

---

## How Many Dominoes Are in a Set?

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/sets

A standard double-six domino set contains 28 tiles and 168 pips in total. A double-nine set has 55 tiles, a double-twelve 91, a double-fifteen 136 and a double-eighteen 190. The rule behind all of them is simple: a double-N set holds one tile for every unordered pair of numbers from 0 to N, which works out to (N+1)(N+2)/2 tiles.

### Every standard set

| Set | Highest end | Tiles | Total pips | Players |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Double-six | 6 | 28 | 168 | 2–4 |
| Double-nine | 9 | 55 | 495 | 2–6 |
| Double-twelve | 12 | 91 | 1092 | 2–10 |
| Double-fifteen | 15 | 136 | 2040 | 4–12 |
| Double-eighteen | 18 | 190 | 3420 | 6–14 |
The pip total is worth knowing because it is what you are playing for. In a double-six set there are 168 pips on the table; the seven doubles alone account for 42 of them, a quarter of the game concentrated in a quarter of the tiles you least want to be holding.

### Which set should you buy?

- Double-six for two to four players and every classic game. If you own one set, this is it.
- Double-twelve if Mexican Train is the reason you are buying. It is the set the game is written for, and it seats up to ten.
- Double-nine as the compromise: big enough for six players and for Chicken Foot, small enough to fit an ordinary table.
- Double-fifteen and double-eighteen only for large standing groups. 190 tiles is a lot of table.
One practical note that has nothing to do with rules: on large sets the pip counts past nine become hard to read at a glance, which is why most double-twelve sets colour-code the numbers. If you are buying for a group with mixed eyesight, colour-coded tiles are worth more than the material they are made of.

### How many dominoes do you start with?

Seven each in a two-player game, which is the one figure no source disputes. Above two players it depends on the game, and Mexican Train uses its own schedule because it is played with a double-twelve set.
| Players | Block | Draw | Mexican Train |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | 7 | 7 | 15 |
| 3 | 5 | 7 | 15 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 7 | not standard | not standard | 10 |
| 8 | not standard | not standard | 10 |
| 9 to 10 | not standard | not standard | 8 |
The numbers above two players are not settled, and this table follows pagat rather than pretending otherwise. Plenty of households deal five each at any count and never notice there is a question. What the hand size actually controls is the size of the boneyard: deal fewer tiles and more of the set stays face down, which makes a round longer and more tactical.
Whatever you pick, use the same number for every round of a game. Mexican Train in particular runs thirteen rounds, and changing the deal partway through makes the scores from earlier rounds meaningless.
**How many dominoes do you start with?**
Seven each with two players. With three or four players it is five each under pagat’s Block rules, or seven for three and six for four under its Draw rules. Mexican Train deals fifteen each for up to four players.
**How many dominoes do you need for Mexican Train?**
A double-twelve set of 91 tiles, which seats up to ten players. Each player draws fifteen tiles for games of up to four players, twelve for five or six, ten for seven or eight, and eight for nine or ten.
**How many dominoes are in a double-six set?**
Twenty-eight tiles, carrying 168 pips between them. It is the standard set for Block, Draw, All Fives and almost every classic domino game.
**How many dominoes are in a double-nine set?**
Fifty-five tiles. It seats up to six players comfortably and is the usual set for Chicken Foot.
**How many dominoes are in a double-twelve set?**
Ninety-one tiles. This is the set Mexican Train is written for, and it seats up to ten players.

### Questions about sets

**How many dominoes are in a set?**
A standard double-six set has 28 dominoes. Double-nine has 55, double-twelve has 91, double-fifteen has 136 and double-eighteen has 190. The formula for a double-N set is (N+1)(N+2)/2.
**How many dots are on a full set of dominoes?**
A double-six set has 168 pips in total. A double-nine has 495, a double-twelve 1,092. Each number appears on N+2 tile ends, so the total is (N+2) × N(N+1)/2.
**How many doubles are in a set of dominoes?**
One for each number, so seven in a double-six set (0–0 through 6–6), ten in a double-nine and thirteen in a double-twelve. They are the tiles that decide most rounds, because each one matches only a single number.
**What size domino set do I need for Mexican Train?**
A double-twelve set, which gives thirteen rounds, one for each double from the 12-12 down to the double-blank, and seats up to ten players. A double-nine works for a shorter game with up to six, and even a double-six will do for a quick seven-round version.

---

## Printable Dominoes Score Sheets (PDF)

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/score-sheet

Three free score sheets, laid out to print cleanly on both A4 and US Letter with no browser header, no cropping and nothing in colour. The general sheet handles up to six players over twenty rounds; the Mexican Train sheet has all thirteen rounds pre-labelled from the 12-12 down to the double-blank.

