EURONIMOES: A Unique Twist on the Classic Game

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Welcome to Euronimoes, a refreshing take on the traditional domino game! Created by the talented Dave Ross, this euro-style game challenges 2-4 players to build their own domino area while keeping their score as low as possible. If you want to dive into the game right away, you can find the printable rule book and play mat on Dave’s official website here.

Prepare for Epic Battles

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But before we jump into the action, let’s go over everything you’ll need for an unforgettable Euronimoes experience. For a game with 2 players, a double six set of dominoes will be sufficient. However, if you have 3 or 4 players itching to join in on the fun, you’ll need two double six sets. Each player must also have a unique set of four colored chips, which can be coins or buttons – just make sure each color is distinct. Lastly, don’t forget to print out the handy playing mat, available here.

Setting the Stage

To get started with the game, put all the dominoes face down in the middle of the table and mix them up well. Then, choose five dominoes at random and place them face up on the playing mat called the Market. Each player gets two chips in their color, and the remaining two chips are placed near the Market to create the bank.

Next, every player draws three dominoes from the pile to create their hand. It’s important to keep your dominoes hidden from your opponents.

The leftover dominoes are moved aside and become the draw pile.

Now, let’s talk about how the game is played.

The player who has the domino with the most pips on it goes first. If two players have dominoes with the same highest value, the younger player starts. From there, the play moves in a clockwise direction around the table, starting with Player 1.

On your turn, you have two actions you can take: Draw and Play.

Let’s start with the drawing action.

When I’m playing a game of dominoes, I have a couple of options for getting a new domino. I can either draw one from the pile or buy one from the Market. If I choose to draw from the pile, I also get to take a chip of my color from the bank, but only if there’s one available. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. When I draw from the pile, I also have to do a little rearranging. I take the domino that’s in the -1 slot in the Market and move it to the 3 slot. Then, I slide the other dominoes over by one space to make room for the new addition. It’s a little bit of a puzzle, but that’s part of what makes the game fun.

So, here’s the deal: if you want to buy a domino from the Market, you gotta cough up the price in tokens to the bank. But there’s a sneaky trick: the domino in the 0 slot is totally free, no strings attached. Now, here’s where it gets interesting – buying the domino in the -1 slot actually lets you snag a chip of your color from the bank instead of paying up. Pretty neat, right? But hold up, if there ain’t no chips of your color left in the bank, you can still grab that -1 slot tile. It’s a win-win!

Alright, let me break it down for you. Once you’ve snatched a domino from the Market, all the other dominoes to the right of the empty slot shift down. It’s like a little domino dance. And then, boom! A brand new domino fills up the empty 3 slot from the draw pile. It’s like magic, but with dominos.

Now, let’s talk about playing the game.

Forget everything you know about traditional domino games, because Euronimoes is a whole new ball game. In this game, each player gets to build their own personal layout. It’s like having your own little domino kingdom. Pretty cool, huh?

When you play a domino on your layout, you can place it vertically or horizontally. But here’s the catch – each domino you play has to touch at least one side of another domino. That’s right, no corners allowed!

As you keep playing, you’ll start forming columns and rows. And when it comes to the numbers in the columns, there’s a rule you’ve got to follow. The numbers have to go in ascending or descending order. Let me give you an example. If you’ve got a 6 and a 5 in a column, the number that comes after 5 should be a 4. You can’t put another 5 there! But here’s a cool thing – if you have a domino that has numbers in numerical order on both sides, you can play it vertically in a column. Let’s say you have a 6/5 domino. You can put it vertically to start the column. And the next domino you play below the 5 has to have a 4.

When it comes to playing dominoes, there are some important rules to keep in mind. While you have more freedom when placing dominos in the same row, things change once you start a new column. In this case, you must follow specific guidelines for building the column. Once a domino is played, it cannot be moved, so choose your moves carefully!

Stacking Up

As you play your dominos, you have the option to build upward on your layout. Once you’re ready, you can start a second layer of dominos. To do this, you need to place a domino on two matching numbers. Keep in mind that the new domino cannot be placed directly on top of another domino; it must rest on two halves from separate, touching dominos. You can place dominos horizontally or vertically on the layout. Once you have enough dominos in the second layer, you can even start a third layer, and so on.

When I play a turn in the game, it’s over for me and then it’s your turn. We keep playing until there are no more dominoes to draw from the pile or from the Market. Once we can’t draw anymore, the game continues without the drawing phase. When each of us only has 0 or 1 domino left, the game ends. And don’t worry, there’s no punishment for having an extra domino.

SCORING

Now let’s talk about scoring. We earn points for our columns, levels, and chips.

I get points for the lowest number in each column. If I make a sequence that goes from 6 to 0, I can take away 3 points from my score. If a column has more than one sequence, I add up the points for each sequence to get the total score for that column.

We lose 2 points for each domino that we play on the second level, and 3 points for each domino on the third level, and so on.

Alright, let’s wrap it up by subtracting 1 point for every chip you have.

VICTORY

The person with the fewest points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the person who went last will claim victory.

The person with the fewest points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the person who went last will claim victory.