presents
Electrum Dominoes
Contents
The_Game
The_Game_Display
Scoring_All_Fives
The_Game_Menu
The_Game_Tally
The_Settings_Menu
The_Colors_Menu
Strategy
Notes
Electrum Dominoes is a
two-player Dominoes game using a 28-piece set consisting of one domino ('bone') with each
possible combination of spots ('pips') from 0-0 through 6-6. You can play Draw
games, Block games, All Fives (also known as Sniff, Five-Up or Muggins), All
Threes, or Fives & Threes. You can play any of these with or without a spinner.
The basic way of playing is the same for all of these games.
At the beginning of a new
hand, each player draws seven bones. The player with the heaviest doublet leads
the hand. (A doublet is a bone with the same number of pips on each side;
the heaviest one is the one with the most pips.) The other player must play a bone
that matches the doublet on one side. For example, if the double six is played first,
the next bone played must have a six on one side, and is placed next to the
doublet. It will be turned around automatically if necessary so that the side
with the matching number is next to the doublet.
The next bone must match either the doublet or the other end of the last bone played.
Doublets are placed perpendicular to the direction of play.
If you choose to use a
spinner, the first doublet played becomes the spinner.
Once the
east and west sides of the spinner have been played, bones may be played to the
north or south.
If a player has no bones
that match the outermost ends, bones must be drawn from the boneyard until a
match is found (and the matching bone is played) or the boneyard is empty and
the player passes.
In Block games, the
boneyard is emptied after hands are first drawn, so a player must either play or
pass.
In All Fives, if, after a bone is played,
the sum of pips on the outermost ends (the 'table count') is a multiple of five, that
number of points is added to the player's score. If an end bone is a
doublet, both sides are counted. The spinner is counted this way as long as it's at one end (or the only bone; the double five scores the player ten points if
it is the first bone played in a hand). The same applies to sums that are
multiples of three in All Threes, and multiples of either five or three in Fives
& Threes.
If a player can Domino (empty his
or her hand), that player is
said to have won the hand and is awarded the
sum of pips on the other player's remaining bones; a new hand is then begun. If
neither player has a bone that can be played and the boneyard is empty, the hand
is 'blocked'; the pips
in each player's hand are added and the player with the lower number of pips is awarded
the difference. The game continues until one player reaches 150 points.
In Electrum Dominoes, the hands
are drawn and the heaviest doublet is played automatically. If neither player has
a doublet after the draw, the hand is void; a new boneyard is built and another
draw takes place. Void hands do not appear on the display.
The initial settings are for
Draw games with no spinner. Select Settings from the game menu and adjust them to
suit your preferences:
For Block games, turn off Draws.
For All Fives, turn on Spinner and Fives.
For All Threes, turn on Spinner and Threes.
For Fives & Threes, turn on Spinner, Fives and Threes.
So we came up with a better way. |
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For purposes of explanation, let's say the display consists of a status
area, a playing area, and a bone panel. |
The bone panel contains a button representing each bone in your hand. In order to play a bone, tap it; the colors are inverted to indicate your selection. You can tap a different bone if you change your mind. When you're satisfied with your selection, tap an end button to indicate where the bone is to be played. The images below show what would appear if you first tapped the one-six bone, then the north end button (the one with the four-six bone).
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Note that no bone has been
played to the south of the spinner. The south end button is there though, and
could be used if you had a bone with four pips on one side that you wanted to
play.
When it's your opponent's turn (we call
him 'Nestor'), an 'OK' button will appear.
Tap the button to let Nestor take his turn.
![]() If you don't have any bones you can play on your turn, a 'Draw' button will appear; tap it to draw a bone from the boneyard. If the boneyard is empty, a 'Pass' button appears instead. Tapping it indicates that you are unable to play, and Nestor will take his turn. If he is also unable to play, the hand will be 'blocked' and ended as described above. |
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Many people who are new to All Fives find the scoring somewhat confusing. Here are some examples that show how different configurations of bones are scored. The Table count setting has been turned on; the value can be seen in the lower left corner. Note that these are not consecutive views from a single game, but have been selected because they demonstrate scoring principles.