### Download

- [Dominoes score sheet (PDF)](/downloads/dominoes-score-sheet.pdf)
- [Mexican Train score sheet (PDF)](/downloads/mexican-train-score-sheet.pdf)
- [All Fives scoring reference (PDF)](/downloads/all-fives-reference.pdf)
Searched as “dominoes score sheet printable” or “printable dominoes score sheet”. Either way, these are them. Free to print, copy and hand round, including for classroom and club use. They are licensed CC BY 4.0, so use them for anything you like, including commercially, as long as you credit this page.
They are generated from the same rules data as the rest of the site, so the targets printed on the sheet are the targets the rules pages give.

### How to use them

- Write one player per column. The general sheet takes six, the Mexican Train sheet eight.
- After each round, enter the pips each player was left holding, or for the winner the points they scored.
- Keep the running total in the shaded column so you can see the target approaching.
- For Block and Draw, the first player to 100 (two players) or 61 (three or four) wins.
- For Mexican Train, play all thirteen rounds and the LOWEST cumulative total wins.

### Questions

**How do you keep score in dominoes?**
Write each player in a column and record their result each round. In Block and Draw the round winner scores the pips left in everyone else’s hands and you play up to 100 or 61. In Mexican Train everyone records the pips they were caught holding and the lowest total after thirteen rounds wins.
**Can I print these score sheets for my club?**
Yes. They are licensed CC BY 4.0, which means you may print, copy, adapt and redistribute them, including commercially, provided you credit this page as the source.
**What size paper do they print on?**
Both A4 and US Letter. The layout has a wide enough margin that neither format crops a column, and everything is black and white so it prints on any machine.

---

## What Are the Dots on Dominoes Called?

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/pips

The dots on a domino are called pips. Wikipedia defines them as "small but easily countable items, such as the dots on dominoes and dice, or the symbols on a playing card", and its dominoes article records the alternatives: each end of a tile carries "a number of spots (also called pips or dots) or is blank". Spots and dots are both correct; pips is the word the rule books use, and it is the word that matters, because almost every way of scoring a domino game counts pips rather than tiles.

### Pips, spots or dots

All three words describe the same thing and none of them is wrong. Pip is the term used across the whole family of counting games, so the same word covers the dots on a die and the suit symbols on a playing card. Wikipedia notes that the card sense was originally spelled "peep", and that pip cards are also called "numerals or numeral cards, number cards, spot cards, or spotters".
A domino is divided into two halves and each half carries its own pip count, from zero up to the highest number in the set. Zero is shown as an empty half rather than as a symbol, which is why the word blank does the work that a nought would do on a die.
Tiles are named after the two counts they carry, higher end first or lower end first depending on who is talking. Wikipedia gives the tile bearing two and five as "Deuce-five", "Five-deuce", "2–5" or "5–2", all describing one tile. A tile with the same count on both halves is a double, or a doublet; a tile with two different counts is a single.

### How many pips are in a set

Every set is built the same way: one tile for every unordered pair of numbers from zero up to the set maximum, doubles included, no duplicates. That construction fixes both the tile count and the pip total, so neither is a convention anybody chose and neither varies between manufacturers.
Each value appears on exactly two more tile-ends than there are values in the set, once against every other value plus twice on its own double. That gives a set maximum of N a pip total of (N + 2) × (0 + 1 + … + N), which is where every figure in the table below comes from.
| Set | Highest end | Tiles | Total pips | Mean pips per tile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Double-six | 6 | 28 | 168 | 6.0 |
| Double-nine | 9 | 55 | 495 | 9.0 |
| Double-twelve | 12 | 91 | 1092 | 12.0 |
| Double-fifteen | 15 | 136 | 2040 | 15.0 |
| Double-eighteen | 18 | 190 | 3420 | 18.0 |
The mean rises with the set because adding a higher number adds it to every tile that carries it. A double-six averages six pips a tile; a double-eighteen averages eighteen. That is the reason a bigger set is not simply a longer game: being caught holding tiles costs proportionally more.

### Why the count decides the game

In the Block and Draw games nothing is scored until a round ends, and then the winner takes the pips left in every other hand. Holding the 6–6 at the wrong moment costs twelve; holding the 0–0 costs nothing. That single rule is why experienced players lead with their heaviest tiles and keep blanks back.
All Fives scores during the round instead, awarding points whenever the numbers showing at the open ends add up to a multiple of five. Both methods count pips, never tiles, so a player can end a round with more tiles than anyone else and still lose the fewest points.
- A tile’s value is the sum of its two halves, so the 6–4 is worth ten.
- A blank half contributes nothing, and the 0–0 is worth nothing at all.
- A double is worth twice its number, so the 6–6 is the most expensive tile in a double-six set.
- The whole double-six set is worth 168 pips across 28 tiles.

