Chicken Foot

Players and equipment

Two or more players and a double-nine set of 55 dominoes: every pairing of the numbers blank to nine, ten doubles among them. A double-six set works for a shorter game with fewer people. The spots on a tile are its pips, a double has the same number on both ends, and the tiles left face down after the deal are the boneyard. Everybody draws the same number of tiles, seven being usual at four players, and enough must be left over to draw from.

The deal

A game is a series of rounds, one for each double: the first opens with the double nine, the next with the double eight, and so on down to the double blank. Shuffle every tile face down before each round and draw hands. Whoever holds the round's double leads it; if nobody does, everybody draws one tile in turn from the boneyard until it appears. Stand your tiles on their edges so that only you can see them.

Play

The opening double goes in the middle of the table and is built out as a cross. The next four tiles must all be played against it, one to each free side, each carrying the double's number, before play may spread anywhere else. Once the cross is complete any open end is fair game: add a tile whose end matches the number showing, and its far end becomes a new open end.

After that the game is named for what happens every time anybody plays another double. It is laid crosswise on the end it matches, the player says "chicken foot", and the next three tiles played, by whoever the turn reaches, must all attach to that double — three toes off the one double, each carrying its number — before a tile may be played anywhere else on the table. When the third toe lands the foot is finished and play spreads again from every open end, the three new ones included.

Unable to play, draw one tile from the boneyard. If it plays, play it. If it will not play, or the boneyard is empty, pass. It is one draw and not a hunt, so during a chicken foot on a scarce number the turn can go round the table several times before anything moves.

Scoring

A round ends when somebody plays their last tile, or when everybody passes in turn. Then everybody counts what is left in their own hand and writes it against themselves.

Every pip left in hand

1

Counts against you

Double blank

50

The one tile you do not want to be caught with

Going out

0

An empty hand

Nobody scores for winning a round: the player who goes out writes down nothing, and everybody else pays for what they hold. A double counts its full pips — the double nine is eighteen — and the double blank, which would otherwise be a free tile to be caught with, costs fifty.

A worked round

Four players in the round of the double nine, which Ben holds.

Ben

The cross begins

Leads the double nine

Cara, Dev, Alice, Ben

The cross is complete

The 9–4, 9–6, 9–1 and 9–2, one against each side

Cara

"Chicken foot"

The 6–6 on the six

Dev, Alice, Ben

The foot is finished

The 6–3, 6–0 and 6–5, all off the double six

Cara

Play spreads again

The 4–8 on the four

Dev

One draw

Cannot play, draws the 2–7 and plays it on the two

Alice

"Chicken foot"

The 3–3 on the three

Ben, Cara

Two toes

The 3–9 and the 3–1

Dev

Passes

Holds no three, draws the 5–5, cannot play it

Alice

The third toe, and the table is open again

The 3–7

Dev plays his last tile a few turns later, and the other three count.

Alice

12 + 16 = 28

The 7–5 and the 8–8 left

Ben

50 + 3 = 53

The 0–0 and the 2–1 left

Cara

12

The 8–4 left

Dev

0

Went out

Ben's two tiles carry three pips between them and cost him fifty-three: the double blank on its own is more than Alice's twenty-eight. The totals run on from round to round. Suppose the first four go like this.

Alice

61

28, then went out, then 24, then 9

Ben

80

53, then 12, then went out, then 15

Cara

50

12, then 21, then 17, then went out

Dev

58

Went out, then 30, then 6, then 22

After four of the ten rounds Cara leads on 50 and Ben is last on 80, two thirds of it that one tile from the first round.

Ending

The rounds run out with the doubles — nine down to blank is ten of them — or the table agrees a shorter set. Lowest total wins, which is the opposite of most of this catalogue and worth saying out loud before the first tile goes down. Keeping score on SquareScores, everybody enters their own count after each round and the running total does the rest.

Get rid of the doubles

A double matches one number only, and a double left in your hand at the end counts its full weight: the double nine is eighteen. Play them the moment an end offers the chance. The double blank is the exception that proves the rule — worth nothing on the table and fifty in your hand, so a blank end is the best sight in the game for whoever holds it.

Force a chicken foot when it suits you

A chicken foot narrows the whole table to one number until three tiles have been found for it. If you hold two or three tiles of the double's number, you will be playing while the others draw and pass, and each of their draws is another tile to be caught with. So a double is not only a tile to shed: it is a way of stalling the table on a number you are strong in.

Count the tiles

In a double-nine set ten tiles carry each number, and you can see the ones in your hand and on the table, so you always know how many are still out. A number with eight tiles showing is nearly dead, and a double of it late in the round will stall everybody, yourself included.

The last tiles

With two or three tiles left, count pips rather than tiles. If you cannot go out this turn, play the heaviest tile you can, because that is what you will be caught with if somebody else finishes first. When another player is down to one tile the round may end at their next turn, so dump your biggest tile now. With the boneyard nearly empty a blocked round is coming, and what matters then is how light you are when it does.

Chickie Dominoes

The same game under another name, and Chickenfoot as one word is common too. The rules do not change with the spelling: an opening cross, a chicken foot on every later double, and the pips left in hand counted against you.

A double-twelve set

The big set of 91 tiles, blank to twelve, plays the same game in thirteen rounds from the double twelve down. It suits a bigger table and the hands are larger; the double twelve is twenty-four pips to be caught with, and the fifty for the double blank still applies.

Six tiles on the opening double

Some tables build the first double out with six tiles instead of four before play may spread. It keeps the table on the round's number for longer at the start and uses up more of that number before the first chicken foot.

Drawing until you can play

Some tables let a stuck player keep drawing from the boneyard until they find a tile that plays, and others allow no drawing at all, so that a player who cannot play simply passes. Either changes how fast the boneyard empties and how often a round blocks. Agree which you are playing before the first round.

The double blank at face value

Where the fifty is thought too cruel the double blank counts as nothing, like any other blank. It makes the tile harmless to be caught with and takes most of the drama out of a blank end late in a round.

How do you play Chicken Foot dominoes?

Whoever holds the round's double leads it, and the next four tiles are played against its four sides to make a cross. After that a tile may be added to any open end, matching numbers. Every later double is laid crosswise, its player says "chicken foot", and the next three tiles must all be played on that double before anything else is legal. The round ends when somebody plays their last tile or everybody passes, and the pips left in each hand count against their holder.

How many dominoes do you start with in Chicken Foot?

Everybody draws the same number, and the table decides it by how many are playing: seven each is usual at four players with a double-nine set. Enough tiles must be left face down to draw from.

What happens when you play a double in Chicken Foot?

You lay it crosswise on the end it matches and say "chicken foot". The next three tiles played anywhere on the table must all attach to that double, each carrying its number, and nothing else may be played until they have. Players who cannot supply a toe draw one tile and, if it does not help, pass. Once the third toe is down, play spreads again.

What is the double blank worth in Chicken Foot?

Fifty points against whoever is caught holding it at the end of a round. It has no pips, so without the rule it would be the one tile that costs nothing to keep, and the fifty is what makes a blank end worth fighting for. Some tables count it as nothing; agree before you start.

How many rounds are there in Chicken Foot?

One for each double in the set: ten with a double-nine set, from the double nine down to the double blank, thirteen with a double-twelve and seven with a double-six. The totals run on across the rounds and the lowest at the end wins. A table short of time agrees fewer rounds before it starts.

Does the lowest score win in Chicken Foot?

Yes. Nobody scores for going out; everybody else adds up the pips left in their hand and writes that against themselves, and the lowest total when the rounds run out wins. It is worth saying aloud at the start, because most games count the other way.