A complete guide to classic dominoes: the double-six set, dealing, playing by matching pips, the boneyard and passing, the fish, the win condition, controls on muta.pro and tips for beginners. Read it — and straight to the table.
Dominoes is a race to get there first, with an element of calculation. Your task is to be the first to play all your bones onto the table, adding them to the line by matching pips. Each turn you either advance toward victory or, if you have nothing to play, draw bones from the boneyard. Whoever gets rid of all their bones first wins. And if no one can continue the line any longer, it becomes a fish, and the game is won by the player with the lower total of pips in hand.
Classic dominoes is played with the "double-six" set — that's 28 bones, where each half is marked with pips from zero to six, and every possible pair appears exactly once: from the blank 0-0 to the highest double 6-6. Before the game the bones are shuffled face down, and each player blindly picks their 7 bones. The remaining 14 bones stay face down to form the boneyard (stock) — a reserve you draw from when you have nothing to play. The first move usually goes to whoever holds the highest double or the lowest bone.
The first player places a bone on the table — this begins the line with two open ends. From then on bones are added on the left and the right.
You can add a bone only if the number of pips on its half matches the pips at an open end of the line. For example, any bone with a five fits the "5" end.
The line grows on both sides. On your turn you choose which of the two open ends to add a matching bone to.
A double is a bone with two matching halves (for example, 4-4). It is usually laid crosswise to the line, but its open end counts as usual.
If there is nothing to add to the line, the player turns to the boneyard: they draw bones from it one at a time until they pull a matching one or the boneyard runs empty. As soon as a playable bone appears, it is laid down and the turn ends.
When the boneyard is empty and there is still no matching bone in hand, the player passes and hands the turn to the opponent. A pass is not a defeat: the game continues as long as someone still has a way to move.
The bones look just like at the game table on muta.pro: the halves are marked with dots from 0 to 6. You can add a bone only to an end of the line with the same number of dots. Gold marks the matching ends and the bone worth playing.
The game ends with a win for whoever is first to play all their bones onto the table — their hand is empty, with nothing left to play. But it can happen that no one can continue the line: the boneyard is empty, and neither player has a matching bone. This situation is called a "fish" (a blocked game). In that case the players count the total of pips on the bones left in hand, and the winner is the one whose total is lower. That is why, even in a seemingly lost position, it pays to unload "heavy" bones with a high pip count in good time.
Remember which numbers have already come up at the ends of the line. It's easier to work out which bones your opponent has left and how you can "close" them in.
Bones with a high pip count are better played early: if it comes to a fish, they weigh down your total and hand the win to your opponent.
Try to keep bones for both ends of the line. That way you'll less often be forced to draw from the boneyard and pass your turn.
Doubles are harder to place, since they need a specific end. Don't hold them to the last — or you risk getting stuck with a double in hand.
In two-player dominoes the winner is not the one who got lucky with the bones, but the one who controls the two ends of the line. Each end is a number, and the question is always the same: can you answer it, and can your opponent? If you hold a couple of bones for each end, you'll almost never dip into the boneyard; if both ends are "wrong" for you, the initiative slips away move by move.
A simple guideline is to count which numbers you have two or three of. These are your strong ends, which you'll hold; the numbers you have none of at all are "holes" that need to be plugged at the first opportunity, while the ends are still flexible.
Both open ends show "5" — if you have three fives, this end is under your control.
The ideal is two matching bones for the left and the right number. Then you can parry any move your opponent makes without looking into the boneyard.
A number you don't have is a vulnerability. As soon as a chance comes to cover such an end with another number, take it.
Adding a bone to a convenient end exposes the number on the opposite one. Make sure you have an answer for that too.
When you open the game, set the ends with the numbers you hold a lot of: laying down 6-3 with three sixes and two threes makes both ends convenient for you, while your opponent has to adapt. That's how control of the table is laid down with the very first move.
Two-player dominoes is a game of almost complete information, if you keep track. There are only 28 bones: 7 in your hand, 7 in your opponent's, and the other 14 in the boneyard. Each number appears in the set exactly 8 times (seven bones plus the double). Note what has already been laid on the table — and the remainder is easily split between your opponent's hand and the stock.
On such tracking rests the block: you deliberately play a bone so that both ends show numbers your opponent doesn't have. While they draw from the boneyard and pass, you calmly unload your bones and steer the position toward an ending that favors you.
The main clue is the draw. When your opponent dips into the boneyard at an open end, they thereby admit: they have none of that number in hand. Remember the end — and you know what to "choke" it with.
Both ends are "3" again: if your opponent already drew on the three, they go to the boneyard again or pass.
Drawing from the stock at a visible end means your opponent has none of that number. Keep such an end open as long as you can.
If five of the seven fives are already on the table, the remaining two are split between you and your opponent — it's not hard to work out who has what.
The strongest block is when both ends show a single number that is "awkward" for your opponent. Against that they are usually powerless.
A single deal is a race to "play everything first". But dominoes is more often played in a series: a score is kept, and the loser of a deal is charged the total of pips on the bones left in hand. That changes the logic — it matters not only to win, but to lose cheaply.
The double-six set, two players, 7 bones each, a boneyard of 14. The winner is whoever plays out their hand first; in a locked position — whoever has fewer points.
Deals follow one after another, and penalty points accumulate. Whoever first passes 101 loses the whole match.
A folk variant with a fixed threshold and a special weight for the fish. Heavy doubles in hand become especially costly.
The weight of a hand at the fish: 6-6 is 12 points, 6-5 is 11, and 2-0 only 2. Unload the heavy ones earlier.
Hence the simple rule of the series: given an equal choice of where to play, favor the move that sheds the greater weight from your hand. Over a game to 101 that saves dozens of penalty points.
From the middle of the deal, keep both scenarios: "I'll play out first" and "I'll lose cheaply". Switch as soon as you see the race can't be won.
In a game to 101 strategy depends on the score. When your opponent is right at the threshold, it's safer to play "for the fish" with a light hand than to risk handing over a big deal.
Most lost games are not bad luck in the deal but typical blunders. Almost all of them come down to one thing: the player thinks only about the current move, not about what they'll answer with two moves later and what they'll be left with at the fish.
The late double 4-4: if the four-end closes, it gets stuck as dead weight right up to the count.
Don't wait for a "reason" to shed heavy doubles. The reason is the whole middle of the game. By the endgame your hand should be light.
Before a move, ask yourself: what number will open at the far end, and will I be able to answer it?
🁫 How scoring works, the truth about "0 and 6" ends and how to play with 2 players — the dominoes rules explained with examples in our blog: Dominoes: how to score, matching moves, 2 players.