### Common questions

**What are the dots on a domino called?**
Pips. Spots and dots are both accepted alternatives, and Wikipedia lists all three, but pips is the term used in rule books and in scoring, where a hand is counted in pips rather than in tiles.
**What are the black dots on dominoes?**
They are the pips, and they are the tile’s value. Each half of the tile carries its own count, and the two together name the tile: a half with two pips beside a half with five is the 2–5.
**How many pips are on a set of dominoes?**
A double-six set holds 168 pips across 28 tiles. A double-nine holds 495 across 55, and a double-twelve holds 1092 across 91.
**Why do some dominoes have no dots?**
An empty half is a blank and counts as zero. Every set includes a full run of blank tiles, from the 0–0 up to the blank paired with the highest number, because the set is built from every pair of numbers starting at zero.
**Are the pips on dominoes the same as on dice?**
They are the same idea and the same word. A die face and a domino half both show a count in dots, and both are called pips. The arrangements differ because a domino half runs to nine, twelve, fifteen or eighteen in the larger sets, well past anything a die face shows.
**What is the highest pip value on one domino?**
It is twice the set maximum, carried by the highest double. That is twelve on the 6–6 in a double-six set and thirty-six on the 18–18 in a double-eighteen.

---

## Dominoes Terms & Glossary

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/glossary

Domino rules use a small vocabulary that nobody ever explains: the boneyard is the face-down pile left after the deal, a spinner is a double you may branch the line from, and to "domino" is to play your last tile and end the round.

### The words

**Boneyard**: The face-down pile of tiles left over after the deal. In the Draw game you take from it when you cannot play; in the Block game it is not used at all. Its last two tiles are never drawn.
**Bone**: Another word for a domino tile, from the material sets were traditionally made of. Hence "boneyard" for the leftovers.
**Double**: A tile with the same number at both ends, such as the 4–4. There is one for each number, so seven in a double-six set. Doubles match only a single number, which makes them the hardest tiles to place.
**Spinner**: A double the line of play may branch from, giving the layout more than two open ends. Spinners are a common house rule rather than part of the base game, and they are central to Five-Up.
**Domino**: As a verb, to play your last tile and end the round, traditionally announced by saying "domino". The player who does it scores the pips left in everyone else’s hands.
**Blocked**: A round in which no player can legally play and no tiles may be drawn. Play stops and the lowest pip count wins. About six in ten Block-game rounds end this way.
**Pips**: The dots on a domino. A tile’s pip count is its value for scoring, so the 6–4 is worth ten and the 0–0 is worth nothing.
**Open end**: A number showing at either end of the line of play, available to be matched. The basic game has exactly two; spinners create more.
**Heavy and light**: A heavy tile or hand is one with a high pip count, a light one has a low count. Being caught with a heavy hand costs more, since the round is scored on the pips you are still holding.
**Muggins**: Another name for All Fives, the game in which you score whenever the open ends total a multiple of five. Also a house rule allowing an opponent to claim points you forgot to take.
**Engine**: In Mexican Train, the double placed in the centre to start a round: the 12-12 in the first round, then the 11-11, and so on down to the double-blank.
**Train**: In Mexican Train, a line of tiles running out from the central engine. Each player has their own, plus one shared Mexican Train anyone may play on.

---

## How to Play 42 (Texas 42) Dominoes

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/forty-two

Texas 42 is a trick-taking game for four players in two partnerships, played with a double-six set. Each player draws seven dominoes, the four players bid once each for the right to name trumps, and the hand is then played out as seven tricks. There are 42 points in every hand: one point for each of the seven tricks, plus 35 points carried on five specific dominoes, called count. The winning bidder must take at least as many points as they bid or the hand is scored against them.

### Where the 42 points come from

Seven tricks are worth one point each. Five dominoes carry extra points, called count, worth 35 between them. Seven plus 35 is 42, which is where the game gets its name.
| Source | Each | How many | Total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A trick won | 1 | 7 tricks | 7 |
| 5-0 (the five-blank) | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 4-1 (the four-ace) | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 3-2 (the trey-deuce) | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 6-4 (the six-four) | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| 5-5 (the double-five) | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Whole hand | 42 points | Hand total | 42 |
The count dominoes are the ones whose pips add to five or ten: 5-0, 4-1 and 3-2 each total five, and 6-4 and 5-5 each total ten. Nothing else in the set carries count, so the whole hand turns on five tiles and the seven tricks they can be captured in.
This is why a trick is worth taking even when it holds no count. Seven of the 42 points are the tricks themselves, and a bid of 30 or 31 is often made on tricks rather than on capturing the heavy dominoes.

### The draw and the bidding

All 28 dominoes are drawn, seven to each of the four players, leaving nothing in the boneyard. Each player then bids exactly once, and the highest bidder names trumps.
1. Sit partners opposite: Four players in two partnerships, each player sitting between their two opponents. Turn to play passes to the left.
2. Shuffle and draw seven each: Shuffle the dominoes face down and each player draws seven. The whole set is dealt, so there is no boneyard and every domino is in somebody’s hand.
3. Bid once, starting left of the shuffler: Each player in turn makes one bid or passes. The lowest legal bid is 30 and the highest in points is 42. A player who has passed cannot bid again, and each bid must beat the one before it.
4. The winning bidder names trumps: The high bidder chooses one of the seven suits (blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives or sixes) as trumps. Doubles-as-trumps and no-trump games are common agreed variations rather than the default.
5. The bidder leads the first trick: The bidder leads any domino. Everyone must follow suit if they can. The highest trump wins the trick, or if no trump was played, the highest domino of the suit led.
6. Score the hand: Add the tricks and count the bidding side took. If they reached their bid they score it; if they fell short they are set, and the opposing partnership scores the bid instead.
Bids above 42 are made in marks, where one mark is worth a full 42. A two-mark bid says you intend to take every point in the hand, and the opposing side only has to win a single point to set you.
Game is most often played to seven marks, or to 250 points where the score is kept in points rather than marks. Agree which before you start, because the two formats reward very different bidding.

