User Guide

Blindfold Dominoes is a fully accessible Dominoes game for both sighted and visually impaired people, designed for rapid audio play.

You control this game using iPhone gestures.
First, in the main menu, select one of the Dominoes games.

This is the blocking game of Dominoes where you and up to 3 opponents get 7 tiles from stock of 28 tiles.
Each of the opponents play a tile in turn, and if you cannot play a tile, you can pass.
The game is over when any player runs out of tiles, or no one can play a tile.
You never draw any tiles from the boneyard.
You will hear your actions and game information in a woman’s voice, and the other player’s’ actions in a man’s voice.

Gestures

To move left or right within your hand, flick one finger left or right.

To hear all of your tiles, swipe down with two fingers.

To play your tile, tap the screen twice with one finger.

To draw a tile from the boneyard, you can use 2 different gestures.
You can either tap the screen once with three fingers, or you can tap three times with one finger.
Not all dominoes games allow a tile to be drawn.

To hear all of the tiles on the board, swipe down with 3 fingers.

To hear the open pips (or spots) of the leftmost and rightmost tiles, swipe up with 2 fingers.

To skip your turn – which is called a pass – tap the screen twice with 2 fingers. If the game is a draw game, you cannot pass until there are no more tiles in the boneyard.

If your tile can be played on either end of the board, and you want to put it on left end of the line of tiles, swipe up with one finger, and the game will say “left side”. Then you can play your tile by tapping twice with one finger.

If you want to put it on the right side, swipe up with one finger, and the game will say “right side”.”

If you don’t pick left or side, the side is chosen randomly.

To hear the status of the game, such as the number of tiles you and your opponent has, shake the phone.
To post your scores to twitter or facebook, tap the screen twice with 2 fingers.
To go back to the main menu, swipe up with 3 fingers.

Scoring in the Blocking Game

The player no tiles left wins the game, and is awarded the points from all the other players. Points are determined by adding the pips on the tiles. For example, if you have 2 tiles, one tile with 1 6, and the other tile with 3 3, your tiles are worth 13.

If the game ends because no one can make a move, the winner is the player with the lowest points in the tiles.
If two players have the same lowest points in their tiles, no one wins.
Otherwise, the player with the lowest points is awarded the points from all the other players, after subtracting the winning player’s points from each of the other player’s tiles.
For example, if you are the winner, and you have the 3 3 tile, and the second player has 6 6, and the third player has 5 5, you are awarded 6 points from the first player and 4 points from the second player, for a total of 10 points.

Open Ends

Most Dominoes games have 2 open ends – one on the left and one on the right.
Some Dominoes games allow a side branch from the main branch when there is a double pip, such as a 6-6, which is also called a spinner.
When you play a game like that, if one of the players plays a spinner, the game will tell you that a side branch was created, and tells you the pip.
The side branch gives you 2 more open ends, one going up and one going down.
You can play your tiles on either the main branch or the side branch.
To flip amongst the branches, swipe down with one finger.
The game will tell you which branch and the first and last tiles.
When the side branch is first created, it only has one tile – the spinner – in that branch.

Variations

See the games guide for more variations. If there’s specific dominoes game you want, please email us.

How to use coins

To play one game of pong, you need one coin.
This game comes with 10 coins, so you can play 10 full games of pong.
You can purchase more coins in the GET UPGRADES screen.

Playing against the computer

When playing against the computer, you can change the name and skill of the other players.
Normally one computer player is good, one is average, and one is very good.
To find out more about each of the computer players, in the SETTINGS screen, tap CUSTOMIZE COMPETITOR.
To change a competitor’s name, or their skill level, tap on the INFO button.
Customizing your competitors requires an in-app upgrade.

Scoring

When you win a round, you get one coin.
If you win the game, you get one coin for each opponent that is average, two coins for each opponent that is good, and three coins for each opponent that is very good.

Introduction

A domino is a small tile, commonly called a bone, is rectangular with a line down the center. Each end of the tile contains a number. In the most popular domino set, the double-six, the numbers vary from 0 (or blank) to 6. This produces 28 unique tiles.

A common domino size is about 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 3/8 inch thick – small enough to be held comfortably in the hand, but large enough to be easily manipulated, and thick enough to be able to be stood on edge.

Dominoes are referred to by the number of dots (or pips) on each end, with the lower number usually listed first. Thus, a tile with a 2 on one end and a 5 on the other is referred to as a “2-5”. A tile with the same number on both ends is called a “double” (or doublet), so a “6-6” is referred to as “double-six”.
A tile with high pips is called a heavy tile; a tile with low pips is called a light tile.
A double-six is the “heaviest” tile; a double-blank is the “lightest” tile.

