Partnership Dominoes

Players and equipment

Four players in two pairs, partners sitting opposite each other, and a double-six set of 28 dominoes: every pairing of the numbers blank to six, seven doubles among them. The spots on a tile are its pips, a double has the same number on both ends, and a hand is heavy or light by how many pips it carries. This is the game on the folding tables in the parks and on the sidewalks of New York — the way it is played in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The deal

Turn every tile face down and shuffle them around the table. Everybody draws seven, which uses the whole set: there is no boneyard, so nothing is ever drawn. Stand your tiles on their edges so that only you can see them.

In the first hand the double six leads. After that, whoever went out last leads, with any tile they like. After a blocked hand, the player who won the count leads.

Play

Turns go round the table, to the right in the Caribbean way, or whichever way your table plays. On your turn, add one tile to either end of the line, matching the number at that end: with a five at one end and a two at the other, any tile carrying a five or a two can be played, the matching end against the line and the other end facing out to become the new open end. A double goes crosswise and plays like any other tile.

If you cannot match either end, knock and pass. There is no drawing and no choosing to pass while you still have a play.

A hand ends when somebody plays their last tile, or when the line blocks and nobody at the table can play.

Scoring

Only the pair that wins the hand scores, and it scores the other hands' pips. The two hands of a pair are one score: on SquareScores the table is set up as two teams and each pair's points go on one column.

Going out

Pips

Your pair scores every pip left in the other three hands

Capicú

25 more

Going out with a tile that fits either end of the line

Blocked

Pips

The lightest hand wins it for their pair; tied pairs score nothing

Count a double at its full value, so an unplayed double six is twelve for the other side. Some tables count only the two opponents' hands, and some pay capicú 30 or nothing at all. Agree it before the first tile goes down.

A worked hand

Alice and Cara are one pair, Ben and Dev the other. The line blocks with a four at one end and a blank at the other, every four and every blank already played, and all four players holding something.

Alice

9

The 5–4 left

Ben

12 + 3 = 15

The 6–6 and the 2–1 left

Cara

3

The 3–0 left

Dev

8 + 1 = 9

The 4–4 and the 1–0 left

Cara holds the lightest hand, three pips, so the hand is hers and it scores for her pair. Alice and Cara take every pip left in the other three hands — Alice's own nine included — which is 9 + 15 + 9, thirty-three. Ben and Dev score nothing. At a table that counts only the opponents' hands the pair would take 24 instead. Ben's unplayed double six is twelve of the thirty-three on its own, the tile that decided the hand.

The totals build over the hands. Suppose the first four go like this.

First hand

Ben and Dev 56

Dev goes out with a capicú; the other three hold 31

Second hand

Alice and Cara 44

Alice goes out; the other three hold 44

Third hand

Alice and Cara 77

Blocked, the hand above

Fourth hand

Alice and Cara 115

Cara goes out; the other three hold 38

Dev's capicú in the first hand was thirty-one pips and twenty-five more, so his pair led early. Three hands later Alice and Cara stand on 115 to Ben and Dev's 56, playing to 200, and Ben and Dev need two good hands to catch up.

Ending

The first pair to reach 200 points wins the game. Some tables play to 150; tournaments often play to 500. Keeping score on SquareScores, set the target when you launch the game and the app ends the match at the line.

Read your partner

Every tile your partner plays says something. A partner who opens the hand on a number, or turns an end to it when there was a choice, is long in that number and wants it kept open. A partner who knocks holds none of the two numbers showing, and will still hold none next turn unless an end changes.

Play to your partner's strong numbers

When you have a choice of plays, leave an end showing a number your partner has shown strength in, and turn ends away from numbers the opponents have played freely. Your partner going out counts for your pair exactly as much as you going out, so a tile that lets them empty their hand is worth as much as one that empties yours.