### How dominoes form suits

A domino belongs to the suit of its higher end, unless one of its ends is trumps, in which case it is a trump. The double of a suit is the highest domino in that suit.
Every domino has two ends and therefore two possible suits. The rule that settles it is trumps: if either end matches the trump suit, the domino is a trump and nothing else. The 6-3 is a three when threes are trumps, a six when sixes are trumps, and a six the rest of the time.
Within a suit the double is highest, then the domino with the next highest other end, down to the one paired with a blank. With fives as trumps the order runs 5-5, 6-5, 5-4, 5-3, 5-2, 5-1, 5-0.
The seven dominoes that contain no trump at all cannot be led into the trump suit, which is the constraint that makes the bidding a real decision. Counting how many trumps you hold before you bid is most of the skill in the game.
**How many dominoes do you get in 42?**
Seven each. All 28 dominoes of a double-six set are drawn between the four players, so there is no boneyard and nothing is left face down.
**What is the lowest bid in 42?**
Thirty. A bid of 30 says your partnership will take at least 30 of the 42 points in the hand. Each following bid must be higher, and a player who passes may not bid again.
**Which dominoes are worth points in 42?**
Five of them. The 5-0, 4-1 and 3-2 are worth 5 points each, and the 6-4 and 5-5 are worth 10 points each, making 35. The seven tricks are worth 1 point each, bringing the hand to 42.
**Can you play 42 with two or three players?**
Not as written. Texas 42 is built around four players in two partnerships and a 28-tile set that divides exactly seven ways each. Two- and three-player adaptations exist but change the draw, and none of them is standard.
**What happens if the bidder does not make the bid?**
They are set. The opposing partnership scores the amount that was bid, and the bidding side scores nothing for the hand, regardless of how many points they actually took.

---

## Chicken Foot Dominoes Rules

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/chicken-foot

Chicken Foot is a domino game for two or more players on a double-nine set or larger, in which every double played stops the game until tiles have been laid across it to form a foot. The opening double of each hand takes four arms before any of them may be extended. Every later double takes three, the three toes the game is named after. A hand is played for each double descending, so a double-nine set runs ten hands, and the lowest pip total at the end wins.

### How to play Chicken Foot

Chicken Foot shares its shape with Mexican Train: a hand for each double counting down, personal scores carried across hands, lowest total wins. What it adds is a rule that halts play every time a double appears.
1. Deal, and set the rest aside: Deal each player the number of tiles for your set and player count from the table below. The tiles left over stay face down as the chicken yard, which is this game’s name for the boneyard.
2. Lead the highest double: Whoever holds the highest double leads it. On a double-nine set that is the 9-9. If nobody drew it, every player takes one extra tile and you repeat that until it appears.
3. Fill all four arms of the opening double: The opening double takes tiles on all four of its arms before any arm may be extended by a second tile. Until those four are down, there is nowhere else on the table to play.
4. Play a matching tile, or draw: On your turn add one tile matching an open end. If you cannot play, draw a single tile from the chicken yard and play it at once if it fits. If the yard is empty and you still cannot play, you miss the turn.
5. Stop everything when a double lands: A double played during the hand becomes a chicken foot. Its three open arms must be filled with three more tiles before anyone may play anywhere else on the table.
6. Score the hand and count down: The hand ends when a player runs out or nobody can move. Everyone scores the pips left in hand. The next hand is led by the next double down, and the game finishes after the hand led by the double blank.

### The foot rule, and the part most sites get wrong

Two different numbers apply to doubles in this game, and plenty of published rule summaries collapse them into one. The double that opens a hand sits in the middle of the table with four arms, and pagat.com is explicit that it "must have tiles played on all four arms before any arm is extended by a second tile on it". A double played later in the hand is already attached to the layout on one side, which leaves it three open arms, and those are the toes: pagat gives that the open arms "must be filled with three more dominoes before tiles can be played elsewhere in the barnyard".
So the opening double takes four and every later double takes three. The shape of three tiles fanning off a double is what the game is named for, and it is also the reason a hand can stall: while a foot is unfilled there is no legal play anywhere else, so players draw and pass until somebody produces the tile the foot is waiting for.

