How to play dominoes: the rules from scratch

With a domino you can play a wide variety of games. Actually, there are many domino games that have different names and yet they have very similar and sometimes even identical rules. It can also be the case of games that have the same name in various parts of the world, but the rules vary from place to place.

Domino is a game with a lot of history. According to a study published by the University of London, the first mention of dominoes appears from the Song dynasty China (1232-1298). For its part, it is considered that modern dominoes first appeared in Italy during the 18th centuryBut it differs from Chinese dominoes in several respects and there is no confirmed link between the two. In fact, it is possible that European dominoes were developed independently, or that Italian missionaries in China brought the game to Europe, according to the book ‘Encyclopedia of Play in Today’s Society’.

In order to play dominoes we need the 28 pieces, at least 2 players and a maximum of 4, in which each player would receive 5 chips.

How to play dominoes step by step

1. Token distribution: One player shuffles the tiles face down by mixing them well with their hands on a flat surface. The player’s hands cannot remain on the same tiles while shuffling them. The shuffling player must be the last to draw their hand for the game.

2. Seating distribution: the player’s position at the table in a game with three or more players is called the seat. It can be chosen by lottery (after shuffling the tiles, each player draws a tile from the bag and the player who draws the tile with the highest number chooses first and the next one sits on the left, and so on). If there is a tie, it is broken by taking new chips from the bag. The chips are returned to the pool and shuffled again before the players remove their hands. When playing in pairs, the rivals sit opposite each other.

3. Who starts the game ?: There are several ways to determine which player will make the first move: 1) Draw it. 2) Begin the game by placing the highest tile. 3) That the winner of the previous game make the first move of the next one.

After determining who will make the first play of the game, the order of play will be decided by the seating arrangement. The game will continue to the left, clockwise. You can also choose to play counter-clockwise, as is done in some Latin American countries, as long as all players agree to it before the game.

4. The game: Each player must put a chip on the table and place it so that it touches one end of the chain of chips, which grows little by little. The player must put a tile with the same number as the one that has any of the tiles at the ends. The way they are positioned provides a small part of the entertainment of dominoes. Each tile that is placed must be placed so that the two matching ends are adjacent. When it is a double tile, that is, in which the same number appears twice, it can be placed perpendicularly in any of the three directions, as long as the two coinciding sides touch completely.

If a player can place a domino, he must play it. Otherwise, the player “hits” or hits the table and the game passes to the next player. Opposing players will, of course, make a mental note of the numbers available on the table and try to make sure they are available in the future.

Depending on the game, if the player does not have a domino that corresponds to the ones in play, he must pick up one from the pile of chips that were left over. He only passes his turn if there are no more tokens. The game is won by the first person to run out of dominoes. End of the game if everyone passes, in which case the winner is the person with the lowest score. Now you know how to start playing. Good luck!