Welcome to The Drawing Game!

The Drawing Game is a fun and engaging domino game that you can play with 2 to 4 players. The goal of the game is to be the first player to reach the target number of points and win!

If you have four players, you can even play as partners! Just sit across from your partner and take turns placing tiles on the train.

Let’s Get Set Up!

To start the game, we need to shuffle the dominoes and deal each player a hand. If there are only 2 or 3 players, each person gets 7 tiles. If there are 4 players, each person gets 6 tiles.

We also need to create the boneyard with the remaining tiles. But remember, the last two tiles can’t be drawn from it.

It’s Game Time!

Let’s start by randomly choosing the player who will go first. Then, we’ll take turns going clockwise and placing tiles on either end of the train. The tile we play must match the side connected to the end of the train.

When it’s your turn, you must play a tile. If you can’t or don’t want to play a tile, you can draw more tiles from the boneyard. However, there must be at least 2 tiles left in the boneyard for you to do so. Keep drawing tiles until you can play one or choose to play one. Your turn will always end with you playing a tile, unless there are no more tiles in the boneyard.

Once the draw pile has only two tiles left, no more tiles can be drawn. If you can’t play a tile on your turn, you must pass.

If you have a double tile, you play it in the center of the train, but it doesn’t create a branch.

The game continues until you play your last domino or no one can play a domino to the train anymore.

SCORING

After the round is over, you need to count the number of pips left in your hand. If you have no dominoes, then your pip value is 0.

The player with the fewest pips is the winner of the round. They score the total value of all the other players’ pips minus their own. If there’s a tie, no one scores for that round.

The game goes on until a player reaches the target score. In a 2-player game, the target score is 100 points. For a 3 or 4-player game, the target score is 61 points.

END OF ROUND

When a player reaches the target score, the game comes to an end. This player is declared the winner.

I’m Amber (They/Them), an Austin-based writer and gaming enthusiast. I consider myself a gaming master who also happens to adore dogs, plants, and D&D.