Cuban Dominoes rules

Dominó cubano on the double-nine set as it is played in Havana and on PlayElephant: four players in two pairs, ten tiles each, fifteen tiles asleep, a game to 100 points.

1. The set

• The double-nine set has 55 tiles: every pair of numbers from 0 to 9, from 00 to 99. Ten of them are doubles (dobles).
• A tile is worth the sum of its two halves: from 0 (00, the "blank", blanca) up to 18 (99, "the fat one", la gorda). All 55 tiles together are worth 495 points.
• Each number from 0 to 9 appears on ten tiles. A double belongs to one number only.
• This is the main difference from the ordinary double-six set with 28 tiles. Nicknames of tiles are only fun, they change nothing in the rules.

2. Pairs, seats, direction

• Four players, two pairs. Partners sit opposite each other.
• Pairs stay the same for the whole game. Nobody changes seats in the middle of a game.
• Play goes to the right, counter-clockwise. This holds for everything: dealing, leading and tiles.
• So the player after you is always an opponent, and the one after that is your partner.

3. The deal and the sleeping tiles

• Before every hand all 55 tiles are shuffled face down (the old name is dar agua, "give water"). On PlayElephant the server does this with a fair random shuffle, and it can be checked afterwards.
• Each player takes 10 tiles and sees only their own. The remaining 15 tiles are the sleepers (dormidas). They are not played, they are not counted, and nobody sees them until the hand is over.
• There is no drawing from the sleepers. They never come into play.
• Redeal with five doubles. A player who has 5 or more doubles may show them and ask for a redeal. All tiles are shuffled and dealt again, and the right to lead does not change. It is the player's right, not a duty.

4. Who leads

First hand of the game

The server draws one tile for each pair. The pair with the higher tile (higher sum of halves) gets the right to lead. A tie is drawn again. Then the tiles are dealt.

Which player of the pair leads

• The pair that has the right to lead decides which of the two goes first, after looking at their tiles. At a real table partners may ask each other only "how are you?", ¿cómo estás?
• On PlayElephant both players choose in secret, "I lead" (Salgo) or "You lead" (Sal tú), and the choices are shown to all four together.
• If exactly one says "I lead", they lead. If both say the same, or neither answers, the priority player leads: in the first hand the first seat of the pair, later the player who won the previous hand. If only one answers, the other counts as "You lead".

Following hands

• The pair that won the last hand (by going out or by a block) leads the next one, again choosing who goes.
• After a tied block the pair that did not lead the tied hand leads next.

The first tile

The leader may put down any tile of their hand. It is traditional to lead with the double nine, but nothing forces you to.

5. Play and passing

The line

• The tiles form one line with two open ends. A first tile 62 gives ends 6 and 2. A first double 55 gives ends 5 and 5.
• There is no spinner. A double, even the first one, opens the line in two directions only. A double is shown across the line, but it makes no difference to the count or the number of ends.

A move

• On your turn you must put down exactly one tile if you can. It must carry the number that is open at one of the ends. The other half of the tile becomes the new end.
• If the tile fits both ends, you choose the end. If you could play two tiles, the choice is yours too.
• Playing a double does not give an extra move. After every move or pass the turn goes to the right.
• Holding back a tile you could play, while you play another one, is allowed and is part of the skill (agacharse).

Passing

• If you have no tile that fits, you pass (paso). At a real table you knock on the table. There is no drawing.
• A forced pass is made by the server. Every pass is visible to everyone.
• A pass when you do have a move (pase en falso) is not possible online.
• A pass costs no points in the Havana game.

What everyone sees

The line, the ends, who played which tile and where, who passed, how many tiles each player holds, and the score. Hidden: the hands and the sleepers.

6. End of a hand: pegarse and tranque

A hand ends the moment one of two things happens:

• Pegarse (also dominar, "domino!"): a player puts down their tenth and last tile. Their pair wins the hand.
• Tranque: nobody at the table has a tile for either end. The hand is blocked at once, no need to wait for four passes.

If the last tile also blocks the table, it counts as going out, not as a block.

Why a block is so common here

A number can be gone from the hands because it is asleep. So the game may lock while some tiles of that number are still unseen. This is the nature of the double-nine game with fifteen sleepers.

Who wins a block

• Everyone turns their tiles over and adds up their own tiles.
• The winner is the one player with the lowest total. Their pair wins the hand.
• If the two lowest totals are equal and belong to partners, it is not a tie, their pair wins.
• If the lowest total is held by players of both pairs, the block is tied.

The player who made the locking move is noted as el que tranca, but this changes nothing in the score.

7. Scoring

Winning by going out

The pair of the player who went out scores the points left in the hands of the two opponents. The winner's partner's tiles do not count. The sleepers never count.

Winning a block

The winning pair scores in the same way: the tiles left in the hands of the two opponents.

Tied block

Nobody scores. The pair that did not lead the tied hand leads next.

8. End of the game, pollona

• The score is kept for each pair from zero. The game goes to 100 points.
• The game ends as soon as one pair reaches 100 or more. Points above 100 are kept in full, a score of 107 stays 107.
• If the winners finish while the losers still have 0 points, it is a pollona (also called zapato or zapatero), the heaviest win in the game. It is marked in the result and counts as a double win.
• Score keeping uses two columns, Nosotros / Ellos ("us / them"), with a running total.

9. Fair play

• Every move is checked. The server will not accept a tile that does not match, a move out of turn, or a pass when you have a move. A tile cannot be played against the rules.
• Automatic score. Tiles are counted and the score is kept for you.
• Verifiable deal. Every deal is a fair shuffle that can be checked afterwards. The sleepers stay hidden until the hand is over.
• Bots are marked. A bot only takes the seat of a player who has left.

At a real table

Talk and signals between partners are forbidden. "Dominoes was invented by a mute", they say. Touching tiles on the table as a hint is forbidden too. Only your tile and your thinking time (la pensada) may speak. A pass when you have a move (pase en falso) is a foul.

10. Local variants

On PlayElephant the default is the first column. You may meet the others at other tables, and a table can be set up that way.

Capicúa means winning with a last tile that fits both ends of the line at once (not a double). In some places it is worth double. It is not used in the Havana game.

11. Examples

12. Glossary

Play Cuban dominoes