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Both sides of the first bone played are counted. 6 + 6 = 12. 12 is not a multiple of 5; no score. | The spinner is still on an end, so both sides are counted. 6 + 6 + 1 = 13. 13 is not a multiple of 5; no score. | The spinner is no longer on an end. 3 + 1 = 4. No score. |
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Both sides of a doublet on an end are counted. 3 + 1 + 1 = 5; 5 points are scored. | Both east and west have been played, so a play to the north is allowed. The blank counts as 0. 3 + 1 + 1+ 0 = 5. | Nestor plays a bone to the south. 3 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 5 = 10. |
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A new game has begun and Nestor has played the double five. 5 + 5 = 10; he scores 10 points. | The Leader of next hand setting is set to Winner and you won the last hand. You can lead with any bone in your hand. This one earns you 10 points. 6 + 4 = 10. | Nestor plays the double six, the first doublet of the hand. It becomes the spinner and the four-six is shifted to the west end button to keep the ends matched correctly. |
This menu is available from the game display and offers the following choices: Game tally displays the number of games you and Nestor have won. * Undo lets you undo your last play or draw. Show my hand lets you peek at Nestor's hand. * Show Boneyard lets you peek at the boneyard. * Preserve stores the current game status. * Restore restores the previously-preserved game status. * New game lets you begin a new game. Settings brings up the Settings menu (see below). Colors brings up the Colors menu (see below) * About displays version information and the end user license agreement. Help provides some basic help information and directs you here for more. Items marked with an asterisk (*) are enabled only in the full version. In the free version, selecting any of these except Preserve or Restore will give you a tantalizing glimpse of the way the function would work if you had the full version. Some important notes on the Undo function: Each time you play or draw a bone, the game status is saved before the action is performed. By selecting the Undo function from the menu, you restore the game to the way it was just before that action. This will work even if a new game has started, as long as you have not yet played or drawn another bone. The Undo function was provided so that, if you should accidentally tap a button, you can undo the action without adversely affecting a good game. It would be possible, however, to use it in such a way as to cause less desirable bones to be drawn into Nestor's hand, to take a random sampling of the boneyard before settling on a pleasing draw for yourself, or to partake of other unscrupulous activities that would taint the outcome of the game. That said, we entrust this tool to you in the hopes that you will use it in an ethical and responsible manner. Some not quite so important notes on the Preserve and Restore functions: Like for the Undo function, the game status is preserved, but you get to choose when this happens. Thus when you encounter a particularly challenging point in a game, you can use the Preserve function and try one strategy, then use the Restore function and try something else. You can Undo plays and draws as required and still Restore the game to the way it was when you last Preserved it. You can also Undo a Restore if you select it accidentally. Because these functions (and the ones that enable you to see Nestor's hand and the boneyard) are limited to full version users, we know that if you're using them you must be a righteous and upstanding individual, so we don't need to remind you about ethics and responsibilities. And if you slip from time to time, we like you well enough not to alert the authorities. |
![]() It shows the number of games you and Nestor have won, both as raw numbers and as percentages of the total number of games played. Tapping the 'Clear' button will reset the counts to zero. If you tap it by accident, you can use the Undo function from the game menu to restore the counts, as long as you don't play or draw beforehand. You can also use the Restore function if you have preserved a game recently. In the free version, these numbers never change and you can't clear them. |
