Match the numbers to extend the line of play and be the first to get rid of all your tiles. Play the draw game with a boneyard, the block game, or Kozel, the Soviet courtyard classic for two pairs: whoever reaches 101 is the goat!
Goal: Be the first to play all your tiles (or hold the fewest pips when the game is blocked) and reach the target score first. In Kozel you play in pairs and points are penalties: the first pair to reach 101 loses.
A double-six set of 28 tiles is used: each half shows from 0 to 6 pips and every combination appears exactly once. Tiles with two equal halves (0-0, 1-1 … 6-6) are called doubles.
A tile is worth the total of its pips: 6-6 is worth 12, 2-5 is worth 7 and 0-0 is worth nothing.
Draw game: 7 tiles each with two players, 5 each with three or four; the rest stay face down as the boneyard to draw from.
Block game: 7 tiles each with two players (the other 14 stay face down, out of play), 6 each with three (10 out of play), 7 each with four (all the tiles are dealt). Kozel: four players, 7 tiles each, no boneyard.
In the first hand the player holding the highest double leads, and that double is the first tile played; if nobody holds a double, the heaviest tile leads. This compulsory lead is placed automatically.
In later hands the winner of the previous hand leads with any tile they like. If the previous hand ended in a tie, the highest-double rule applies again.
In turn, clockwise, each player adds a tile to one of the two open ends of the line: the touching halves must show the same number. If you can play, you must.
Doubles are placed crosswise, but the line always has just two open ends. If your tile fits both ends, you choose where it goes.
Draw game: take tiles from the boneyard one at a time until you get one that fits, and play it at once; if the boneyard runs out first, you pass. You may not draw while you hold a playable tile.
Block game and Kozel: there is nothing to draw, so a player who cannot play passes (knocks). Passing is automatic.
The hand ends as soon as a player plays their last tile (“domino!”): they score the total pips left in all the opponents' hands.
If nobody can play, the game is blocked: the player with the fewest pips in hand wins the hand and scores the opponents' pips minus their own. If the lowest total is shared, nobody scores.
The first player to reach the chosen target score of 50, 100 or 150 points wins the game.
Russia's favourite domino game. Four players in two pairs, with partners sitting opposite each other. If a player is dealt 5 or more doubles, or 6 tiles of the same number, the tiles are reshuffled and dealt again.
In the first hand the holder of the 1-1 leads with that very tile; after that, whoever ended the previous hand leads with any tile.
Points are penalties here. When a player plays their last tile, their pair wins the hand and the opponents take the pips left in both their hands (a lone 0-0 left in hand counts 25, a lone 6-6 counts 50).
A blocked game is called a “fish” (рыба): the pair holding more pips takes all the pips left in the four hands. On a tie you get “eggs” (яйца): nobody scores and those points go to the pair that loses the next hand.
The rule of 13: until a pair has scored anything, a hand total below 13 is not written down.
The first pair to reach 101 points loses, and its players are the “goats” (51 or 151 with a target of 50 or 150). If the winners are still on zero, it is a whitewash.