Giant Dominoes

CUSTOM GIANT DOMINOES

Do you love playing dominoes with your friends or family? Do you remember playing when you were younger, but haven’t enjoyed the game in a while? Then our Giant Dominoes are perfect for you to have fun with. You receive 28 oversized wooden dominoes that are hand stained and ready to enjoy in your living room, at your yard BBQ/Pool party, or with colleagues at a company event.

SHUFFLING THE DOMINOES

Before a game or hand begins, the dominoes must be well shuffled, so that no one knows the location of any given tile. Typically, the tiles are shuffled by turning them all face-down on the table, then moving them around in a random motion with friends while being careful not to flip over any of the pieces. The collection of shuffled tiles is called the bone yard.

BEGINNING A GAME

Before a game begins, the players need to determine who has the first move. This happens in one of two ways: either each of the players choose a domino at random, with first move going to the player holding the “heaviest” domino (these dominoes are the highest # or those with the highest double # that would of even higher in value) returned to the bone yard and reshuffled), or the players draw their allotted number of tiles (which varies according to the game being played), and the holder of the “heaviest” domino goes first.

DRAWING TILES

Once the players begin drawing more tiles, they are typically placed inward towards the player drawing, so that each opponent can’t see the other opponent’s domino tiles. The drawing player can see his own tiles by only facing the tiles inward. Every player can thus see how many tiles remain in the other players hands at all times during game play.

PLACING THE FIRST TILE

Once all the players have drawn their dominoes, the first player places the first tile to start. Usually, this is the double six. If no one holds the double six, then the double five is played, and so on.

PLAYING SUBSEQUENT TILES

In most games of dominoes, only the “open” ends of a layout are open for play. An end is open when it has no other tile connected to it. Often, a double is placed crossways in the layout, straddling the end of the tile that it is connected to. Usually, additional tiles can only be placed against the long side of a double. However, the rules of some games consider all four sides of a double to be open, allowing dominoes to be connected in all four directions.

Here is an example, in the game on the right; the first tile played was the 6-6. At this point, a domino can either be played to the right or left of the 6-6. The second tile placed was a 6-5, to the right of the 6-6. At this point, the open ends are 5 and 6. The third tile played was a 4-6, to the left of the initial tile, producing open ends of 4 and 5. The fourth tile was the 5-5, placed vertically. Again, the open ends are 4 and 5.

At any time, due to space constraints or mere whim, a tile may be connected at a right angle, creating an “L” in the layout.

DRAWING TILES

As the turn passes from player to player, if someone cannot make a move, they’re going to do one of two things, based on the game being played. In “block” games (or if there are no tiles left in the bone yard), a player must “pass” if he cannot make a move. In a “draw” game, a player can draw a tile from the bone yard. Depending on the game, he can then play it (if it fits, and if the rules allow), pass (if he cannot play the drawn tile), or continue drawing until he can make a move or the bone yard is empty.

Currently, most rules allow the bone yard to be emptied completely. However, some rules do not allow the last tiles in the bone yard to be removed, and at the end of a game, the winner receives the value of the tiles in the bone yard.

ENDING A GAME

A game ends either when a player uses up all his tiles, or when a game is blocked. When a player plays his last turn, they are the winner of the match. A game is blocked when no player is able to add another tile to the layout.

When playing a multi-round game, domino games are typically scored by awarding the number of pips on opposing player’s tiles to the winner. Doubles may be counted as one or two (if one, a 6-6 counts as 6; if two, a 6-6 counts as 12), and double blank may either count as 0 or 14. (These rule variations must be agreed upon before the game begins!) The player who reaches the target score (100, 200, or whatever is agreed on among the players), or the player who amasses the most points is a given number of rounds wins the game.