This menu appears when you select Settings from the game menu. The Difficulty setting controls how hard Nestor tries to beat you. Possible choices are Beginner, Easy, Not so easy, Tough, and Brutal. If you're a beginner and are playing All Fives, All Threes, or Fives & Threes, even the Beginner setting might seem hard until you get used to the scoring, and the amount of chance in the game means that you'll beat the harder settings some of the time. In any case, you should be able to find a setting that is challenging enough to make the game enjoyable. Different people like to play to different numbers of points. You can choose by setting the number of Points to win to 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 305, or 500. If you usually score each five on the table as one point and play to 61, select 305 and the Rounding setting for the same effect. The Block scoring setting lets you specify how blocked hands are scored. The first value determines which player will be awarded points; Low designates the player whose hand contains the lower number of pips, while Last designates the player who last played a bone. The number of points awarded is determined by the second value; Difference indicates the difference between the hands, Opponent indicates the number of pips in the opponent's hand, and Both indicates the sum of pips in both hands. The number of points awarded will be rounded to the nearest multiple of five if the Rounding setting is used. The Leader of next hand setting determines which player will play the first bone of a new hand. The choices are Doublet, Winner, Loser and Alternate. Their meanings are as follows: Doublet: Every hand will be led by the player with the heaviest doublet. Winner: The first hand of a game or the hand after a blocked hand is led with the heaviest doublet, but each subsequent hand is led (with any bone) by the winner of the previous hand. Alternate: The first hand of a game is led with the heaviest doublet, and players take turns leading the subsequent hands. Loser: Just like Winner, except the player who lost the previous hand leads. If you choose Winner, Loser or Alternate, hands that are not started with the heaviest doublet can be led with any bone, which must be played to the east or the west; if the Spinner setting is on, the first doublet played becomes the spinner. When you lead such a hand, the corners of the east end button are shown to make it easier to find. Of course, you can use the west end button if you prefer (and if you can find it). Choosing the Spinner setting means the first doublet played during a hand becomes the spinner, and that bones can be played to the north or south after bones have been played to the east and west. The Draws setting enables bones to be drawn from the boneyard after a hand has begun. If you select the Fives setting, points are awarded if the table count is a multiple of five after a bone is played. If you select the Threes setting, points are awarded if the table count is a multiple of three after a bone is played. If you play Electrum Dominoes to keep you mind sharp, try reversing the Fives and Threes settings from time to time. The Auto-OK setting lets you speed up the game by allowing Nestor to take his turn without your having to tap the 'OK' button. If you select this option, the 'OK' button will never appear; but neither will status messages that would normally appear after your play (e.g. to tell you the number of points you scored). You'll have to keep an eye on the 'My Bones' and 'Boneyard' fields to determine whether Nestor has drawn because the 'I have drawn' message won't appear. We suggest you leave this off until you're pretty familiar with the game.
The Auto-Draw setting
speeds up the game too. When you draw, you keep drawing automatically until
a playable bone is drawn (or the boneyard is emptied). |
This menu appears when you select Colors from the game menu. The full
version of Electrum Dominoes lets you use or edit each of three color
themes, or to reset the colors of all three themes to their original
settings. Below, you can see the colors of each theme, and one theme being
changed while another theme is used. If you edit the theme in use, the
changes will take effect when you tap the 'Save' button. In the example
below, 'Use Theme 2' was chosen from the colors menu after the theme was
saved. When editing a theme, you can change the following colors: Background (the background of the display) Text (the text in the status area and the table count) Your hand (the bones in your hand) Your plays (the bones you have played) My plays (the bones Nestor has played) Pips (the spots on the bones) Lines (the lines across the bones) Outlines (the outlines around bones and buttons) Your hand - selected (the bone you have selected for play) Pips - selected (the pips on that bone) Lines - selected (the line on that bone) Outlines - selected (the outline of that bone) Buttons (the 'OK' button and other buttons) Button text (the text on those buttons) Select which of these colors you want to change by tapping the wide button (marked 'Background' in the examples below), and use the primary color sliders to make the changes. In the free version, you can edit and save Theme 2 and Theme 3 but you can't use them, and you can edit Theme 1 but you can't save your changes. When Nestor's hand or the boneyard is displayed, the same colors are used as for bones you have selected for play. |
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Using Theme 1 |
Using Theme 2 |
Using Theme 3 |
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Editing Theme 2 while using Theme 3 |
Changing the background color of Theme 2 |
Using the changed Theme 2 |
We'd like to discuss All Fives because its scoring is complicated,
and it may take new players some time to become familiar with its subtleties.
