Current Version: Digital Dominoes 1.2.0004 Build 0725 2007.06.14-03.32.24

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Want to play online free? Scroll down to play Digital Dominoes^TM Online and choose from 21 games. Want to play offline? Click on the links below to download Digital Dominoes^TM Basic or buy Digital Dominoes^TM Deluxe.

NEW! Matador and Volapuk

We are pleased to announce the addition of Matador and Volapuk to the games you can play with Digital Dominoes. Matador is now available in all three versions of Digital Dominoes (Basic, Deluxe, and Online); Volapuk is available in Deluxe and Online only.

NEW! Eight New Domino Games

We are pleased to announce eight new game variations for Muggins and Sniff. Players can now choose from five scoring options for each game:

• All Fives - the original scoring option; make points by making the ends of the layout sum to a multiple of 5
• All Threes - make points by making the ends of the layout sum to a multiple of 3
• All Threes & Fives - make points by making the ends of the layout sum to a multiple of 3 or 5
• All Primes - make points by making the ends of the layout sum to a prime number
• All Fibs - A Digital Gamers, Inc. Original! make points by making the ends of the layout sum to a number from the Fibonacci sequence

Digital Dominoes Basic offers the All Threes and All Fives scoring options for both Muggins and Sniff. Digital Dominoes Deluxe and Digital Dominoes Online offer all five scoring options for both games.

We are also pleased to announce that we have added Pai Gow to the set of games you can play in Digital Dominoes Basic.

Digital Dominoes^TM Basic

Digital Dominoes Basic is the free version of Digital Dominoes. Play Block, Draw, Bergen, Matador, Muggins (All Threes or All Fives), Sebastopol, Sniff (All Threes or All Fives), Tiddle-A-Wink, or Pai Gow against one or more computer opponents. Digital Dominoes Basic requires Java 2 Standard Edition version 1.4.2 or later and is platform-independent (supports HPUX, Linux, Mac, Solaris, Windows, etc.).

Download Digital Dominoes Basic now.

Digital Dominoes^TM Deluxe

All the games from the Basic edition, plus Flower & Scorpion, Maltese Cross, Volapuk, and the Chinese game Tau Ngau. AND three more scoring options for Muggins and Sniff (All Threes & Fives, All Primes, and All Fibs). AND two different multiplayer modes supporting local (hot seat) or Internet play. That's nineteen games for $10.00! Buy now to get free updates through version 4 with more games, more computer opponents, more game options, and a tournament mode exclusive to the Deluxe edition.

Still uncertain? Why not visit the folks at Domino-Games.com and check their extensive list of dominoes software? You will find Digital Dominoes Deluxe lets you play more games than any listed program.

Buy Digital Dominoes Deluxe now.

Digital Dominoes 1.2.0004 Build 0725 2007.06.14-03.32.24
Online Edition

The Block Game

One of the two most basic domino games. Players take turns matching dominoes from their hands to open numbers on the ends of the chains of dominoes. Players who cannot make a match must pass.
Read the Block Game rules.
Play the Block Game now.

The Draw Game

One of the two most basic domino games. Players take turns matching dominoes from their hands to open numbers on the ends of the chains of dominoes. Players who cannot make a match must draw a domino from the boneyard until they are able to play.
Read the Draw Game rules.
Play the Draw Game now.

Bergen

Bergen is a draw game in which players score points by making the numbers at the end of each arm match.
Read the Bergen rules.
Play Bergen now.

Flower & Scorpion

Flower & Scorpion is a variation of Bergen in which two pairs of dice are thrown at the beginning of each round to determine the Flower and Scorpion dominoes. In addition to scoring points as in Bergen, players gain or lose points by playing the Flower or the Scorpion, or by playing dominoes that make the open ends match the Flower or the Scorpion.
Read the Flower & Scorpion rules.
Play Flower & Scorpion now.

Maltese Cross

Maltese Cross is a Sebastopol variant. After extending all four arms of the starting double with a single domino, double must be played on each of the four arms before any arm may be extended further.
Read the Maltese Cross rules.
Play Maltese Cross now.