### How many dominoes to deal

Chicken Foot is not played on a double-six set. It wants a bigger box, because a hand for every double is a long game and the foot rule eats tiles quickly.
| Players | Double-9 | Double-12 | Double-15 | Double-18 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | 20 | – | – | – |
| 3 | 14 | – | – | – |
| 4 | 11 | 18 | – | – |
| 5 | 9 | 14 | 18 | – |
| 6 | 7 | 12 | 15 | – |
| 7 | – | 10 | 15 | – |
| 8 | – | 9 | 14 | 19 |
| 9 | – | – | 12 | 17 |
| 10 | – | – | 10 | 15 |
| 11 | – | – | 10 | 14 |
| 12 | – | – | 9 | 13 |
| 13 | – | – | – | 12 |
| 14 | – | – | – | 11 |
| 15 | – | – | – | 10 |
| 16 | – | – | – | 9 |
A double-nine set holds 55 tiles, so four players taking eleven each leaves eleven in the yard. A double-twelve holds 91 and seats up to eight. Above that you need a double-fifteen or double-eighteen, which is why Chicken Foot turns up at family gatherings where a card game would have run out of seats.

### Scoring, and the 50-point double blank

At the end of each hand every player adds up the pips still in their hand, and that number is added to their running score. Low is good. After the hand led by the double blank, the lowest total wins the game.
One tile breaks that arithmetic. The double blank has no pips at all, so on a straight count it would be the safest tile in the set to be caught with. Chicken Foot fixes that by pricing it: pagat.com gives the 0-0 as worth 50 points, and records a variation in which it counts 25. Either way it turns the emptiest tile into the one you most want gone, which is the whole point of the rule.
Agree which figure you are using before the first hand. Fifty is the more commonly published number and it is what this page assumes.

### Chicken Foot questions

**What are the rules of Chicken Foot dominoes?**
Deal from a double-nine set or larger, lead the highest double, and fill all four of its arms before extending any of them. After that, add one matching tile per turn or draw from the chicken yard. Whenever a double is played it becomes a foot, and its three open arms must be filled before anyone may play elsewhere. Score the pips left in hand at the end of each hand, count the double blank as 50, and play a hand for each double down to the double blank. Lowest total wins.
**How many dominoes do you need for Chicken Foot?**
A double-nine set at minimum, which is 55 tiles and seats up to six. A double-twelve set of 91 tiles seats up to eight. Four players on a double-nine set take eleven tiles each. Chicken Foot is not normally played on a double-six set, because a hand for every double makes for a short game and the foot rule uses tiles up quickly.
**How many tiles make a chicken foot?**
Three. A double played during a hand already has one side attached to the layout, leaving three open arms, and all three must be filled before play may continue anywhere else. The opening double of a hand is the exception: it sits free in the middle and takes four.
**What happens if you cannot play in Chicken Foot?**
Draw one tile from the chicken yard and play it immediately if it fits. If it does not fit, your turn is over. Once the yard is empty, a player who cannot play simply misses the turn.
**How many rounds are in a game of Chicken Foot?**
One for each double in the set, counting down. A double-nine set gives ten hands, from the 9-9 to the 0-0. A double-twelve set gives thirteen. The game ends after the hand led by the double blank.
**What is the difference between Chicken Foot and Mexican Train?**
Both play a hand for each double descending and both score the pips left in hand. Mexican Train gives every player a personal train and a shared one, and a double only obliges the next player to satisfy it with a single tile. Chicken Foot has no trains at all, and a double freezes the entire table until three tiles have been laid across it.

---

## Dominoes for 3 and 4 Players: Rules

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/players

With three or four players you deal fewer tiles each than you do heads-up. Pagat’s Block rules give five each at both counts; its Draw rules give seven for three players and six for four. Four players commonly play as two partnerships sitting opposite each other, and the target score drops from 100 to 61 once more than two people are at the table. Everything else, matching pips on the open ends and drawing when you cannot go, is the game you already know.

### Dominoes with 3 players

- Use a double-six set. Deal five tiles each under Block rules, or seven each under Draw rules.
- The highest double leads. If nobody holds a double, the heaviest tile leads instead.
- Play passes to the left, each player adding one tile to either open end.
- In Draw, a player who cannot go takes tiles until they can. In Block they pass and the turn moves on.
- The round ends on a domino or a block, and the lowest pip count wins the difference against both opponents.
- Play to 61 points.
Three is the count where dominoes stops being a duel and starts being a negotiation. A tile you play to block the player on your left hands the opening to the player on your right, so the obvious defensive move is frequently the one that loses you the round. Everyone plays a little more cautiously than they would heads-up, and rounds run longer as a result.
Deal size matters more here than at any other count. Five each leaves thirteen tiles face down out of twenty-eight, so almost half the set is unseen all round and reading hands is close to guesswork. Seven each leaves seven, and the round becomes genuinely trackable.

### Dominoes with 4 players

- Use a double-six set. Deal five tiles each under Block rules, or six each under Draw rules.
- Decide before you start whether you are playing as individuals or as two partnerships sitting opposite one another.
- The highest double leads, and play passes to the left.
- In partnerships, a round ends when either partner plays their last tile, and the pips left in both opponents’ hands are scored to the winning side.
- Play to 61 points as individuals, or 100 as partnerships.
Partnership play is what most households mean by four-player dominoes, and it changes the game more than the extra seat does. You cannot see your partner’s hand, so the tiles you choose to play become the only way of telling them what you hold. Playing a suit your partner has already been unable to follow is the standard way of saying you are strong in it, and a partner who has been paying attention will keep that end open for you.
With four tiles going down between your turns, the layout you planned around is rarely still there when your turn comes back. That is the main adjustment coming from the two-player game: plan for the ends you can still use in two turns’ time rather than the ones open now.

