🎲 Dominoes strategy: tricks to win
By Miguel Arechaga
Dominoes has a reputation as a luck game, but ask any veteran player: between two people with the same tiles, the one who counts and controls the table wins almost every time. These are the principles that make the difference.
The opening matters more than you think
If you lead, classic theory says: open with your highest double. Doubles are the hardest tiles to place (they only match their own number), so better to release them early, while that number is still “alive” on the table. Saving the double six for the end is the classic recipe for getting stuck with it.
Count the tiles (easier than it sounds)
There are exactly 7 tiles of each number. You do not need photographic memory: just track a couple of key numbers, the ones you hold in abundance. If you hold four fives and two more are on the table, only one five remains out there: that suit is yours to dominate.
Control the ends
The strategic heart of dominoes: the table always has two open ends, and you decide which numbers sit there. The master move is leaving both ends showing numbers you hold and your opponent probably does not. If both ends show fives and you hold three of them, your opponent will pass again and again while you empty your hand.
Read your opponent's passes
When your opponent draws or passes, they are handing you golden information: they hold neither of the two end numbers. Note it mentally. From then on, whenever you can, steer those numbers back to the ends: every time you do, it is a free turn for you.
Manage your hand with foresight
- Keep variety: between two possible plays, choose the one leaving you more different numbers in hand. Ending up with five tiles of the same suit is the prelude to disaster.
- Shed high tiles early: if the game gets blocked, the pips left in your hand count against you.
- Blocking as a weapon: if you lead on points and tiles are even, deliberately closing the game can win you the count. Do it only after counting that it favours you.
Theory mastered; now to the table. Practise free against the computer or another player on MundoSudoku.
