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Western Domino Games | Chinese Domino Games | Glossary of Domino Terms

Network

This is a strange game which was poorly described on the Domino Plaza website. The scoring depends on the physical layout of the tiles in the tableau.

Equipment

The game uses a double six domino set. The game is for two to five players.

The Deal

Each player gets the same number of tiles. The left over tiles are put aside and are not used for the hand.

The Play

The player with the highest double leads. The following players take turns adding a tile to the network. A tile may be added to any open end of the network provided that:

  1. One end of the tile matches the suit on the open end of the network. That is, the usual connection rule applies.
  2. The tile being played does not match the sides of any other tiles while the numbers are different. [i.e. it cannot be played to create a situation where two domino halves with different numbers are touching each other along the side or end of the domino.]
  3. Corners with different numbers may touch.
  4. Doubles are played as spinners with four sides. [One tile can be played against each end of the double and one tile halfway along each side of the double.]

A player may play or pass. The game ends when all four players pass in succession. [This may happen because the game is blocked, or because no one wishes to play, for fear of giving away a point to an opponent.]

Notes on what plays are legal

Scoring

A players earns 1 point for every ring he forms in the network.

Also, count how often each number appears at an open end of the network. The player contributing the last tile to the number appearing most often wins an extra 3 points.

The player with the highest score wins the game. The game can be played to some agreed upon total.

Notes on Rings

A "ring" is formed when a tile is placed to make a closed loop that completely encloses some space. The final tile will of course have to match at both ends, for example at A and B in this diagram:

ring

The following play does not complete a ring, because the red tile only abuts the network at one end:

not a ring

But the examples below are both valid rings, even though the one on the right is not a train in the usual sense: the tile marked 'X' has only one end involved in the ring.

ring 2ring x

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This page was contributed by Joe Celko (jcelko212@earthlink.net).
© Joe Celko, John McLeod August 3rd 2003