Fours

A simple variation of the standard block-type domino game, played by four players using a Double-Six domino set and a score-sheet.

Play:

The dominoes are shuffled, facedown, then each player draws seven tiles that only they can look at.  There are no remaining dominoes left to form a boneyard.

The lead player sets down the first domino (the double-six, heaviest double, or whatever convention players have agreed on) and then players in turn lay tiles onto the open ends of the domino layout with same-number adjacent to same-number (doubles placed horizontally onto ends, allowing play to branch four ways, and known as a spinner).  Players may set down as many tiles as they wish onto the layout, in a single turn, as long as they have a tile with a matching end.

Once a player has dominoed by setting their last tile, or the game is blocked with no player able to set a tile, the round is over and the player who dominoed or has the lowest total of pips left in their hand, is the winner of that round.  The winner of a round then scores the total number of pips on all the other players' dominoes, minus the total number of pips on any remaining dominoes in their hand.

A number of rounds are played and the first player to score a set total (say 50, 100, 150, 200 or 250 points), wins the game.  

Variations:

Sometimes played with no doubles as spinners, or with the first initially set double played as the only spinner of a round or game.

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