### What actually changes as the table grows

Leading is worth more with more players, not less. Across 15,000 simulated rounds per configuration on seed 20260805, the opener wins 54.3% of two-player rounds against a 50% baseline, an edge of 4.3 points. At a four-player table the opener wins 32.6% against a 25% baseline, an edge of 7.6 points, which is nearly double.
The other change is that blocking gets easier and reading gets harder at the same time. More hands means more tiles held back, so an end is more likely to be dead for somebody. It also means a pass tells you about one hand in three or four rather than about the only hand that matters, so the information you gain from it is worth much less.

### Questions about playing with 3 or 4

**How do you play dominoes with 4 players?**
Deal five tiles each from a double-six set under Block rules, or six each under Draw rules. Agree first whether you are playing as individuals or as two partnerships sitting opposite each other. The highest double leads, play passes to the left, and each player adds one tile to an open end matching the pips. Individuals play to 61 points; partnerships play to 100.
**How do you play dominoes with 3 players?**
Deal five tiles each under Block rules or seven each under Draw rules, from a double-six set. The highest double leads and play passes to the left. The round ends when a player empties their hand or nobody can move, and the lowest pip count scores the difference against both opponents. Play to 61 points.
**How many dominoes do you get with 4 players?**
Five each under pagat’s Block rules, or six each under its Draw rules. Many households simply deal five each at every player count above two and never encounter the question. Whichever you choose, keep it the same for every round of the game.
**How many dominoes do you get with 3 players?**
Five each under Block rules, or seven each under Draw rules. Seven leaves only seven tiles in the boneyard, which makes the round far easier to read; five leaves thirteen face down and makes it much more of a guessing game.
**Can you play dominoes in teams?**
Yes, and with four players it is the usual way. Partners sit opposite each other so that play alternates between the two sides. The round ends when either partner goes out, and the pips in both opponents’ hands are scored to the winning partnership. Partnership games are normally played to 100 points rather than 61.
**What score do you play dominoes to?**
Pagat gives 100 points for a two-player or partnership game and 61 for three or four players playing as individuals. All Fives runs longer at 250 for two players and 200 for three or four. Plenty of groups play to 150 or 200 instead, which changes the length of the game rather than the way it is played.

---

## About Dominoes Game Online

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/about

Dominoes Game Online is a free browser version of Dominoes, built and maintained by John Weeks, a web developer. There is no sign-up, no download and no paywall. The game loads and you play, and the rules and strategy pages are written by hand rather than generated.

### Who runs Dominoes Game Online

This site is built and run by John Weeks, a web developer who designs, codes and maintains every game in the network himself.
I am a web developer. I build for the web full time, mostly TypeScript and PHP on the server, React and Tailwind CSS on the front end, and I build and run my own sites rather than only shipping other people's.
This network came out of a simple frustration: most free online versions of classic games are slow, buried under adverts, gated behind an account, or built once and abandoned. I wanted the version I would actually want to play (instant, playable on a phone, no sign-up, and accurate to the real rules), and then to write down properly how the game works so anyone can learn it in one page.
Every site here is a single game on its own domain. I write the code, the rules, the strategy and the reference tables myself, and I keep them current. There is no content farm behind this and no AI-generated filler: if a page states an odds figure or a scoring rule, it came from a solver I wrote or a primary source I can point you at.
Domino rules on the web are largely copies of copies, and the copies contradict each other. Writing this site I kept reaching points where two respectable sources said opposite things about the same rule. The usual move is to pick one and say nothing. I would rather print the disagreement, name both sources and tell you which one the game here follows.

### What this site is trying to be

The goal is simple: the best free version of Dominoes on the web, and the clearest explanation of how it works.
- Block, Draw and All Fives, on a double-six, double-nine or double-twelve set.
- A board that lays tiles out the way a real table does, with doubles crosswise and a spinner that unlocks the way the printed rule actually says.
- An opponent on hard that counts the tiles it has not seen and works out which suits you are void in.
- Sources named and quoted, with pagat.com and Wikipedia given directly rather than paraphrased into house style.
- Score sheets you can print for a game played away from a screen.

### How the site is paid for, and what it knows about you

Adverts pay the hosting and the time. Being straight about that, and about the data side, matters more than pretending the site runs on goodwill.
The site is free and always will be. Display advertising is what will pay for it, and the slots go around the play area rather than over it. An advert will never cover the game or interrupt you mid-turn.
Your game statistics (streaks, best scores, preferences) are stored in your own browser using localStorage. They are not sent to me, there is no account, and clearing your browser data clears them permanently.
Analytics tell me which pages are useful. Advertising has not started yet, and when it does the advertising partners will set their own cookies. The privacy page lists what is collected either way, and how to opt out of it.