Block the opponents

With no boneyard, a player who cannot match either end passes and holds their pips for the count. When both opponents have knocked on a number, keep an end showing it: they still hold none, and every turn they pass is a turn your pair plays. The strongest position is both ends on numbers the opponents have passed on, when your pair plays alone until somebody goes out or the line blocks with the opponents heavy.

Every tile is somewhere

Twenty-eight tiles, four hands of seven, none face down. Seven tiles carry each number, and you can see your own and the ones on the table, so the rest are in the other three hands and the passes tell you whose. Once six of the fives are in view, the one left is with the player who has not knocked on a five, and an end showing five is nearly dead.

Shed the heavy tiles

Every pip you are left holding is a point to the other pair, and a double matches only one number, so the double six is the tile to be rid of first. Play heavy tiles when the choice is even, keep light ones for the end, and remember that going out with a tile that fits both ends is capicú and twenty-five more — a hand that can be arranged to finish on a double is worth arranging.

The Dominican and Puerto Rican table

The game as this page describes it: the double six opens the first hand, turns go to the right, the player who went out leads the next hand with any tile, and the first pair to 200 wins. It is played fast and loud, and the count is called out at the end of every hand.

Texas 42 is a different game

Texas 42 is also four players in two pairs with a double-six set, but it is a trick-taking game: pairs bid for the right to name a trump number, tiles are played to tricks like cards, and each hand carries 42 points. It has nothing in common with the block game beyond the tiles and the seating.

Playing to 100

A shorter game: the first pair to 100 wins. Some tables set 150. Agree the line before the first hand.

Only the opponents' hands count

Some tables score a pair only the pips left in the two opponents' hands, leaving the winner's partner's tiles out of the count. It makes the winning pair's total smaller and puts no penalty on a partner who was left holding heavy tiles.

Capicú at 30 or nothing

The bonus for going out with a tile that fits either end varies from table to table: 25 is common, some pay 30, and some pay nothing. Where it is paid, it is announced loudly.

Block Dominoes for fewer than four

Two or three players play the same game without partners, five or seven tiles each and the rest set aside unused. It has its own page here.

How do you play partnership dominoes?

Four players in two pairs, partners opposite, draw seven tiles each from a double-six set, using the whole set. The double six leads the first hand. Each player in turn adds a tile to either end of the line, matching numbers, or knocks and passes if they cannot. The hand ends when somebody plays their last tile or the line blocks, and the winning pair scores the pips left in the other hands. First pair to 200 wins.

How do you score in partnership dominoes?

Only the winning pair scores. When a player goes out, their pair scores every pip left in the other three hands, and 25 more if the last tile was a capicú. When the line blocks, the lightest hand wins it for their pair and scores the same way; two pairs equally light score nothing. Doubles count their full pips, so the double six is twelve.

What is capicú in dominoes?

Going out with a tile that could have been played on either end of the line — the two open ends match the two numbers on your last tile. It is worth 25 points on top of the pips your pair scores for the hand at most tables, 30 at some, and nothing at others.

What happens when nobody can play in dominoes?

The hand is blocked. Everybody counts the pips in their own hand, and the player with the fewest wins the hand for their pair, scoring the pips left in the other hands. If the two lightest hands belong to different pairs and are level, nobody scores and the tiles are shuffled again. The player who won the count leads the next hand.

Who goes first in partnership dominoes?

Whoever holds the double six leads it in the first hand. After that, the player who went out in the last hand leads the next with any tile they like, and after a blocked hand the player who won the count leads.

Can you pass in dominoes if you have a playable tile?

No. You may only knock and pass when neither end of the line matches any tile you hold. Holding back a tile that fits to block the table later is against the rules of the game, not merely bad manners.

Is Texas 42 the same as partnership dominoes?

No. Both are four players in two pairs with a double-six set, but Texas 42 is a trick-taking game with bidding and trumps, played like a card game, where partnership dominoes is the block game: one line, matching ends, and the pips left in hand at the finish.