Matador

Matador is a draw game in which players match dominoes from their hand to open numbers on the ends of the chains of dominoes by making the matched numbers equal to a particular sum (7, 10, or 13 for a double-six, -nine, or -twelve set respectively). Players who cannot make a match may play a Matador (the double-blank or a domino whose count is 7, 10, or 13 for the respective set) or draw a domino from the boneyard until they have drawn a domino they can play.
Read the Maltese Cross rules.
Play Matador now.

Muggins (All Fives)

Muggins is a draw game in which players match dominoes from their hand to open numbers on the ends of the chains of dominoes. A player who makes the numbers on the ends total a multiple of five scores that number of points. Players who cannot make a match must draw a domino from the boneyard until they are able to play; players may also choose to draw from the boneyard to save a particular domino for later play.
Read the Muggins rules.
Play Muggins (All Fives) now.
Play Muggins (All Threes) now.
Play Muggins (All Threes & Fives) now.
Play Muggins (All Primes) now.
Play Muggins (All Fibs) now.

Sebastopol

Sebastopol is a block game for four players. Dominoes may be played on all four arms, but one domino must be played on each arm before any arm may be extended.
Read the Sebastopol rules.
Play Sebastopol now.

Sniff

Sniff is a variation of Muggins in which the first player may lead with any domino (instead of a double as required in Muggins). The first double played is called the Sniff, and may be played from all four sides. All four ends must sum to a multiple of five to score points in Sniff.
Read the Sniff rules.
Play Sniff (All Fives) now.
Play Sniff (All Threes) now.
Play Sniff (All Threes & Fives) now.
Play Sniff (All Primes) now.
Play Sniff (All Fibs) now.

Tiddle-A-Wink

Tiddle-A-Wink is a block game for two to ten players in which all dominoes are shared out equally among the players. Players take turns playing dominoes from one side of the highest double, and a player who plays a double may immediately play another domino.
Read the Tiddle-A-Wink rules.
Play Tiddle-A-Wink now.

Volapuk

Volapuk is a game derived from the rules for Nos. Dominoes are played to the east and west arms of the layout using match rules, and to the north and south arms of the layout using matador rules.
Read the Volapuk rules.
Play Volapuk now.

Pai Gow (Make Nine)

This is a Chinese domino game resembling Baccarat. Each player receives four bones. Players split their hand into two pairs, attempting to make the highest scoring pairs possible. There are five tiers of scoring pairs. From highest to lowest these are: Gee Joon (Supreme Pair) consisting of 4-2 and 2-1; Bo, consisting of matched pairs from the civil suit or unmatched (mixed) nines, eights, sevens, or fives from the military suit; Wongs, a nine paired with a double-six or a double-one; Gongs, an eight paired with a double-six or a double-one; and other pairs, whose values are computed in a manner similar to Baccarat.
Read the Pai Gow rules.
Play Pai Gow now.

Tau Ngau (Bullfighting)

In Tau Ngau each player is dealt five bones from a single Chinese dominoes set. From these five, each player must discard three bones with a total face count of 10, 20, or 30. Each player's remaining pair is compared to the banker's pair to determine if the player beats the banker. As with Pai Gow, there are special rules for determining how pairs are ranked.
Read the Tau Ngau rules.
Play Tau Ngau now.

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Hold'Em

Players are dealt two dominoes forming the basis of their poker hand. Five other dominoes are dealt to the table for all players to see. Players must make the highest poker hand by combing their two dominoes with three of the five dominoes played to the table.

Poker

Players are dealt a hand of dominoes from which they must form a poker hand. In each hand players bid based on the strength of their hand; the winning player in a hand scores the points bid by all players.

Fortress

Fortress is a draw game in which every double may be extended in all four directions. It is otherwise identical to the draw game.

Nos

Nos is a complex game in which the leader for a round chooses how dominoes will be played for the round, from a list of seventeen possible games (as in the different games that may be chosen in the card game Skat, or the different contracts in the card game Liverpool Rummy).

Trains

Trains is a variant of Tiddle-A-Wink in which each player builds on their own chain of dominoes (called a train in this game), and may build on an opponent's train if the opponent has passed.

Iberia

Iberia is a Trains variant in which players are always allowed to play doubles on an opponent's train.

