How to Play
How to Play All Fives Dominoes
Everybody learns the rules in five minutes. Counting the board is what takes people years — so start there.
The object of the game
You score when the open ends of the board add up to a multiple of five, and you score whatever that total is. Ends of 6 and 4 make 10, so you take 10.
So you are never really playing your tiles. You are playing the board total, and your tiles are just the levers you have to move it. Every decision comes down to one question: what will the total be after this play, and can my opponent score on it?
For the full ruleset — the spinner, the four branches, blocked hands, the three modes — read the rules page. What follows is how you actually win.
The one technique that matters
New players count the whole board from scratch on every turn. Strong players never do. They track how much a tile changes the total, which is just the difference between its two halves:
- Hook the small end → ADD the difference. Playing the 2 side of a 2-5 puts the 5 on the end. The total goes up by 3.
- Hook the big end → SUBTRACT the difference. Playing the 5 side of that same 2-5 leaves the 2. The total drops by 3.
- Doubles always ADD their denomination. A double-4 adds 4, a double-6 adds 6. They never subtract.
Once you see tiles as ±3 instead of “the two-five”, the arithmetic collapses. Board on 12, need to reach 15? You need a +3. Now you know exactly which tiles to look for.
The difference chart
Every tile in the set, grouped by how far it moves the board. Learn this and you stop searching your hand tile by tile.
| Moves the board | Tiles |
|---|---|
| ±1 | 0-1 · 1-2 · 2-3 · 3-4 · 4-5 · 5-6 |
| ±2 | 0-2 · 1-3 · 2-4 · 3-5 · 4-6 |
| ±3 | 0-3 · 1-4 · 2-5 · 3-6 |
| ±4 | 0-4 · 1-5 · 2-6 |
| ±5 | 0-5 · 1-6 |
| ±6 | 0-6 |
Doubles are missing on purpose — their difference is zero. They add their denomination instead.
What each board total needs
Only the last digit of the total matters. Read it off, and you know instantly what you are hunting for.
| Board ends in | You need |
|---|---|
| 0 or 5 | Already scoring |
| 1 or 6 | +4, −1, −6 |
| 2 or 7 | +3, −2, −7 |
| 3 or 8 | +2, −3, −8 |
| 4 or 9 | +1, +6, −4, −9 |
The danger zone: 4 and 9
A board ending in 4 or 9 is the worst thing you can leave behind. It can be scored on from four different directions — +1, +6, −4 and −9 — so almost anything in your opponent's hand plays.
Compare that with leaving a board ending in 2 or 7, which offers only three routes, two of them needing big swings. The play that scores you 10 and leaves a 14 behind is usually worse than the quiet play that scores nothing and leaves a 17.
Count what you are handing over before you count what you are taking.
Power tiles and the rescore
Some tiles let you score straight back after an opponent scores, because they move the total by exactly five and land you on the next multiple. The 0-0, 0-5, 1-6 and 5-5 are the ones worth holding for control rather than dumping early.
| If a double is out | Follow with | Board moves |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | 1-6 | +5 |
| 4-4 | 4-3 | −5 |
| 5-5 | 5-0 | −5 |
| 6-6 | 6-2 | −5 |
A worked example
The spinner is covered on both sides, so the board is down to two open ends: a 5 on one end and a 3 on the other. The total is 8.
Eight is two away from ten and three away from five. So you are looking for a +2 or a −3. Nothing else scores. Two tiles in your hand can do it:
- Play the 3-5, hooking the 3. You are laying the small end against the board, so you ADD the difference: +2. That end becomes a 5, the board reads 5 and 5, and the total is 10. Score 10.
- Play the 5-2, hooking the 5. Big end against the board, so you SUBTRACT: −3. That end becomes a 2, the board reads 2 and 3, total 5. Score 5.
Ten beats five, so the 3-5 looks obvious — but finish the thought. It leaves the board on 10, which ends in 0, and a board ending in 0 or 5 is already sitting on a scoring number. Your opponent only has to keep it there. The 5-2 scores half as much and leaves them on 5, with the same problem.
Take the 10. Just know you are handing over a live board, and have your next answer ready.
Putting it together, every turn
- 1
Read the board total
Add up every open end. That single number is the only thing that matters — you are playing the total, not your tiles.
- 2
Work out what you need
Find the gap between the current total and the next multiple of five. A board on 12 needs +3 or −2 to score.
- 3
Find the tile that moves it that far
Hook the small end of a tile to ADD the difference between its two halves. Hook the big end to SUBTRACT it. Doubles always add their denomination.
- 4
Check what you leave behind
Before committing, look at the total your play creates. Leaving a board ending in 4 or 9 hands your opponent the most ways to score.
The only way to learn counting is to count.
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