2) Begin the game by setting the heaviest domino. There are several different ways to determine which player will make the first play: 1) Draw lots. When a partnership game is played, the partners sit opposite each other.

The tiles are returned to the stock and reshuffled before the players draw their hands. If there is a tie, it is broken by drawing new dominoes from the stock. The player holding the next highest seats himself to the left, and so on. The player who draws the tile with the greatest number of pips has first choice of seats. After the tiles are shuffled, each player draws a domino from the stock.

One way to determine seating arrangements is by lot. Here are two of several options: 1) The player to the right of the player making the first play does the shuffling for a game or, 2) The winner of the previous game shuffles for the next game.Ī player's position at the table in a game with three or more players is called a seat. Players may choose to take turns shuffling before each game or the same player may shuffle the dominoes before each game. The player's hands may not stay on the same tiles while shuffling, and the player who does the shuffling should be the last to draw his hand for the game. There are basic instructions listed here under Line of Play specifically for those games.īefore every game, a player shuffles the tiles face down on a flat playing surface, thoroughly mixing them by moving them with his hands. This formation of tiles is called the line of play. In many domino games, a line of tiles is formed on the table as players make their plays, usually, but not always, by matching the pips on the open end of the domino. For example, there are a few games on this website where hands are not drawn, and, of course, the basic rules that pertain to more than one player would not apply to solitaire games. The basic rules here apply to most domino games shown on our website, but not all of them. It is also important, of course, that you make sure the rules you choose to play with are functional. Whether you choose to follow the rules precisely or create your own variation is irrelevant, as long as all the players clearly understand what the rules are and agree to them before the game begins. Most of the domino game rules included on our website also included several different rule variations. We have included on our website rules to many different domino games. Also, there are many games that go by the same name in various parts of the world, but the rules vary from place to place.

There are many domino games that go by different names and yet have extremely similar, and sometimes even identical, rules.

If so, you may find that the rules on this website are not the exact rules as the ones you've learned.

Score card for american rotation