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Card-Like Domino Games

Cribbage

The card game Cribbage - with a twist. Instead of using a deck of playing cards, the game is played with a set of double-six dominoes.

Euchre

The card game Euchre - with a twist. Instead of using a deck of playing cards, the game is played with a set of double-six dominoes.

Texas 42

Texas 42 is a four-player game in which dominoes are played in an attempt to take tricks. Opposite players are partners; before each round players bid how many points they think they will take in the round, and the winning bidder names a trump suit.

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Solitaire Domino Games

Bingo

Bingo is a solitaire game played with a double-six set. The bones are laid out in a tableau from left to right. Beginning at the left end, a bone is removed if its count matches its position in the chain. The object is to remove as many dominoes from the chain as possible.

Buccaneer

In Buccaneer, a double-six set is laid out in a tableau of seven stacks of four dominoes each. The player may move a domino from one stack to another by matching an end of the moved domino to an end of the domino on top of the stack to which it is moved, so long as the stack will contain no more than five dominoes after the move. If a stack is empty, only a double may be played in the empty space. The player wins if every stack has a double at the bottom and three other dominoes in the stack with an end matching the double.

Castle Rock

Castle Rock is played with a double-six set. Three bones are laid side by side to start, additional bones are added to the right one at a time. When two bones with a matching end are separated by one bone, the bone in the middle is removed. If three bones with a matching end are adjacent, all three bones are removed. The player wins by removing all bones from the layout.

Fair Lucy

In Fair Lucy, a double-six set is laid out in a tableau of seven stacks of four dominoes each. The player removes pairs of dominoes who counts total twelve. The player wins if all dominoes are removed from the layout.

Jubilee

In Jubilee, a double-six set is laid out in a tableau of seven stacks ranging in height from one to seven bones. The top bone of each stack is turned face up and mave be moved to the top of any other stack by matching an end of the moved domino to an end of the domino on top of the stack. Dominoes may also be moved from the tableau to a foundation. Empty spaces in the tableau may only be filed by doubles. The player wins by moving all dominoes to the foundation.

Luzon

Luzon is played with a double-six set. Twenty-five dominos are laid out in a tableau five dominoes wide and five dominoes high. The remaining three dominoes are set aside. Dominoes are removed from the bottom row of the tableau in pairs whose pip count total twelve. If all dominoes are removed from a column, a domino from the bottom of another column may be moved into that column. The three dominoes held aside may be used at any time to make a pair with a domino in the bottom row of the tableau. The player wins by removing all dominoes from the tableau.

Patience

Patience is played with a double-six set. The bones are placed facedown in a tableau of seven columns, with seven dominoes in the right-most, six in the next, on down to one in the left-most column. The domino at the bottom of each column is turned face up. A domino may be moved from one column to another by matching ends; if this leaves a face-down domino at the bottom of the column it is turned face-up. If a column becomes empty, a full or partial chain of dominoes may be moved to that column from another column. The player wins by turning all dominoes face-up in the tableau.

Stack

Stack is played with a double-six set. Four dominoes are placed side-by-side to form a foundation. Dominoes are drawn one at a time, and must be played by matching one of the open ends of the foundation. The player wins if all dominoes are played on the chains built off the four foundations.

Sultan

In Sultan, the dominoes of a double-six set are laid out side-by-side to form a tableau. Pairs of dominoes with adjacent matching ends are remoed from the tableau. The player wins by removing all dominoes from the tableau.

Sympathy

Sympathy is played with a double-six set. Four dominoes are placed side-by-side to form the tableau; any domino with a count exactly one less than any other domino in the tableau is removed. Four more dominoes are placed on the tableau (either filling the empty position or covering the dominoes remaining in the tableau), again any domino with a count exactly one less than any other domino in the tableau is removed. Continue adding four dominoes to the tableau and removing dominoes with a count one less than another domino in the tableau. The player wins by removing all dominoes except for the double six from the tableau.

Twelves

Twelves is played with a double-six set. Six dominoes are placed side-by-side to form the tableau; any pair of dominoes with a total count of twelve is removed and the spaces filled in from the remaining dominnoes. The player wins by removing all dominoes from the tableau.

