The dominoes game is an all time timeless past time activity. It truly is one of the several oldest games of all time. According to historians, this game has been around since the 12th century. Trails of dominoes have been discovered in China, Egypt, Mediterranean, and other countries. But it was only during the 1200’s that this game became trending in Europe, specifically in Italy.

Now, dominoes game has turned into an all-time favorite pastime. In fact, we all grew up playing this game with friends and family. I’m sure you can can recall the times you have enjoyed having fun with this game when you were a child. And even in the advent of computers and the World-wide-web, the game of dominoes is still one of the most played.

Dominoes Rules

Due to its popularity, different countries have adopted their own version of this game. Some types of dominoes are: block, draw, Mexican train, chickenfoot, all-fives, and concentration. The most trendy is block and draw. The most played though is draw dominoes.

Understanding basic dominoes rules is quite simple. The game starts by shuffling the dominoes on the table. The table should be flat and even for less difficult shuffling. Place all of the tiles face down and mix them with the help of your hands.

If there are 2 players, every person should select 7 domino tiles. If there are 3 or 4 players, each must pick out 5 dominoes. Place the tiles in front of you where you can see them. However, you have to keep them well hidden from your competition or other players. Generally, a set of double six dominoes is used. The player with the highest double (preferably a double six) starts the game.

The next player to the left must place a similar domino next to the first tile. If the first person started with a double-six, you should play the tile with a 6 on it. Otherwise, you have to get from the boneyard (pile of unselected dominoes) till you get a playable domino. In any case you did not find a usable domino, dominoes rules dictate that you must pass your turn.

The person who runs out of dominoes first, or he who has the lowest value of dominoes, wins the round. All dominoes rules are score-based, which made it critical to reduce all your heavy valued dominoes early on.

Additional Dominoes Rules

Here are other dominoes rules for other games:

Block Dominoes Rules – Dominoes rules in this game are very the same to the draw dominoes rules. However, the player does not select dominoes from the boneyard. So if he does not similar tile, he must pass his turn.

Chicken Foot Dominoes Rules – Chicken foot came from from Texas. Here, the players can place dominoes diagonally on one side of a double to form a “chicken foot”. The player with a double-nine positions the domino on the table. If the next player does not have a matching domino, he must pick one from the chicken yard. Those with no playable dominoes should pass their turn. The objective in the chicken foot dominoes rules is to get as small as possible.