How to Play Dominoes in 5 Simple Steps!

Learning how to play Dominoes is EASY, fairly inexpensive, and can be just as much fun for you as for your kids. All they have to do is be able to count to six and match patterns. There are lots of different ways to play dominoes. This page will give you the basic rules, which are the simplest. To keep score you will only need to count to 100. (You can help them with that part if they get stuck.)

A classic set of dominoes contains twenty-eight pieces, and up to four people can play. There was a time that Dominoes were made out of actual bone, so they are still sometimes referred to as "bones". Most Dominoe sets come in black and white although you can find brightly colored ones also.

Each Domino is divided into two sections by a center line. On each side of the Domino is a series of dots or "pips". There can be anywhere from 0 to 6 dots on either side of the Domino. Dominoes that have the same number of dots on both sides are called "doubles". See? Easy.

To start the game lay all the Dominoes face down on the table and shuffle them, which really just means mix them up with your hands being careful not to flip any over.

• For a 2 player game each player picks 7 Dominoes from the pile.


• For 3 or 4 player game each player picks 5 Dominoes from the pile.

The rest of the Dominoes are pushed to the side, remaining face down, and become the "boneyard". Players can stand their Dominoes on end in front of them so the other players can't see their hand, or they can keep the Dominoes in their lap.

1. The person holding the highest double Domino goes first, with that piece being laid on the table and played first. Then play continues clockwise.


2. The next player must play a matching piece with the matching halves touching. As an example you can place a double 4 next to a half with 4 dots so that it resembles a "T" or hopscotch game. Dominoes can be placed end to end or at right angles as long as matching halves are touching.


3. If on your turn you don't have a piece that can be matched with any on the table you must take Dominoes from the boneyard until you have a Domino that can be played.


4. If the boneyard is empty you pass your turn until you are able to make a play or until someone has used all of their Dominoes.


5. The first player to use all of their Dominoes wins the points equal to the number of dots on the Dominoes left with the other players. So if every body else's Dominoes have a total of 25 dots, that's the score for that player. Another game is played until someone reaches a predetermined point amount. In most games the first player to get to 100 points wins.

If you're teaching little kids how to play Dominoes I would stick to a lower final score. Playing to 30 or 50 usually works well.

Dominoes can be played in many different versions. Here are a few your family may enjoy. Click on the game box for more info.

Dominoe World Record