### The rules that disagree, and what this site does about them

Five points of domino rules are genuinely contested between published sources. Deal size is one. Whether the first double is a spinner is another.
Rather than average them into a version nobody plays, this site publishes the disagreements as a table, with each source quoted and the rule this game follows marked. If your family plays it the other way, you can see that you are not wrong, which is more useful than being told there is one correct answer.
The strategy pages are held to the same standard. Every figure there came from 15,000 simulated rounds with the seed published alongside it, so a claim about opening with the heaviest double is something you can rerun rather than something you have to believe.

### Corrections and contact

The fastest way to reach me is email: john.weeks.dev@gmail.com. I read everything sent there.
**Who created Dominoes Game Online?**
John Weeks, a web developer, built and maintains it. The code, the game logic and the written rules and strategy are all his own work.
**Is Dominoes Game Online free?**
Yes, completely. There is no account, no download, no trial and no paid tier. Display advertising covers the costs.
**Do I need to create an account or install anything?**
No. The game runs in your browser. Your scores and preferences are saved on your own device, so nothing needs to be signed into.
**Can I use the rules, tables or score sheets on my own site?**
Yes, with attribution and a link back. The reference data is published for reuse. That is the point of writing it out properly.
**I found a mistake in the rules. What should I do?**
Email john.weeks.dev@gmail.com and say what is wrong. Rule variations differ by region and household, so specifics help, and genuine corrections get made.

---

## Privacy Policy

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/privacy

Dominoes Game Online has no accounts and no server-side database, so it collects no personal information directly. Your game progress is stored in your own browser and never sent anywhere. This page sets out the analytics and advertising technologies the site does use, what they collect, and how to opt out.

### The short version

If you read nothing else on this page, this is the substance of it.
- There is no account, no login and no sign-up form. Nothing is submitted to us.
- Your scores, streaks and settings are saved in your own browser and stay on your device.
- The site is free because it shows adverts. Advertising and analytics partners set cookies.
- Advertising has not started on this site yet. When it does, visitors in the UK, EEA and Switzerland will be asked for consent before any advertising cookie is set, and will be able to change that answer at any time.
- We do not sell personal information, and we have nothing to sell. We hold no database of visitors.

### What is stored in your browser

Game data is kept locally with the browser’s localStorage. It is not personal information and we cannot read it.
Your best scores, games played, streaks and preferences are saved in your own browser using localStorage. This is a storage area belonging to your device, not to us: the data is never transmitted, we have no way to request it, and it is not linked to any identifier.
Clearing your browser data, or using private browsing, removes it permanently. There is no backup and no recovery, which is the trade for not asking you to create an account.

### Analytics

Aggregate measurement only: how many people came, and which pages were useful.
The site uses Google Analytics to understand overall traffic: how many visits there were, which pages were read, roughly where in the world visitors were, and whether the pages loaded quickly. It reports in aggregate and is not used to identify you.
Our hosting provider also records standard request information at the network edge: the page requested, the response status, the browser type and the country. This is the equivalent of a web server log, it is what tells us which search and AI crawlers are reading the site, and it contains no name, email or account.

### Advertising

Adverts pay for the hosting and the time. This is exactly what they do and do not do.
No adverts run on this site today. The plan is to fund it with display advertising through Google AdSense, and the honest version of this section describes what that will mean rather than pretending it is already happening. Google and its advertising partners may then use cookies or similar technologies to serve adverts, to measure whether an advert was seen and, where you have consented, to choose adverts based on your previous visits to this and other sites.
Adverts are placed around the game, never over it, and never interrupt a turn. That is a design rule, not a promise we can quietly drop: an advert covering the play area would make the site worse at the one thing it exists to do.
You can opt out of personalised Google advertising at any time through Google’s Ads Settings. Blocking or deleting cookies in your browser settings works too, and the game will keep running normally if you do.

### Consent, and how to change your mind

What is set today, and what changes on the day advertising starts.
Right now the only non-essential cookies here belong to analytics, and there is no advertising and no consent notice. On the day adverts are switched on, visitors in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and Switzerland will get a consent notice before any advertising cookie is set. It records your choices and can be reopened whenever you want to change them, so you are never locked into a single decision.
Essential storage, the localStorage your game progress lives in, is not covered by that notice, because the site cannot function as a game without it and it never leaves your device.

### Your rights over your data

Under the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR and similar laws you have rights over personal data held about you, and the honest answer here is that we hold almost none.
We hold no account records, no email list and no profile of you. There is nothing on our side to export, correct or delete, because there is no database of visitors to hold it in.
Where personal data is processed, it is processed by the third parties named above (Google Analytics and the advertising partners) under their own privacy policies. Requests about that data are best made to them directly, and their policies set out how. Google’s covers both its analytics and its advertising products.
If you have a privacy question, or you believe something on this site is handling data incorrectly, email john.weeks.dev@gmail.com and it will be looked at properly.

