How to Play Dominoes with 2 Players

Two-player dominoes is the classic head-to-head version: just you and one opponent, a double-six set of 28 tiles and nowhere to hide. It is the quickest way to learn the game, and every mode on Dominos.cc supports it.

Setup for 2 players

Each player takes 7 tiles. In Draw and All Fives the other 14 tiles stay face down as the boneyard; in Block there is no boneyard and the 14 undealt tiles stay out of play. The player with the highest double starts, and if nobody has a double the heaviest tile starts.

How a round plays out

Players alternate turns, matching a tile to one of the two open ends and placing doubles across the line. In Draw and All Fives, a player who cannot play draws from the boneyard until a tile fits and may pass only when it is empty. In Block, a player who cannot play simply passes. The round ends when one player is out of tiles or when neither can play.

Scoring and target score

The winner of a round scores the pips left in the opponent's hand. In All Fives you also score during play whenever the open ends add up to a multiple of five, and leftover pips are rounded to the nearest five. Draw and Block matches go to 100 points; All Fives goes to 150.

Tips for head-to-head play

Count the suits already on the table. Of the 21 tiles you cannot see, 7 are in your opponent's hand and 14 are in the boneyard before any draws, so every tile you draw changes the odds. Keep a mix of suits in your hand so you can always play.

2-player dominoes: questions

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