Dominoes Glossary: Terms and Meanings
Dominoes has a vocabulary of its own, and rule pages are much easier to follow once the words are clear. These are the terms used on Dominos.cc, listed in plain language and matched to how the game works here.
Terms
- Tile (bone)
- One rectangular domino piece, divided into two halves. Also called a bone or simply a domino.
- Pip
- A dot on a tile. The pips on both halves are added up to give the value of the tile.
- Double
- A tile with the same number on both halves, such as 4|4. A double is placed across the line and counts both of its halves in All Fives scoring.
- Suit
- All the tiles that carry a given number. In a double-six set every number appears on seven tiles.
- Set
- The full collection of tiles. A double-six set has 28 tiles; the double-twelve set used for Mexican Train has 91.
- Boneyard
- The face-down pile of tiles that were not dealt, also called the stock. Players draw from it in Draw and All Fives when they cannot play.
- Hand
- The tiles a player holds and keeps hidden from the others.
- Open end
- A number at the end of the line of play that a new tile can match.
- Line of play
- The row of tiles on the table, also called the layout. New tiles are added at its open ends.
- Spinner
- In All Fives, the first double played in a round. Tiles can also be added above and below it, so up to four ends can be open at once.
- Pass
- Skipping your turn because you have no playable tile. In Draw you may pass only when the boneyard is empty; some players call it knocking.
- Draw
- To take a tile from the boneyard when you cannot play. Draw is also the name of the standard game mode.
- Block
- A game mode with no boneyard, where a player with no legal play passes. A round in which nobody can play is called blocked, and the lowest pip total wins it.
- Going out
- Playing your last tile, which ends the round and wins it.
- Heavy tile
- A tile with many pips, such as 6|5. Heavy tiles cost the most if you are left holding them, so they are usually played early.
- Muggins
- Another name for All Fives. In some house rules it also lets a player claim points that an opponent forgot to count; on Dominos.cc points are counted for you.
- Five-Up
- Another common name for All Fives, the game in which you score whenever the open ends add up to a multiple of five.
- Engine
- In Mexican Train, the center double that every train starts from. The first round uses the double twelve.
- Train
- In Mexican Train, a line of tiles growing outward from the engine. Each player has a personal train, and one shared train, the Mexican Train, is open to everyone.
- Marker
- In Mexican Train, a sign placed on your train when you pass. It opens your train to other players until you play on it again. The game shows it as Open.
- Penalty points
- In Mexican Train, the pips left in your hand when a round ends. The lowest total after the last round wins.
- Round and match
- A round is one deal played until someone goes out or the table is blocked. A match is a series of rounds until a player reaches the target score.