🄯 How to play Dominoes
By Miguel Arechaga
Dominoes is a tabletop classic that mixes luck and strategy in equal parts. Behind its simple tiles there's more tactics than it seems: knowing which tile to lay down at each moment makes all the difference. Here you'll learn the rules and a few tips to win more often.
What is Dominoes?
Dominoes is played with 28 tiles, each split into two halves with a number from 0 to 6. Each combination of numbers appears only once. In this version you play one against one against the computer.
How to play, step by step
- Each player gets 7 tiles; the rest form the boneyard.
- Taking turns, players place a tile that matches one of the two open ends of the chain.
- If you can't place any tile, you draw from the boneyard until you get a playable one.
- If the boneyard is empty and you still can't play, you pass your turn.
- Whoever runs out of tiles first wins. If no one can play, whoever has fewer points in hand wins.
Strategy and tips to win at dominoes
- Play your highest-value tiles early (like the 6-6): if the game closes out, you're penalized less.
- Pay attention to the numbers you hold several tiles of, and play to keep them open.
- Watch when your opponent passes or draws: it reveals which numbers they don't have, letting you close off those ends.
- Saving a useful double tile for the end can give you control of the game.
Closing out on points
When neither player can place a tile, the game closes out. Then each player adds up the points on the tiles left in hand, and whoever has fewer wins. That's why it pays to get rid of your highest tiles as soon as possible.
Play online with 2 players
You can play Dominoes against another person in several ways: press "🌐 Online" and create a room to share a 4-letter code with whoever you want to challenge, use "🔍 Find opponent" to have the system instantly match you with another available player, or add a friend by their username from the 👥 Friends panel (while signed in) and press "Challenge" next to their name to invite them directly to a match.
🏆 Wins ranking
All your online Dominoes matches are recorded on your account: every win (and every loss) adds to your history. Go to Ranking, the 🎮 2 Players tab, choose "Dominoes" from the dropdown, and check your position against other players, synced across all your devices. For your result to count you need a free account on MundoSudoku (just a username and password, no email required): you can play without one, but without signing in your score isn't saved to the ranking.