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Chinese Domino Games

Chinese domino games are more similar to western card games than to western domino games. A Chinese dominoes set includes 32 bones divided into two suits (military and civil). The military suit includes ten different dominoes; the civil suit includes two each of 11 dominoes. The twenty-one face values used in the set range from 1-1 through 6-6 (a western double six set with all blank bones removed and with two each of certain bones).

Kap Tai Shap (Collecting Tens)

This is a game resembling Rummy. The first player receives ten bones; each other player receives nine. The object is to collect one pair from the military or civil series, and four pairs each with a count of ten or twenty. If the first player was dealt a winning hand he declares victory; otherwise players take the last discard or draw from the woodpile in turn as they try to build a complete hand.

Tien Gow (Heaven Nine)

In Tien Gow each player is dealt eight bones from a single Chinese dominoes set. The object is to win tricks, as in Bridge or Pinochle (or Texas 42). The leader for a hand leads one to four bones; each other player must follow with the same number of bones. As with Pai Gow, there are special rules for determining how sets of bones are ranked in a trick.

Tiu U (Fishing)

In this game for two or three players, each player attempts to match bones in their hand to bones displayed on the table. When the woodpile is exhausted, each player is awarded a score for the number of fish they caught.

Tsung Shap (Disputing Tens)

In this game for two players, players alternate laying dominoes out side by side one at a time. If a player plays a domino matching one at either end of the layout, or plays a domino which combined with dominoes at the ends of the layout sums to a multiple of 10, the player takes the dominoes from the layout into his scoring pile. Dominoes taken from the layout will score ten points per pip for matching pairs, or one point per pip for dominoes summing to a multiple of ten.

A word of thanks to the folks at DominoGames.com, who are now listing us as a reference for the rules to a number of domino games.

Our goal is to provide the most extensive set of rules for domino games to be found anywhere on the Internet (and the most complete dominoes software in the world). However, there are a few games for which we do not provide rules, as the rules themselves are copyrighted by various individuals and companies. These include Mexican Train (© Roy & Katie Parsons, and Puremco), Chicken Foot (© Louis and Betty Howsley), Turkey Foot (Paul Smith), and a number of solitaire games designed by David Galt.

An alphabetical list of all games appears first, followed by shorter lists of card-like games, Asian games, and solitaire games. Any entry preceded by a '*' is either an alternate name for some other game, or a very slight rules variation for some other game.

Do you know about a game that's not on this list? Tell us about it.

Alphabetical List

You can find games grouped by type following this list. Please note that we are still compiling our list of variants for Texas 42, so only the original appears on the list at this time. Also (as should be obvious) some games appear under multiple names. The rules provided here describe the way in which each game is implemented in Digital Dominoes; for many banking and gambling games we have made slight adaptations to turn the games into scoring games in the software. Aside from the scoring change, we have made no other changes to the rules.