### Children

This is a general-audience site, not a service directed at children.
The games here are traditional family games and people of all ages play them, but the site is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Since there are no accounts and no forms, there is no route by which a child could submit personal information to us in the first place.
If you believe a child has somehow provided personal information through this site, contact us and we will act on it.

### External links and changes to this policy

Pages here sometimes link to other sites: rule references, source material, and the other games in this network. Those sites have their own privacy policies and this one does not cover them.
If this policy changes materially, the date below changes with it. Substantive changes are made to the page itself rather than announced and forgotten.
**Do you sell my personal information?**
No. We hold no database of visitors, so there is nothing to sell. Advertising partners operate under their own policies, and you can withdraw consent for them at any time.
**Do I have to accept cookies to play?**
No. Declining non-essential cookies does not affect the game. Your progress is saved in your own browser either way, and that storage never leaves your device.
**How do I delete the data this site has about me?**
Clear your browser data and it is gone. That is genuinely all of it on our side. There is no account to close and no record held on a server.

---

## Terms of Use

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/terms

Dominoes Game Online is free to use, with no account and no subscription. These terms cover what you can do with the site and what it does and does not promise. They are meant to be read, so they are written in plain English.

### Using the site

Play as much as you like. There is no account to breach and no quota to exceed.
You may use this site for personal, non-commercial enjoyment, and you may link to any page on it freely. No permission is needed to link, embed a link, or recommend the site.
What you may not do is the obvious short list: interfere with the site or its security, attempt to disrupt it for other people, scrape it at a volume that degrades it for others, or represent it as your own.

### Reusing the rules, tables and score sheets

The reference material is published so it can be reused. Attribution is the only condition.
The reference data on this site (scoring charts, odds tables, printable score sheets and the computed figures behind them) is published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. You may copy it, reprint it, teach from it and build on it, including commercially, provided you credit Dominoes Game Online and link back to the page you took it from.
That is a deliberate choice, not an oversight. This material was produced so people could use it; a table nobody is allowed to quote is a table that helps nobody.
The site’s own software, layout, graphics and branding are not covered by that licence and remain the property of the site owner.

### Independence and trademarks

Dominoes is a traditional game. This site is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any commercial publisher.
Dominoes is played in many households and regions with local variations, and this site documents it as the traditional game it is. Where a name is also used commercially by a company, it is used here descriptively, to say which game the page is about. No affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement is claimed or implied.
All trademarks referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

### What this site does not promise

It is a free game, offered as it is.
The site is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. It may occasionally be unavailable, a browser update may break something, and rule variations differ between regions and households, so the rules described here may not match the version played at your kitchen table.
Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and the site is not liable for any loss arising from its use to the extent the law allows. If you find a mistake, the useful response is to tell us so it can be corrected, and corrections are made.

### Changes and contact

These terms may be updated; the date below changes when they are. Questions go to john.weeks.dev@gmail.com.
**Can I print the score sheets for my games night?**
Yes, that is exactly what they are for. Print as many as you like, for home, school or a club.
**Can I use the odds tables in a book, video or article?**
Yes, including commercially, as long as you credit Dominoes Game Online and link to the page you took the figures from.
**Can I copy the site itself?**
No. The reference data is openly licensed; the software, design and branding are not.

---

## Contact

Canonical: https://dominoesgameonline.com/contact

Email is the way to reach a real person here: **john.weeks.dev@gmail.com**. John Weeks builds and maintains the site and reads everything sent to that address. There is no contact form, no ticket queue and no support bot.

### What to write about

A one-line subject that names the page or the topic gets a faster and more useful answer.
- **Rule corrections.** The most valuable reason to write. Dominoes varies by region and household, so say which rule, which page, and how you play it. Specifics get acted on.
- **A bug in the game.** Tell us the browser and what happened. A game that breaks in a browser update gets fixed.
- **Reusing the data.** The score sheets, tables and odds are licensed for reuse with attribution. Write if you want to check how to credit it, or need a cut of the data we have not published.
- **Privacy questions or requests.** See the privacy policy first. The short answer is that there is no account and no database. Write if anything is unclear.
- **Press and research.** Happy to help with quotes, figures or background on the game and how the numbers were produced.

### Who you are emailing

This site is built and run by John Weeks, a web developer who designs, codes and maintains every game in the network himself.
John Weeks is a web developer who writes the code, the rules and the strategy content on every site in this network. There is no editorial team behind the address and no agency. Messages go to the person who can actually change the page.
Replies usually come within a few days. Corrections are prioritised over everything else, because a wrong rule on a reference page is the one problem that makes the whole site less useful.
**Is there a contact form?**
No. These are static pages with no server behind them, so a form would have nowhere to submit to without adding a third-party service that collects more data than the rest of the site does. Email is simpler and more private.
**How quickly will I get a reply?**
Usually within a few days. Rule corrections and bug reports get looked at first.
**I think a rule on this site is wrong. What should I include?**
The page, the specific rule, and how you play it, including where you play it, since regional variants are usually the explanation. If it checks out, the page is updated and credited.