Spinners Domino Game Rules and Directions

Spinners is one of my kids favorite. Mostly because it is a bit chaotic with all the open ends to play on. Players very seldom have to draw from the “boneyard”. It has simple rules and goes relatively quickly. You can play this game with little kids. We do not keep score. We just play until the last player as dominoed.

Come see our 10 Great Domino Games for Children Blog for more Domino Game Ideas

Basics:

• A block-type domino game
• Two to Four Players using a double-six or double-nine domino set but large sets can be used to accommodate more players.
• Domino Racks are a perfect addition for this game. Though not required, they make play much easier for little ones and keep your dominoes upright when the table gets bumped. The racks in the pictures can be found HERE.

PLAY:

1. The dominoes are placed face down and “shuffled”
2. Next, each player draws tiles
   • 2 players – 12 tiles each
   • 3 players – 11 tiles each
   • 4 players – 10 tiles each
3. Any remaining tiles become the “boneyard” and may be drawn as play continues.
4. The player with the highest double starts the game and can play one more domino (if able).  Players take turns placing dominoes on the layout. Domino ends must connect with a matching number of pips (that is the domino term for the dots on the domino). If a double it played than 1) the player gets one more turn and 2) the domino becomes a spinner (which may played off of in 4 directions, on both sides and both ends.)
5. Any player who does not hold a tile in his hand that matches an open end has to draw one tile. If the tile can not be played it is put in the players hand and game play continues to the next person.
6. The object of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all the dominoes in your hand and then yell “Domino!”. If play is blocked and no player can add a tile to the layout then the game is over.The winner is the person with no points or the least amount of pips on their dominoes.

Some Fun Domino Vocabulary (Cause it is just more fun to call them pips) 

Pips – The name for the dots on the dominoes.

Spinner – A double in the layout which may played on both sides and both ends. Each domino game has a rule about spinners: a) There are no spinners; b) Only the first double played is a spinner; or, c) All doubles are spinners.

Boneyard – The tiles that are purposely not drawn at the beginning of the game, so that players can draw from the boneyard during the game when they do not hold a playable tile in their hand. If tiles are all distributed in the game except for a pile of “extras” that can’t be evenly distributed among the players, this pile of dominoes are referred to as “widows”.

Arm- A row of dominoes in a straight line in the layout of a matching or scoring game.

Come see our 10 Great Domino Games for Children Blog for more Domino Game Ideas