Dominoes guide
Dominoes best practices
Tips for playing well, the most useful first.
- Play your doubles early. A double fits only one number, so it can get stuck in your hand.
- Play heavy tiles, the ones with the most pips, early. If the hand ends blocked, the pips you hold count against you.
- Keep a mix of numbers in your hand, so you will almost always have a tile to play.
- Keep count of the numbers on the table. There are only seven tiles of each number, so when most are played, the rest are in someone’s hand or the boneyard.
- If your opponent passes or draws, they don’t have that number. Leave the end on it, and they will have to draw or pass again.
- In All Fives, before each play, add up the ends each of your tiles would leave. Look for a total of 5, 10, 15 or 20, and remember that a double at an end counts both halves.