How to Play Dominoes

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Have you only ever used domino tiles to make cool chain reactions, not to play the actual game they get their name from? Don’t worry! Dominoes is super easy to learn and a ton of fun to play. There are actually different variations of Dominoes, and we’ll walk you through how to play two of the most popular ones: Straight Dominoes and Mexican Train Dominoes.

Method 1 of 2:

Playing Straight Dominoes

Step 1 Play the game with 2 to 4 players.

Step 2 Shuffle the dominoes face down and draw to see who plays first.

Fun Fact: Every dot on a tile is an individual “pip.”

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Step 3 Have each player draw 7 dominoes for their hand.

Step 4 Place the first tile in the center of the table to begin the round.

Step 5 Take turns building off the tiles on the board with the tiles in your hand.

Tip: If you start to run out of room on the table, you can lay down subsequent dominoes so that the line changes direction.

Step 6 Pick up a tile from the draw pile if you can

Step 7 Win the round by using all of the dominoes in your hand.

Step 8 Tally the score by adding up the points left in each player

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Competing at Mexican Train Dominoes

Step 1 Pull out the double-12 or double-9 domino from the set.

Step 2 Shuffle the remaining dominoes facedown on the table in front of you.

Step 3 Have each player draw their tiles from the shuffled tiles.

Step 4 Put the remaining tiles into the “train yard” to draw from on future turns.

Step 5 Set the double domino in the center of the table to begin play.

Step 6 Pick someone to start and take turns <a href=clockwise around the table." width="460" height="345" />

Using a Marker: If you can't take a turn even after drawing a tile from the train yard, place a small marker, like a penny, on your train. This means that other players can now play on your train as well as on their own. To remove the marker, you have to play a tile on your personal train and then it goes back to being just your own.

Step 7 Win a hand by being the first to lay down all of your dominoes.

Step 8 Continue playing and keeping score until all the double tiles are used.

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Printable Dominoes

Community Q&A

How do you play dominoes with pictures? wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor Staff Answer

Picture dominoes is very similar to a game of straight dominoes with standard tiles. Instead of matching numbers, the players match pictures together. Just like in straight dominoes, you play until one person runs out of dominoes or nobody can make any more matches.

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What is all fives dominoes? wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer

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wikiHow Staff Editor Staff Answer

In all fives, the goal is to make the open ends of the layout add up to either 5 or a multiple of 5. The players typically play to 100 or 200 points.

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What’s a double 9 set of dominoes? wikiHow Staff Editor
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wikiHow Staff Editor Staff Answer

A double 9 set is a domino set that comes with 55 dominoes, with the suits ranging from 0 (blank) to 9. A double 9 set allows you to play a larger variety of games than a double 6 set, which only contains 28 dominoes with suits ranging from 0 to 6. Dominoes also come in double 12 sets.

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Ask a Question 200 characters left Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Advertisement

Each dominoes game can have lots of variations depending on how you learned to play and who you're playing with, and that is okay! Just take a few moments to talk with your friends and make sure everyone agrees on the rules before you start playing.

There are many other games that can be played with dominoes, like Moon and Texas Two Step.

Try playing dominoes online! It's a great way to play the game without having to actually own a set of dominoes.

Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published Please provide your name and last initial Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

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  1. ↑https://iacac.fiu.edu/special-events/dodgeball-late-night-hospitality/straight-dominoes-rules-1.pdf
  2. ↑https://iacac.fiu.edu/special-events/dodgeball-late-night-hospitality/straight-dominoes-rules-1.pdf
  3. ↑https://www.dominorules.com/straight-dominoes
  4. ↑https://www.dominorules.com/straight-dominoes
  5. ↑https://www.dominorules.com/straight-dominoes
  6. ↑https://www.dominorules.com/straight-dominoes
  7. ↑https://youtu.be/9MeWPTqJsns?t=141
  8. ↑https://youtu.be/9MeWPTqJsns?t=152
  9. ↑https://youtu.be/0Ty6HHUxqKc?t=63
  1. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/rules4/Mexican%20Train%20dominoes%20-%20rules.pdf
  2. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/rules4/Mexican%20Train%20dominoes%20-%20rules.pdf
  3. ↑https://www.mexicantrainrulesandstrategies.com
  4. ↑https://www.mexicantrainrulesandstrategies.com
  5. ↑https://www.mexicantrainrulesandstrategies.com
  6. ↑https://www.mexicantrainrulesandstrategies.com
  7. ↑https://youtu.be/0Ty6HHUxqKc?t=204

About This Article

Co-authored by: wikiHow Staff Writer

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 3,018,085 times.

120 votes - 81% Co-authors: 46 Updated: August 17, 2023 Views: 3,018,085 Categories: Featured Articles | Strategy Board Games

Dominoes is a fun game you can play with 2 to 8 players. The game starts with each player drawing one tile. Whoever draws the highest double, or tile with the same number on each end, goes first. If no player draws a double, the player whose tile has the most pips, or dots, goes first. Spread all of the tiles out face-down on the table. Each player draws 7 tiles from the pile for their hand. Then, the first player plays one tile from their hand face-up in the center of the table. The player to their left must play a tile that matches one end of the tile the first player played. The next player can play a tile off of either end of the chain. Doubles are played perpendicular to the chain. If a tile has a blank side, the blank side can only be played off of the blank side of another tile. If a player can’t play a tile from their hand, they draw one from the excess pile. If they’re able to play the tile, they can play it after drawing it. Otherwise, their turn is over. Once the excess pile is empty, players just pass if they can’t play a tile. Play continues like this until one player runs out of tiles first and wins the round. The other players count up the number of dots on the remaining tiles in their hand. Their scores are added up and awarded to the player who won the round, and a new round starts. Keep playing rounds until one player scores 100 or 250 points, depending on how long you want to play for. To learn how to play Mexican Train dominoes, read on!