Dominoes

So I think I’ve mentioned this before but- my host uncle owns a weekend home outside the city.  This is a super sweet spot- big kitchen (especially by Dominican standards), pool, pool table and sleep area for about 12.

Every weekend my host grandma spends Saturday to Sunday night there.  She has confessed to me that she doesn’t really like it (she’s quite the home body) but, she says, she does it for her only son.  I’ve been out there several times over the semester, but yesterday was special: I finally learn to play dominoes.  Sort of.

Your basic domino table, via google.

If baseball is the Dominican sport of choice, dominoes is the game of choice.  Once or twice a week my neighbors (about 15 feet from my bedroom window) will hold domino parties until 10-11 at night.  Many families and businesses have special tables build just for playing- they are square with a groove cut into each side to prop up you pieces and holes cut into the corners for your drink. 

Dominoes here is a four player game.  I tried looking up the rules, but there are dozens of varieties.  For what I’ve gathered from watching and my time playing yesterday this is how people play it here:

You are partners with the person sitting across from you.  You want to go out first and if you do, your team gets points.  Points are scored by the value of the dominoes left in everyone’s hand when you have gone out.  To start, the person with the double sixes plays- after this, who ever went out in the last round starts.  You can only play off the two ends of the starter piece.  If you can’t play, you pass to the next person. 

And there are TON of score points.  For instance- if you go out and the last number on the piece you played is the same number on the other end, you get a bonus 20 points.  If you play a piece and no one else at the table can play, you get a bonus 50 points.  There are also some rules with 25 (like if the end piece add up to 25 or something) that I don’t know well enough to explain…

In any case, yesterday I got to play.  My three playing mates were all over 60 and veterans at the game.  About an hour into it we broke for lunch and afterwards my brain was a bit fried for trying to figure out the rules/a good strategy.  So I took a break.  But the veterans- right back to it.  They pretty much played straight for another 2+ hours.  Like I said, Dominican game of choice.