Play your dominoes end to end, teamed with the player sitting across from you, and empty your hand before your opponents do: your team scores the points still in their hands.
Dominos is played by four, in two teams of two. Each round, dominoes are played end to end to form a line, and the team that finishes the round scores points.
The first team to reach the table’s target wins the game.
Your partner is the player sitting across from you. Players take turns one at a time, and the turn always moves on to the next player: the teams alternate — opponent, partner, opponent.
Seats follow the order in which players arrive at the table, and you can’t play against bots.
The game uses a double-six set: twenty-eight dominoes, from the double blank to the double six, each appearing only once. A domino is worth the sum of its two halves — the double six is worth twelve points, the double blank zero.
The whole set is dealt: everyone receives seven dominoes, and there is no draw pile. Nobody ever draws; a hand can only get smaller. There is a new deal every round.
In the first round, the player holding the double six opens — with any domino they choose: nothing forces them to play the double six.
After that, the opening rotates: each round is opened by the player next to the one who opened the previous round, whatever its result.
The line always has two ends. On your turn, play a domino with one half showing the same number as one of the two ends: that half touches the line, and the other half becomes the new end.
Doubles are played straight along the line, like the other dominoes: the line never has more than two ends.
You may pass only if no domino in your hand can be played — and in that case, you must pass. The player who opens the round never passes.
A pass is public: the whole table sees which ends you passed on, and concludes that you have neither of those two numbers.
The round stops when a player plays their last domino. Their team scores the sum of the points remaining in the two opponents’ hands — the partner’s hand doesn’t count.
All the hands are then turned face up. A thirty-second break comes before the next round, which the host can start earlier.
When all four players pass one after another, nobody can play any more: the round is blocked. Each team then adds up the points in its two hands, and the team with fewer points scores the other team’s total.
In a dead heat, the round goes to the team that played the last domino. So each round gives points to one team only.
Each turn lasts forty-five seconds at most. Once that time is up, the table plays for you: a domino from your hand that can be played — the first one it finds, not necessarily the one you would have chosen — or a pass if none can.
A disconnected player gets only five seconds on their turn, then the table plays for them; reconnecting doesn’t give back the lost time.
The host sets the target when opening the table: one hundred points by default, from fifty to five hundred in steps of fifty. The first team to reach it at the end of a round wins, and any points above it count.
Since only one team scores each round, a game can’t end in a tie.