The Rules
Four real domino games, each played to its published rules. Every number on this page is produced by the same code that runs the table — so the rules and the game cannot disagree.
How a round plays
A double-six set — 28 tiles, through . Everyone is dealt a hand; what is left forms the boneyard.
You take turns adding one tile to the layout, matching pips to an open end. If you cannot go, you draw from the boneyard until you can — or, in Block, you simply pass.
The round ends when someone empties their hand, or when nobody can move. Then the winner collects, and a new round is dealt. First to the target wins the match.
All Fives
House gameThe house game — score on multiples of five
The classic. The first double becomes a spinner you can build on from all four sides. After every tile you lay, add up the open ends: if the total is a multiple of five, you score it. Empty your hand and you also take your opponents’ remaining pips.
- Layout
- Four-arm cross. The first double is a spinner you can build on from all sides.
- Opening
- The first tile must be a double — it becomes the spinner.
- Scoring
- The open-end total scores itself, whenever it is a multiple of five.
- Cannot go
- Draw from the boneyard until you can play.
- Going out
- Take the opponents’ remaining pips, rounded to the nearest five — 25 points for 23 pips left on the table.
- Match to
- 150 · 250 · 100 · 50 points
- Hands
- 2 players 7 tiles · 3 players 5 · 4 players 5
Fives & Threes
The British pub game — count the threes as well
Played down a single line with two open ends. You score when the ends total a multiple of five OR three — and you score the NUMBER of fives and threes, not the total. So 15 is worth 8 (three fives and five threes), the best score in the game. First to exactly 61 wins.
- Layout
- A single line with exactly two open ends. Doubles lie crosswise but are not spinners.
- Opening
- The opener may lay any tile.
- Scoring
- Score the NUMBER of fives and threes making up the total.
- Cannot go
- Draw from the boneyard until you can play.
- Going out
- Worth exactly 1 point.
- Match to
- 61 · 121 points
- Hands
- 2 players 7 tiles · 3 players 5 · 4 players 5
Draw
No scoring mid-hand — just get rid of your tiles
The best-known domino game there is. No points while you play: lay tiles down a single line, and draw from the boneyard whenever you cannot go. Whoever empties their hand first takes everyone else’s remaining pips. Pure tile management.
- Layout
- A single line with exactly two open ends. Doubles lie crosswise but are not spinners.
- Opening
- The opener may lay any tile.
- Scoring
- Nothing scores while you play. The round is decided when someone goes out.
- Cannot go
- Draw from the boneyard until you can play.
- Going out
- Take the opponents’ remaining pips, rounded to the nearest five — 25 points for 23 pips left on the table.
- Match to
- 100 · 150 · 250 points
- Hands
- 2 players 7 tiles · 3 players 5 · 4 players 5
Block
No boneyard, no mercy — cannot go, you pass
The oldest and simplest game. Same as Draw, except there is no drawing: if you cannot play, you pass and lose your turn. With no way to fish for the tile you need, counting what has already been laid is everything.
- Layout
- A single line with exactly two open ends. Doubles lie crosswise but are not spinners.
- Opening
- The opener may lay any tile.
- Scoring
- Nothing scores while you play. The round is decided when someone goes out.
- Cannot go
- Pass — there is no boneyard to draw from.
- Going out
- Take the opponents’ remaining pips, rounded to the nearest five — 25 points for 23 pips left on the table.
- Match to
- 100 · 150 · 250 points
- Hands
- 2 players 7 tiles · 3 players 5 · 4 players 5
Reading the ends
A tile at the end of the layout shows one pip value to the outside — that is what counts. A double lies crosswise and shows both of its halves, so at an end is worth ten, not five.
In All Fives the spinner counts both halves too, but only until the layout bridges across it. Once a second tile is played against the spinner it goes quiet, and only the arms count.
So opening a line shows 3 and 6 — nine. Add against the six and that end now shows twelve, for a total of fifteen. That same fifteen pays nothing in Block or Draw, 15 in All Fives, and 8in Fives & Threes — the best score that game has.
Where this table differs from Pagat
- Two-handed hands are seven tiles. Pagat’s All Fives deals nine to each of two players; it also lists seven as a common variation, and seven is what this table has always dealt.
- All Fives opens on a double. Strictly, the spinner is the first double played, so a hand may begin as a line. Here the opening tile must be a double, which puts the spinner down immediately. The line games do it the published way — any tile may open.
- The opener may choose their double. Not only the highest, so you can take an opening score if you hold one.
These are deliberate and long-standing. All Fives is a locked ruleset — the AI opponents were trained against exactly these numbers, so changing them means retraining. See docs/RULES.md.