Family8 min read
Playing Block Dominoes as a Family: Teaching, House Rules and Scorekeeping
How to teach Block Dominoes to children, which house rules keep a family game friendly, and a simple way to keep score across an evening.
Block Dominoes Articles
Ten articles on the game played here: how the 28-tile set is built and what that means for counting, how to read a pass, how to play the last few tiles, how to teach the game, where dominoes came from, and how the rules of other domino games differ. Each strategy article works through real positions with the tiles shown. If you are new to the game, start with the rules and then the beginner article.
Advanced8 min read
Block Dominoes Endgame: Counting Down the Last Tiles
How to play the last few tiles of a Block Dominoes hand: counting the tiles still out, deciding whether to go out or block, and keeping your pip total low when the hand locks.
Strategy8 min read
Reading Opponents in Block Dominoes: What a Pass Tells You
Because nobody draws in Block Dominoes, every pass is permanent information. How to record it, what it rules out, and how to steer the open ends toward numbers an opponent cannot answer.
Beginner8 min read
Block Dominoes Strategy for Beginners: Seven Habits That Win Hands
Practical beginner strategy for Block Dominoes: which tiles to shed first, how to keep a flexible hand, when to block, and how to use the numbers opponents pass on.
Strategy8 min read
The Mathematics of Block Dominoes: Counting Tiles and Odds
How the 28-tile double-six set is built, what that means for counting, and how to work out the odds that an opponent holds a given number in a seven-tile Block Dominoes hand.
History8 min read
A Short History of Dominoes: From Chinese Tiles to the Browser
What is known, and what is only repeated, about where dominoes came from: the Chinese tile sets, the European double-six, the games that grew from it, and how it ended up in a browser.
Strategy8 min read
Advanced Block Dominoes Tactics: Controlling Both Ends
Tactics for experienced Block Dominoes players: setting both open ends to one number, counting what is unseen, forcing passes, and choosing between going out and blocking.
Health & Education8 min read
The Cognitive Benefits of Playing Dominoes: What the Research Actually Shows
A sourced look at what studies of board games and older adults do and do not show, and why we do not claim that dominoes makes you smarter.
Community8 min read
How to Run a Block Dominoes Tournament
A practical guide to organising a Block Dominoes tournament: choosing a format, writing down the rules before play, running the bracket, and settling disputes.
Culture8 min read
Domino Games Around the World: Rules That Differ From Block Dominoes
Draw dominoes, All Fives, Fives and Threes, Mexican Train, Cuban and Caribbean partnership play, and the Chinese tile games, each compared with the Block rules used here.
Elsewhere on the site
The rules
The ruleset the game implements, written out: the deal, the opening, passing, blocked hands and scoring.
Read the rules →The guide
What each of the three computer levels actually does, how to beat each one, and what to agree before you play with people.
Read the guide →The game
Free, in the browser, no download or account. Four seats on a desktop screen, two on a phone.
Play Block Dominoes →