<!–

Beginning A Game

Before a game begins, the players have to determine who has the first move. This happens in one of two ways: either each of the players choose a domino at random, with first move going to the player holding the “heavier” domino (these dominoes are returned to the boneyard and reshuffled), or the players draw their allotted number of tiles (which varies according to the game being played), and the holder of the “heaviest” domino goes first.

–>

Drawing Tiles

Once the players begin drawing tiles, they are typically placed on-edge before the players, so that each player can see his own tiles, but none can see the value of other players tiles. Every player can thus see how many tiles remain in the other players hands at all times during gameplay.

Placing The First Tile

Once all the players have drawn their dominoes, the first player (determined either by the drawing of lots, or by who holds the heaviest hand) places the first tile on the table. Typically, this is the double-six. If no one holds the double-six, then the double-five is played, and so on. If no player has a double tile, then the player with the heaviest tile goes first.

Playing Subsequent Tiles

In most domino games, only the “open” ends of a layout are open for play. An end is open when it has no other tile connected to it. Often, a double is placed cross-ways in the layout, straddling the end of the tile that it is connected to. Usually, additional tiles can only be placed agains the long side of a double. However, the rules of some games consider all four sides of a double to be open, allowing dominoes to be connected in all four directions.

Drawing Tiles

As the turn passes from player to player, if someone cannot make a move, they’re going to do one of two things, based on the game being played.

In a “block” game, a player must “pass” if he cannot make a move.

In a “draw” game, a player can draw a tile from the boneyard. If there are no tiles left in the boneyard, the game is over.
Depending on the game, he can then either play the tile (if it fits, and if the rules allow), pass (if he cannot play the drawn tile), or continue drawing until he can make a move or the boneyard is empty.

In draw games, most rules allow the boneyard to be emptied completely. However, some rules do not allow the last two tiles in the boneyard to be removed, and at the end of a game, the winner receives the value of the tiles in the boneyard.

Ending A Game

A game ends either when a player plays all his tiles, or when a game is blocked. When a player plays his last time, tradition requires him to say “domino” (when this happens, the other players are said to have been dominoed. A game is blocked when no player is able to add another tile to the layout.

When playing a multi-round game, domino games are typically scored by awarding the number of pips on opposing player’s tiles to the winner. Doubles may be counted as one or two (if one, a 6-6 counts as 6; if two, a 6-6 counts as 12), and double-blank may either count as 0 or 14. (These rule variations must be agreed upon before the game begins!) The player who reaches the target score (100, 200, or whatever is agreed on among the players), or the player who amasses the most points is a given number of rounds wins the game.

Games

Blocking

You already learned about the simplest Dominoes game called Blocking. For details, see the Intro to Dominoes guide.

Blocking with 4 Open Ends

This is just like the Blocking game, but you can create one side branch by playing a double-pip, such as a 6-6, otherwise known as a spinner.
You can create one side branch off of the main branch by playing a spinner.
The game is over when the first player runs out of tiles, or there are no more moves for any player, and every player passes.

Draw Game

The draw game is similar to the blocking game, but if you cannot play a tile, you must draw from the boneyard.
You keep drawing until you can play a tile.
You keep drawing until you can play a tile, or you are out of tiles.
The game is over when the first player runs out of tiles, or there are no more moves for any player, and every player passes.

Draw with 4 Open ends

The draw with 4 Open Ends is similar to the blocking game with 4 open ends, but if you cannot play a tile, you must draw from the boneyard.
You can create one side branch off of the main branch by playing a spinner.
You keep drawing until you can play a tile, or you are out of tiles.
The game is over when the first player runs out of tiles, or there are no more moves for any player, and every player passes.

Muggins

Muggins, a close relative of All Fives and Sniff, is considered by many to be one of the very best domino games.
It plays much like Draw Dominoes, except that the goal of the game is not just to go out, but to make the open ends of the layout add up to 5 (or a multiple of five).
Muggins is one of a family of games knows as “point games”.

Muggins is similar to the Draw Game, but after each tile, you win points based on the open ends.
For example, if the first tile placed is a 5-5, then the player scores a 10.
If the second tile placed is a 5-0, then the player scores a 10.
If a 3-5 is played on, the 5-5, the total is 13 (5 + 5 + 3 + 0), so that move scores no points.
If the next move is a 0-2, then the total is 15 (5 + 5 + 3 + 2), so the player scores 15 points.

All Fives

This is the same as Muggins but allows one side branch.

All Threes

All Threes is just like Muggins, and does not have a side branch, but scoring is based on a multiple of 3 instead of 5.

All Threes with 4 Open Ends

All Threes is just like All Fives, has one side branch, but scoring is based on a multiple of 3 instead of 5.