Jamaican dominoes rules

Jamaican dominoes is played with a double-six set: 28 bones, blank to six. Four players get seven bones each and play goes anticlockwise, to your right. There is no drawing from a boneyard in the four-hand game: if you cannot play, you pass.

The pose

The player holding the double six opens the first hand of every set, and the double six must be the first bone down. After that, whoever won the last hand poses, with any bone they choose. The double six is forced again in two places: the replay after a tied blocked hand, and the hand after a bruk.

Playing a hand

Match a number on either open end of the line. Doubles lie across the line. If nothing in your hand matches, you pass, and everybody at the table now knows you are out of both numbers. Good players remember every pass.

Winning a hand

• Domino: the first player to play their last bone wins the hand.
• Blocked: if nobody can play, count the pips left in each hand. The lowest individual count wins. In Partner that player's side takes the hand on that count alone, even when the other side holds fewer pips in total.
• A tied blocked hand is replayed, worth 2, with the double six forced.

The key

When the two open ends want different numbers and one bone carries both, that bone is the key. Win the hand by playing it and it scores 2 instead of 1.

Six love and the bruk

In six love you must win six hands while the other side is still on love (zero). If the last side on love wins a hand, they do not score: the whole score bruks back to 0-0, and the next hand is worth 2. At one hand each, the next hand is played for two: one all, play two.

Pass the pose

In Partner, the side that won may hand the pose across the table to their partner, after the deal, once they have seen their bones. Not when the double six is forced.

The games

Partner (two against two), Cut throat (every one for themself), Open hand (partners see each other's bones), Across (one person plays both hands of a side) and French, a race to 100 on a four-arm board.

Questions

Who poses first in Jamaican dominoes?

Whoever holds the double six opens the first hand of a set, and the double six must be the first bone played. After that, the winner of the last hand poses with any bone they like.

Which way does play go?

Anticlockwise: the next player is the one on your right.

Who wins a blocked hand?

The player with the lowest count of pips in hand. In Partner, that player's side wins, even if their partner is holding plenty.

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