Prize Dominoes

Contributed by Jared McComb

2 players, 1 double-six set of dominoes.

This game is played over several hands. Use whatever method you like to determine who goes first for the first hand; subsequently, the loser of each hand leads to the next.

Each player takes 7 dominoes at the start of each hand and the remaining dominoes are set aside as a stock.

The leader of the hand starts by playing any domino he likes. Subsequent plays must match one end of the line on the table. Doubles are not played crosswise and do not allow extra branches - there will always be exactly two ends in play.

If you cannot play, you must draw one domino from the stock, and then play it (if you can) or pass (if you can't). If there is no stock left you must pass.

When one player goes out, they've won the hand. The winner picks one domino from the opponent's remaining hand as a prize. The prize dominoes won by each player are set in front of them in a row face up. The goal of the game is to get all numbers from 0 to 6 in prizes, which requires at least 4 prize dominoes.

Prize dominoes may be played on a turn instead of drawing from the stock, if you want, though it's usually only a good idea to do this if you have duplicate numbers in your prizes. You are not required to play a prize domino if the stock is empty and you have no other options.  In this case you may opt to pass.

If both players pass consecutively, the round is won by whichever player has a lower pip total in their remaining pieces; if still tied, by whoever passed first.

Dominoes being held as prizes are of course excluded from the dominoes that are shuffled face down before each hand. If more than 14 dominoes are currently being held as prizes, there will be fewer than 14 dominoes available to draw. If this happens, each player should draw as many as they can, being sure to each get an equal quantity. For example, if there are 13 dominoes to draw from, each player will take 6 and the odd domino will be left as stock.