Dominoes 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 — 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 real money on the scorepad.
| Rule | Calculation | You score |
|---|---|---|
| Pagat — subtract 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 — 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) — Six players, twenty rounds, running totals. Prints on one sheet of A4 or US Letter.
- Mexican Train score sheet (PDF) — All thirteen rounds pre-labelled from the 12-12 down to the double-blank, eight players.
- All Fives scoring reference (PDF) — Which end totals score, how doubles count, and a running scorepad.
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.