How to play domino — the only guide you
need.

Domino looks simple — match a number, place a tile. Spend one evening playing it and you'll discover it's actually a strategy game, a counting game, and a partnership negotiation all stacked on top of each other.

This is the version played across the Caribbean, Latin America, and on any porch in Miami after dark: partner domino with a double-six set. Four players, two teams, one long evening. Here's everything you need to sit down at the table and not embarrass yourself.

1. The setup

Four players, two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other. The table forms a cross; play moves counterclockwise around it.

The tiles, called bones or simply pieces, are a standard double-six set: 28 rectangles, each split into two halves, each half showing zero to six dots. Every possible combination exists exactly once, from the blank-blank up to the double-six.

Shuffle face-down. Each player draws seven. The remaining tiles — if you're playing the strict double-six variant, there are none — sit out of play. No boneyard. No drawing. What you have is what you have.

2. The opening move

In the very first round of the game, whoever holds the double-six opens, and they must play that tile. No choice in the matter. It's the only forced move in the entire game.

Every round after that, the opener rotates counterclockwise, and that player may lead with any tile from their hand. This is where strategy starts: the opening tile dictates the numbers the round will revolve around.

3. Building the chain

Once the opening tile is down, play moves around the table. On your turn you place one tile, connecting it to one of the two open ends of the chain. The number on your tile must match the number at the end.

Here's a chain mid-round, with the open ends called out:

Doubles get placed perpendicular in physical play, but the rule is identical: only the two numerical ends of the chain are live. The rest is just decoration.

4. When you can't play

Stare at your hand. Stare at the chain. Nothing matches? You pass. In partner domino there's no drawing from a boneyard — you simply lose your turn, and play continues to your right.

A pass leaks information. Everyone at the table now knows you don't have the numbers at either end. Good players file that away. Great players engineer passes from their opponents on purpose.

5. How points work

There are two ways a round ends, and they're scored almost identically:

Either way, the winning team's score increases by the sum of the dots remaining in both losing players' hands. Not the winner's leftover tiles — only the losers'.

6. Winning the game

A game is a series of rounds. Most tables play to 100, some play to 150, some play to 200 — agree before you start. First team to cross the threshold wins. Rounds get more tense as the score climbs, because a single big payoff can swing the whole game.

7. Three strategies to start with

Knowing the rules makes you a player. These three habits make you a good one — and most beginners pick them up in their first few games:

There's a whole post coming on advanced strategy, but those three alone will lift you above most casual players you'll meet.