Dominoes rules

Match formats

Tournament hosts choose Winner advances or Round-robin, where everyone faces every other player once. Both formats support a points target or Best of 1–5 hands. Most hand wins takes the match, with an early finish once a winning majority is reached. Tied blocked hands are replayed.

If Best of 2 or 4 ends level on hand wins, total pip points decide. Equal points mean an extra deciding hand. Round-robin losses never eliminate you; each new round opens when the current round is complete. An odd group gives one player a rest round, which never counts as a win.

Round-robin standings rank by match wins, head-to-head wins among tied players, hand difference, then point difference. Exact ties use the recorded seeded order. After everyone has played, the highest-ranked player becomes champion.

Dealing and the first move

We use a double-six set: 28 unique tiles, from 0–0 to 6–6. Both players receive seven tiles. The other fourteen form the face-down boneyard.

The highest double in either hand must open the first hand. If neither player has a double, the highest pip total opens. Ties go to the larger endpoint, then seat one. The previous hand’s winner starts the next hand by default and may open with any tile. Hosts can choose alternating starters. After a tied hand, the starter alternates.

Playing a tile

Place one tile on either open end of the chain. One side must match that end’s number. Drag a tile onto either end of the board, or select it and choose left or right. Turn off “Show tile hints” to work out your own moves without highlights. We rotate it to fit, and display doubles across the chain.

No matching tile? Draw until you find one or the boneyard is empty. Play the matching tile you draw. You may pass only if you have no playable tile and the boneyard is empty. Two consecutive passes block the hand.

Scoring

Play your last tile and earn the total pips left in your opponent’s hand. When blocked, the lower pip total wins the positive difference. Equal totals mean a tied hand with no points. A tied hand never ends the match.

Scores carry over between hands. First to 100 wins by default. Each new hand is freshly shuffled and dealt.

Tournament progression

Confirmed entrants play head-to-head in a single-elimination bracket. Hosts can have up to 10 players free, up to 20 on Club (US$5/month), or more with a corporate plan. A server-generated seed shuffles entrants reproducibly. Any required byes are assigned to uniformly shuffled entrants, each with equal probability. A bye advances you without adding a win or a game to your statistics.

Both players check in with “I’m ready” before a match starts. Winners are automatically paired in the next round. The undefeated finalist becomes champion. Everyone must opt in before a rematch is created.

Disconnections and timeouts

Online state is saved in the database after every move. Reopen your match link to reconnect. Each turn has a three-minute playing allowance plus a reconnection grace period (two minutes by default). Short interruptions never cause immediate forfeits. The visible deadline includes the grace period; at expiry the current player forfeits.

Tournament check-in closes after five minutes. If only one player is ready, that player advances by forfeit. If neither checks in, the tournament is cancelled rather than inventing a match result. Timeouts are enforced when tables are opened and by a scheduled recovery job after deployment. Solo AI games have no timeout.

Game preferences

In Settings, choose a different target score or Single Draw: draw one tile when stuck, play it if possible, otherwise yield the turn even if the boneyard still has tiles. Tournament matches use Classic Draw and the host’s chosen target. Your settings apply when you create a new game.