How to play Block Dominoes

What you need

• A standard double-six set of 28 dominoes. Each tile has two ends showing 0 (blank) to 6 pips, and every combination appears once, from 0-0 to 6-6.
• A flat table with room for a long line of tiles. The line can bend around corners when it runs out of space; only the two open ends matter.
• A way to keep score. Pagat notes that the target scores of 61 and 100 were chosen so a cribbage board can be used, but paper works just as well.

Useful numbers to know: there are 168 pips in a double-six set, and each number (each “suit”) appears on seven tiles, counting its double.

Set up the game

1. Shuffle face down. Turn every tile face down and mix them with flat hands. This pile is the boneyard.
2. Draw your hand. Two players take 7 tiles each. Three or four players take 5 each. Stand your tiles on edge facing you so others can’t see them.
3. Leave the rest alone. The tiles left in the boneyard are not used for the whole hand. This is what makes it a block game.
4. Choose who leads. Players draw for the lead, or agree on a leader. In the rules used here, the leader may play any tile they like. For later hands, the lead passes to the left of the previous leader.
5. Four players? Decide whether you are playing as individuals or as two partnerships sitting opposite each other. Pagat says either is fine for the four-handed game.

Match ends, pass, and count pips

1. Lead. The leader places any tile face up in the centre.
2. Match an open end. Taking turns, each player adds one tile from their hand to either end of the line. The touching ends must show the same number. If an end shows 4, you may attach 4-1, 4-6, 4-4, and so on, with the 4 against the 4.
3. Doubles go across. A double such as 5-5 is placed crosswise. It does not create extra branches; the line still has only two ends. A spinner is a feature of other games, not this one.
4. Pass if you can’t play. Without a matching tile, you simply pass. You never draw from the boneyard in Block Dominoes.
5. End of hand. The hand ends when one player plays their last tile (“dominoes”), or when nobody can play. That second case is a blocked game.
6. Count and score. Everyone totals the pips on the tiles still in their hand. The lowest total wins the hand and scores the sum of the other players’ totals minus their own. If two or more players tie for lowest, nobody scores that hand.
7. Play to the target. The match goes to 100 points for two players or partnerships, and 61 points for three or four individual players.

A sample hand, tile by tile

Two players, seven tiles each.

• Nell: 6-6, 6-4, 4-2, 5-1, 3-0, 2-2, 1-1
• Omar: 6-3, 4-4, 5-5, 3-1, 2-0, 6-1, 5-0

1. Nell leads 6-6. Sixes are her strongest number and the double sets it up. Ends: 6 and 6.
2. Omar plays 6-3 on one six. Ends: 6 and 3.
3. Nell plays 6-4 on the other six. Ends: 4 and 3.
4. Omar plays 4-4 across the 4. Ends: still 4 and 3.
5. Nell plays 4-2. Ends: 2 and 3.
6. Omar plays 3-1. Ends: 2 and 1.
7. Nell plays 2-2 across the 2. Ends: 2 and 1.
8. Omar plays 2-0. Ends: 0 and 1.
9. Nell plays 3-0, putting a 3 on the end. Ends: 3 and 1. She now holds 5-1 and 1-1.
10. Omar plays 6-1, covering the 1 with a 6. Ends: 3 and 6. He holds 5-5 and 5-0.
11. Nell has no 3 or 6 and passes. Omar has no 3 or 6 either and passes. The hand is blocked.

Omar’s last play was clever in one way: by covering the 1, he stopped Nell from unloading her two 1s. It cost him, though, because he was left holding the heavier tiles. The count follows.

Scoring with worked examples

Example 1, the blocked hand above. Nell holds 5-1 and 1-1: 6 + 2 = 8 pips. Omar holds 5-5 and 5-0: 10 + 5 = 15 pips. Nell has the lower total, so she scores 15 − 8 = 7 points.

Example 2, three players, someone dominoes. Pia plays her last tile. Her total is 0. Quinn holds 6-2 and 3-1 (12 pips). Rae holds 4-4 (8 pips). Pia scores 12 + 8 − 0 = 20 points.

