Dominoes

By Victor F. Palmer

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473355965

Book preview

PALMER

THE GAME OF DOMINOES

The game can be played by two, three, or four persons. The two and three-handed games are played as singles. The four-handed game is played as doubles in which the players pair off as partners; however, the four-handed game can also be played as singles, in which each player plays for himself. The latter game is not recommended. The two-handed and the partnership games are the most interesting and the most popular. In all cases the basic playing procedure is the same; and the following rules apply:

THE RULES AND PROPER PROCEDURE

1. All of the dominoes are placed face down on the table and shuffled (mixed up).

2. Each player draws a domino and shows it to his opponent.

3. The player drawing the highest domino wins the set, that is, plays first. If the draw is a tie, the players draw again.

4. The player losing the draw now shuffles the dominoes and the player winning the set draws five dominoes, after which his opponent selects his five dominoes. The player who is not going to set always shuffles the dominoes for the setter. In a three or four-handed game the player who last set, shuffles for the next person and the set rotates to the left. The player setting draws his five dominoes and then each player to his left in turn draws five dominoes.

5. The remaining dominoes now become the discard pile and are placed to the right of the player setting first. This is done so the players can keep track of the set. The player losing the game has the first set next game.

6. When a player cannot play (has no domino in his hand which will play), he draws from the discard pile until he gets one that can be played.

7. After the game has started, if a player overdraws—takes one or more dominoes when he has one in his hand that could be played—he announces that he has overdrawn. The penalty for overdrawing is 5 points—the player overdrawing goes back 5 points. In selecting his hand, if a player draws more than five dominoes, he keeps the dominoes drawn without penalty.

8. The player who goes out first (having played all his dominoes first) gets the count left in his opponent’s hand. The dominoes left in the hand are added up and points are figured by the nearest multiple of five. For example, 7 would be one point (nearest multiple of 5 is 5 or one point); 12 would be 2 points (nearest multiple of 5 would be 10 or 2 points); 18 would be 4 points; 27—5, and so on.

In a four-handed game, when one player dominoes, his partner automatically goes out too, and the dominoes left in both opponents’ hands are added together.

9. Game is 61 points.

10. The last hand must be played out. In other words, the player or players scoring 61 points first might not necessarily win the game; players continue to play the last hand