Latin partnership dominoes: rules

Dominó por parejas as it is played in the Caribbean, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Spain, and as the default table on PlayElephant. The defaults follow the international rules used in championships; national differences are collected in one table.

1. Tiles, pairs and seats

• A double-six set: 28 tiles, every pair of numbers from 0 to 6. A tile has two halves with 0 to 6 pips, and its value is the sum of the pips. The whole set is worth 168 pips.
• A double has the same number on both halves, for example 66. It is laid across the line.
• Four players in two fixed pairs. Partners sit opposite each other. Seats are A1, B1, A2, B2 going around: pair A is A1 and A2, pair B is B1 and B2.
• Play goes counter-clockwise, to the right. This holds for dealing, leading and turns.
• Nobody sees another hand, the partner's included. Between turns you may only watch the line, the number of tiles each player holds and the history of moves and passes.

2. The deal

• All 28 tiles are shuffled and dealt, seven to each player. There are no tiles left over and no boneyard to draw from.
• On PlayElephant the shuffle is fair: every layout is equally likely and the deal can be checked afterwards.
• Tables that follow the Colombian profile may redeal when one player has five or more doubles. By default there is no redeal for a weak hand.

3. The first tile

• First hand of the game, by default. Each player draws one tile; the highest total leads, and if totals are equal the higher half decides. The leader may open with any tile.
• Country profiles. In Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico the holder of 66 leads, and must play exactly that tile in the first hand.
• Later hands, by default. The lead passes to the next player to the right every hand, whoever won the previous one. Any tile may open.
• If a hand is cancelled, the same player leads again.

4. Playing and passing

A move

• The first tile makes a line with two open ends. Later tiles are added to one of them.
• The matching half of your tile touches the end. The other half becomes the new open end.
• A double is laid across and leaves the same number open. There is no spinner: a double never opens a third end.
• If a tile matches both ends, you choose which. When both ends show the same number, the two choices are the same move.

Duty to play and passing

• If you can play, you must. You are free to choose which tile and which end. Nothing obliges you to play a double or a heavy tile.
• If no tile fits, you pass (paso). A pass is only possible with no legal move.
• A move cannot be taken back once it is made.

No signals

Partners may not tell each other what they hold. The only allowed "signal" is the choice of tile and the time you take to think (pensada). That is the heart of the game: reading your partner from the tiles they play and pass on.

5. End of a hand: dominó and tranque

Dominó

The hand ends as soon as a player lays their last tile. Their pair wins the hand. If that last tile also closes the game, it still counts as a dominó.

Tranque

The hand ends right after a move that leaves nobody with a legal move. Passes around the table are not played out. This always happens in the same way: both ends show the same number and all seven tiles carrying that number are already on the table.

• Each pair adds up the pips left in the hands of both partners.
• The pair with the smaller total wins the hand.
• If the totals are equal, by default nobody scores. The hand counts as played and the lead moves on.

6. Scoring a hand

By default the winning pair scores the pips on every tile left unplayed, both opponents' and the partner's. In a dominó that is the sum of all hands, in a tranque too. In most national profiles only the opponents' tiles are counted (see the variants table).

There are no bonuses by default. Some Puerto Rican and Dominican tables add them, see the variants table.

7. End of the game

• The game ends when, after a hand is recorded, a pair has reached the target. The default is 200. That pair wins.
• Only one pair scores in a hand, so two pairs cannot reach the target at the same time.
• If the losing pair has not scored a single point, it is a shutout (zapato in Venezuela, chiva in Puerto Rico). It is recorded in the result as a note.

8. Fouls and penalties

At a live table the referee deals with fouls: a tile shown to the opponents, a pass with a playable tile, a move out of turn, signals. On PlayElephant the server checks everything, so these cases cannot arise.

• An illegal tile, a move out of turn and a false pass are impossible. The program will not accept them.
• Every player's tiles stay hidden, and tiles of the others are shown only at the end of the hand, for counting.

9. Variants by country

The default is the international profile. A table can also open with the rules of a country. Where a source is only an estimate, the cell says so and the rule depends on the table.

Panama and Latin communities in the United States usually play by home rules. A capicúa is a dominó made with a tile that was playable at both ends and is not a double.

10. Worked examples

11. Glossary

Play dominoes