Example 3, a tie. A three-player hand blocks. Pia holds 7 pips, Quinn 7, Rae 13. Pia and Quinn tie for lowest, so nobody scores.

After three hands Pia has 20, Quinn 21, Rae 0. With three players the target is 61.

Beginner strategy

• Lead your strongest number, ideally with its double. Pagat’s advice: set your strongest suit, preferably with a double, so you have more options on later turns. Nell’s 6-6 lead gave her two sixes to build from.
• Keep your numbers on the ends. The more tiles of a number you hold, the more you want that number showing. Every turn it stays on an end is a turn you are guaranteed a play.
• Get rid of heavy tiles when it costs nothing. If two plays leave equally good ends, play the one with more pips. Holding 6-5 when the game blocks is 11 points against you.
• Read the passes. A player who passes on ends of 2 and 5 has no 2s and no 5s. Steer the line toward those numbers to keep them passing.
• Count a suit. Each number appears on seven tiles. If you hold three 4s and four more are on the table, no one else can play on a 4. That is how you engineer a block when you are holding the lowest count.
• In partnership play, follow your partner’s lead. Pagat suggests assuming your partner led their strongest suit and playing to it.
• Block when you are light. If your remaining tiles are small, closing the ends can win the hand on count even without going out.

Common mistakes and rule disputes

• Drawing from the boneyard on a pass. That is Draw Dominoes, a separate game. In Block, the unused tiles stay untouched.
• Treating a double as a spinner. In this game a double sits across the line but does not open new ends.
• “The person who played last wins a blocked hand.” No. A blocked hand goes to the lowest pip total, whoever placed the final tile.
• Forgetting to subtract. The winner scores the others’ pips minus their own. A winner holding 8 against 15 scores 7, not 15.
• Scoring a tie. If two players tie for lowest, nobody scores. Don’t split the points.
• Who leads the next hand? In Pagat’s rules the lead passes to the left of the previous leader, so it rotates around the table regardless of who won.
• Must you play if you can? Pagat’s wording gives the pass to a player who cannot play. It does not discuss passing while holding a legal tile, so if your group disagrees about it, settle it before the first hand.

Variants

These are variants recorded by Pagat. The base rules above are Pagat’s representative version.

• Different hand sizes. Some groups deal more or fewer tiles.
• Lead by high tile. Players draw for the highest tile to choose the first leader, then rotate. Some also redraw for the lead after a blocked hand.
• Highest double leads. The player holding the highest double must lead it.
• Bigger sets. In Hungary a double-eight set of 45 tiles is used.
• British club scoring. Some clubs double the opponents’ count if the winner goes out with a tile that could have been played on either end, or with a double.
• Partnership Dominoes. A related four-player game in which all 28 tiles are dealt, seven each, so there is no boneyard.

Teach it in five minutes

1. Show a tile. “Each end has a number from zero to six.”
2. Show a match. Lay 6-3, then attach 3-5. “Touching ends must match. You can play on either end of the line.”
3. Show a double. “Doubles go sideways, but the line still only has two ends.”
4. No drawing. “If you can’t match, you pass. The leftover tiles stay face down all hand.”
5. Winning. “Go out first, or have the fewest pips when nobody can play. You score everyone else’s pips minus yours.”
6. Play one hand with all tiles face up so everyone can see the choices, then shuffle and play for real.

Age and group-size advice

We suggest 6+. Matching ends is easy for young children; adding pips is good practice and an adult can help with the count. Two players is the most strategic, since you can work out much of what the other person holds. Three players is the most social. Four can play as individuals or partners; partnerships suit a mixed table where an experienced player sits with a beginner.

Check yourself

Questions about this game

Sources and edition notes

Pagat’s representative double-six Block Dominoes rules: seven tiles each for two players, five each for three or four, unused boneyard, no drawing. This traditional game has variants, including different opening and scoring rules; Pagat is an established rules reference, not a governing body.

Sources and stated format checked October 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.

• Pagat: Block Dominoes rules and variations

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