Some concepts apply to Draw and Block games as well, and most apply equally to
All Threes and Fives & Threes -- just think of threes or sixes instead of or
in addition to fives.
In this display, Leader of next hand is set to Winner
and you won the last hand. With which bone should you lead?
At the Beginner level, Nestor's only strategy is to play the bone that
yields the highest number of points. He would lead with the blank-five because
it's the only bone that will score. If you would choose the same bone, you might
beat Nestor about half the time at that level, and
that's if you always get the arithmetic right. Here's why: The odds are one in
three that Nestor has the double blank and one in three that he has the double
five. That means there's a two in three chance that he would match or better your
score.
The double four would be a good defensive play. It's the only one that Nestor
can't score against, because you have the two-four.
The double two is better still. If Nestor scores five with the one-two, you can
come back with the one-six and score ten. If he scores ten with the two-six, you
can match that with the two-four. In either case, you'd still have the two-blank
in your hand so you'd have a good chance of matching another score if Nestor can
make one, and the blank-five could be used if he scores with a five or a blank.
Remember: It's not important to score. It's important to score more
than Nestor scores.
Here are a few suggestions:
Try to get each of your plays to set you up
with at least two other plays whenever possible to keep your drawing to a
minimum.
Unload your doublets (excluding the
double blank and double five) as early as you can.
If Nestor draws, note the combination of pips
and try to stick him with the same combination again.
Conserve bones (such
as the one-six, the blank-five, the double blank, and the double five)
that might be used to score if Nestor scores.
More importantly, conserve bones that match the spinner on one side and have a
blank or a five on the other side.
Above all, for each bone you
consider playing, think about the bones Nestor might have that would enable him to score on
his turn; the more there are, the more likely he is to score.
With
any of the games that use scoring during a hand, you should think about which of
your bones would score, which bones Nestor could use to retaliate, and which of
your bones could be used to counter Nestor's play. You'll have to think two plays ahead to match Nestor when Difficulty
is set to Brutal. But here's a shortcut you might like to try to make the
process a little easier.
Don't think through each of the bones in your hand, imagine it played at each
possible end, add up the pips to see if the sum is a multiple of five, and
then go through the process again for each of the bones that might be in Nestor's hand.
Instead, look at the table count and think about how you'd have to change it in
order to score. In this example, the table count is six; to score, you'd need to
add four or subtract one. The east end has one pip; to score, you'd need the
blank-one (to subtract one) or the one-five (to add four). The west end has a
two; you'd need the one-two or the two-six. North, the two-three. South, the
four-six. Of these, only the blank-one is in your hand. If you play it, the same
process will tell you what Nestor would need to score: the blank-five (there's a
four in twenty chance he has it -- four in his hand out of those four plus the
fourteen in the boneyard) or the blank-six (four in twenty, and you can
counter with the double blank). The five-six has already been played.
Nestor's greatest advantage is that he can do this without getting tired and
without get the arithmetic wrong.
We suggest that you start by setting Difficulty so that you can win about
half the games you play. When you can win sixty or seventy percent of the time, move up to
the next level. If you can beat Nestor more than seven times out of ten at the
Brutal level, tell us. We'd like to know if we should make him play harder.
In order to select his play, Nestor has the same information available to him as a human player would have. He 'knows' only the bones in his hand, the number of bones in your hand, the number of bones in the boneyard, and the bones that have been played. Honest. (Don't believe it? Read this.)
Please select About
from the game menu and use Electrum Dominoes only if you
understand and accept the terms and conditions therein.
If you'd like to
translate the game text so you can see it in your native language, let us know.
Questions, comments, and
suggestions about Electrum Dominoes may be directed (in English, please) to
support@electrumsoftware.com.
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