*All Fibs (Muggins/Sniff)
*All Fives (Muggins/Sniff)
*All Sevens (Matador)
*All Threes (Muggins/Sniff)
*All Threes & Fives (Muggins/Sniff)
*All Primes (Muggins/Sniff)
Bagchen (Big Jumps, Big Bricks, or Long Tiles)
*Bent Nail (Che Deng)
Bergen
*Big Jumps (Bagchen or Pagchen)
Bingo
Block
Buccaneer
*Bull Fighting (Tau Ngau)
Castle Rock
Che Deng (Slant Nail)
*Collecting Tens (Kap Tai Shap)
Cribbage
*Cross (Sebastopol)
*Cyprus (Sebastopol)
*Cuban Dominoes (Block)
*Disputing Tens (Tsung Shap)
Domino Pool
*Double Cross (Maltese Cross)
*Double Header (Bergen)
*Dragon Tablets (Ryong Hpai)
Draw
*East Coast Dominoes (Sniff)
Euchre
Fair Lucy
*Fishing (Tiu U)
*Five Up (Fortress)
Flower & Scorpion
Fortress
*Fortress (Sebastopol)
*Forty-Two (Texas 42)
*Heaven Nine (Tien Gow)
Hoi Tap (Opening the Pagoda)
Hold'Em
Iberia
Jubilee
Kap Tai Shap (Collecting Tens)
Ke Pouk Hpai (Tortoise Tablets)
*Little Harp (Patience)
Luzon
*Make Nine (Pai Gow)
*Malakoff (Sebastopol)
Maltese Cross
Matador
Muggins
*"The National Game of Texas" (Texas 42)
Nos
*One-Arm Joe (Tiddle-A-Wink)
*Opening the Pagoda (Hoi Tap)
*Pagchen (Bagchen)
Pai Gow (Make Nine)
*Pair Matching (Tjak Ma Tcho Ki)
*Partnership Dominoes (Sniff)
Patience
Pinochle
Poker
*Russian Cross (Matador)
*Russian Dominoes (Matador)
Ryong Hpai (Dragon Tablets)
Sebastopol
*Seven-Up (Matador)
*Sky Nine (Tien Gow)
*Slant Nail (Che Deng)
Sniff
Stack
Sultan
Sympathy
Tau Ngau (Bull Fighting)
Texas 42
Three Dozen
Tiddle-A-Wink
Tien Gow (Heaven Nine)
Tiu U (Fishing)
Tjak Ma Tcho Ki (Pair Matching)
*Tortoise Tablets (Ke Pouk Hpai)
Trains
*Tsair Deng (Che Deng)
Tsung Shap (Disputing Tens)
Twelves
Twenty-One
Volapuk
*West Coast Dominoes (Fortress)

Card-Like Games

These are games in which the dominoes are used as playing cards.

Bagchen (Big Jumps, Big Bricks, or Long Tiles)
*Big Jumps (Bagchen or Pagchen)
*Bull Fighting (Tau Ngau)
*Collecting Tens (Kap Tai Shap)
Cribbage
*Disputing Tens (Tsung Shap)
Euchre
*Fishing (Tiu U)
*Forty-Two (Texas 42)
*Heaven Nine (Tien Gow)
Hold'Em
Kap Tai Shap (Collecting Tens)
*Make Nine (Pai Gow)
*"The National Game of Texas" (Texas 42)
*Pagchen (Bagchen)
Pai Gow (Make Nine)
*Pair Matching (Tjak Ma Tcho Ki)
Pinochle
Poker
*Sky Nine (Tien Gow)
Tau Ngau (Bull Fighting)
Texas 42
Three Dozen
Tien Gow (Heaven Nine)
Tiu U (Fishing)
Tjak Ma Tcho Ki (Pair Matching)
Tsung Shap (Disputing Tens)

Asian Games

These are games traditionally played with Asian domino sets, though they can be played with western double six sets with some slight rules revisions.

Bagchen (Big Jumps, Big Bricks, or Long Tiles)
*Bent Nail (Che Deng)
*Big Jumps (Bagchen or Pagchen)
*Bull Fighting (Tau Ngau)
Che Deng (Slant Nail)
*Collecting Tens (Kap Tai Shap)
*Disputing Tens (Tsung Shap)
*Fishing (Tiu U)
*Heaven Nine (Tien Gow)
Kap Tai Shap (Collecting Tens)
*Make Nine (Pai Gow)
*Pagchen (Bagchen)
Pai Gow (Make Nine)
*Pair Matching (Tjak Ma Tcho Ki)
*Sky Nine (Tien Gow)
*Slant Nail (Che Deng)
Tau Ngau (Bull Fighting)
Tien Gow (Heaven Nine)
Tiu U (Fishing)
Tjak Ma Tcho Ki (Pair Matching)
*Tsair Deng (Che Deng)
Tsung Shap (Disputing Tens)

Solitaire Games

These are games designed for one player. The goal is generally to remove dominoes from the tableau, or to build dominoes to a set of foundation piles.

Bingo
Buccaneer
Castle Rock
*Dragon Tablets (Ryong Hpai)
Fair Lucy
Hoi Tap (Opening the Pagoda)
Jubilee
Ke Pouk Hpai (Tortoise Tablets)
*Little Harp (Patience)
Luzon
*Opening the Pagoda (Hoi Tap)
Patience
Ryong Hpai (Dragon Tablets)
Stack
Sultan
Sympathy
*Tortoise Tablets (Ke Pouk Hpai)
Twelves