Partner Dominoes rules

Jamaican and Caribbean dominoes as played at PlayElephant: double-six set, four players in two pairs, hands won instead of points, and the race to six love.

1. Set, seats, direction

The double-six set has 28 bones, from 00 to 66. In Jamaica tiles are called bones.
The count (or spots, pips) of a bone is the sum of its two numbers. 66 is 12, 00 is 0. Counts matter only to settle a blocked hand.
Four players form two pairs. Partners sit across from each other and keep the same partner for the whole game.
Play goes counter-clockwise, to the right.
A number appears on 7 bones, but on 8 "halves" because every double counts twice. This is used for the key bone (section 6).

2. The deal

Every hand begins with a fair shuffle and each player gets 7 bones, face down. All 28 bones are dealt: there is no boneyard and nobody draws.
There is no redeal. A hand with several doubles, or none, is played as it comes.
Seats are drawn at random unless you sit down with a chosen partner.

3. The first bone: posing

Starting a hand is called posing (the player who does it is the poser). There are two cases.

Double six poses

This happens in the first hand of a game, after a tied hand, and after a reset. The holder of 66 starts and must play it. Some friendly tables allow "sporting", where the holder may start with another bone, but in tournaments it is forbidden and it is switched off on PlayElephant. The server plays the 66 for you.

The winners pose

After a hand won by a pair (and no reset follows), that pair starts the next hand, and the first bone may be any bone. At a live table partners agree who leads, without showing their bones. Online, the player who won the hand chooses: lead yourself, or give the lead to your partner.

After the first bone, play passes to the right as usual. The two numbers of that bone are the two open ends. The double six has the number 6 at both ends.

4. Play and passing

On your turn, play one bone from your hand to either end of the line. One of its numbers must match the number at that end. Its other number becomes the new end.
A double is shown crosswise, but it is just a bone with the same number at both halves. There is no spinner: you cannot add to the sides of a double.
If you have a bone that fits, you must play. You may not pass by choice.
If nothing fits, you pass (at a live table, you knock). A pass costs nothing. On PlayElephant it is made for you and everyone sees it.
If the same bone fits both ends, you choose the end. The two choices are shown separately.

5. Ending a hand: domino and block

Domino

The first player to play their last bone calls "domino!". Their pair wins the hand at once. The other bones are not counted.

Block

If no player can move, the hand is blocked. Counting only bones in hand, the player with the lowest count wins the hand for their pair.

Only one player's own count matters. Their partner's count is ignored, even if the pair's total is larger than the opponents'.
If the lowest count is held by two players of the same pair, that pair wins.
If the lowest count is shared by players of opposing pairs, the hand is a tie. Nobody scores.

Since all 28 bones are dealt, a block happens only when both ends show the same number and all seven bones with that number are already in the line. The server notices this and ends the hand at once. All hands, and the counts in a block, are shown at the end.

A last bone that both empties your hand and blocks the line is a domino, not a block.

6. Key bone and hard ends

A number is on 8 "halves" (the double counts twice). An end is hard when only one bone with that number is left outside the line: seven halves are already in it. Only that one bone can go on a hard end.

You score a key bone when you go out with it, if all of this is true:

the two ends show different numbers;
both ends are hard;
the one bone left for the first end and the one left for the second are the same bone;
you play exactly that bone.

That hand is worth 2 instead of 1. A double is never a key bone.

Example: the ends are 5 and 3, and seven halves of each number are on the table. The only bone left that fits is 53. You play it as your last bone, so the hand is worth 2. If the bone left for one end were 51 and for the other 32, they would be two different bones, and going out would score only 1.

7. Scoring: six love and the reset

You record only the number of hands won by each pair. Pips never go on the scoreboard. The score is written as pair against pair, such as 3–0. "Love" means zero, as in tennis.

Result of the hand	Worth
Going out (domino)	1
Going out with the key bone	2
Winning a block	1
Tie	0, the score stays

Six love

A pair wins the game when it has 6 or more while the opponents have 0. Going over is fine: from 5, a key bone makes 7 and wins. A game won this way is a "six love", or a "love".

The reset

Once both pairs have at least 1, the score goes back to 0–0, and the next hand starts with 66. So a score such as 2–1 never stands: if the pair with 0 wins a hand while the other has points, everything is wiped. A pair with five wins can lose its lead to one hand of the opponents. That is what Jamaicans call the game "bruking".

Who poses next

Result	Next hand
A pair wins, no reset	That pair poses, any bone
Win with a reset	Double six poses
Tie	Double six poses
Game won	A new game, double six poses

8. Signals and fair play

Talking or gesturing about your bones is not allowed, and partners may not ask each other for a lead.
Reading what has been played is allowed. A quick play (you had one bone to play) or a pause (you were thinking) is part of the game, not a signal.
On PlayElephant the server checks every move. You cannot play a bone that does not fit, pass with a move available, or move out of turn.
Every deal is a fair shuffle that can be verified afterwards.

9. Cut-throat

Cut-throat is the same game with every player on their own side: 2, 3 or 4 players, no partners. Everything above applies, with these changes.

Players	Bones	Each gets
4	28	7
3	27, without 00	9
2	28	14

The winner of a hand poses the next hand, with any bone.
You win by reaching 6 while at least one other player has 0.
The reset comes only when every player has won at least one hand.
With three players and no 00, the number 0 is on only 6 halves, so a 0 end becomes hard one bone earlier.

10. Variants

These variants are played at home tables. They are not the default and depend on the table.

Variant	What changes
Sporting	The holder of 66 may start with another bone. Forbidden in tournaments
Replayed ties	A tied hand is replayed and is worth one more for each tie in a row
Decider at 1–1	At 1–0, if the other pair wins, one decider hand is played instead of a reset: its winner goes to 2–0
Game to 4	Four hands instead of six, as in Haitian and Puerto Rican custom
Fixed leader	The hand winner always leads, with no choice of partner

11. Examples

Example 1. A block, personal count. The line is closed and both ends are 6: all seven bones with a 6 are out. The hands left are:

North: 00 02 11 03, count 0 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 7
West: 12 04 13 05 14, count 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 21
South: 44 55 35 25 34, count 8 + 10 + 8 + 7 + 7 = 40
East: 22 15 24 33, count 4 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 22

North and South are one pair (7 + 40 = 47). West and East are the other (21 + 22 = 43). In the Latin game the lower pair total, East and West, would win. Here the lowest single count, North's 7, decides, so North and South win. The hand is worth 1.

Example 2. A tie. Same line, but North holds 00 02 11 03 (7) and West holds 12 04 (3 + 4 = 7). Nobody else has less. The lowest count, 7, is shared by North and West, who are on opposing pairs. The hand is a tie: no score, and the next hand starts with 66. If instead North and South shared the 7, the pair would win.

Example 3. A game to six love, with a reset. Pairs are NS and EW, each hand is worth 1 unless noted.

NS go out: 1–0. NS pose next.
NS win a block: 2–0.
A tie: 2–0. Double six poses.
NS go out: 3–0.
EW go out. EW would have 1 and NS 3, and both have at least 1, so the score is reset to 0–0. Double six poses.
EW win five hands in a row: 0–5. EW pose each time.
EW go out with a key bone, worth 2: 0–7. EW have at least 6 and NS have 0, so EW win the game by six love.

Example 4. A key bone. The line has twelve bones and the ends are 5 and 3. Seven halves of 5 are in the line (55 counts twice), and seven halves of 3 as well. The only bone not yet played that has a 5 or a 3 is 35. South holds it as their last bone and plays it on either end. South goes out with a key bone: the hand is worth 2, and with a score of 0–0 it becomes 2–0.

12. Glossary

Term	Meaning
Bones	The dominoes, in Jamaican speech
Partner	The game in two fixed pairs, partners across the table
Cut-throat	Every player on their own, 2 to 4 players
Pose, poser	To make the first play of a hand, and the one who does it
Sporting	Starting with a bone other than the double six, in friendly play only
Pass, knock	No bone fits, so you skip your turn
Domino!	The call when you play your last bone
Block, blocked game	Nobody can move. The lowest personal count wins
Count, spots, pips	The dots on a bone, added up
Hard end	An end that only one remaining bone can fit
Key bone	The one bone that fits two different hard ends. Going out with it is worth 2
Love	Zero in the score, as in tennis
Six love	Winning 6 hands to nothing, and the name of the whole game format
Bruk, reset	The score goes back to 0–0 because the other side won a hand
Tie	A block in which the lowest count is shared by opposing players
Boneyard	Bones left undealt. Used only in one two-player cut-throat variant, not here

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