Welcome to Four-Player Moon!

I’m here to tell you all about Four-Player Moon, the domino game that you can play with 4 friends. The goal of the game is to score 21 points before your opponents do. It’s an exciting and challenging game that will test your strategy and teamwork.

In Four-Player Moon, you play with partners. You and your teammate will sit across from each other, working together to win the game.

Setting Up the Game

First things first – let’s set up the game. Shuffle the tiles and give each player 7 tiles to start with.

Understanding the Domino Ranking

Now, let’s talk about the different tiles in the game. Each tile has two numbers on it. Some tiles have the same number on both sides, and these are called doubles. Doubles can only belong to one suit. When a suit is announced as trump, the tiles with that suit can only be used as trumps and cannot be used as the other suit. There are 7 different suits in the game: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. It’s important to keep this in mind as you plan your moves and try to outsmart your opponents.

When it comes to ranking the suits in the game, the double tile is always the top-ranked tile, followed by the rest of the suit. For instance, in the 6 suit, the ranking goes as follows: [6,6] (high), [6,5], [6,4], [6,3], [6,2], and [6,1] (low).

BIDDING

Once the hands are dealt, we all must take turns bidding. The first person to bid is chosen randomly, and then it goes clockwise for each round. Every player gets one chance to bid. When it’s your turn, you can either pass or make a bid. When bidding, your bid must be higher than any previous bids.

A bid consists of a number between 4 and 7, or 21. Remember that 21 is the highest possible bid, and if someone calls it, the bidding round ends right away. A bid of 21 means you have to win all 7 tricks. Unlike a bid of 7, a bid of 21 is worth even more points.

When we play the bidding game, the round ends either when everyone has made a bid or someone bids 21. The player with the highest bid wins and takes a tile from the middle. Then, they discard one tile face down into the center.

Now, it’s time to choose a trump suit. The trump suit can be any number between 0 and 6, doubles, or no trumps.

If you choose doubles as the trump suit, remember that the double tiles won’t be the highest-ranked tiles of their original suits anymore. Instead, they become part of the trump suit and can’t follow the numeric suits they used to belong to.

HOW TO PLAY

So, here’s the deal: the game kicks off with the bidder, and then goes clockwise from there. When it’s my turn to play, I can put down any tile that I want. But get this: the next players have to follow suit, if they have a tile of that same suit. And if the tile I played is a trump, well, everyone has to play a trump if they have one. If they don’t have a trump, they can play any tile they like. It’s kind of like a rule, you know?

Now, when the tile that was put down isn’t a trump, the suit is determined by the number on the tile. And once again, if the other players have a tile of that same suit, they have to follow suit. But if they don’t, they can play any tile they want, even a trump. That’s pretty cool.

Alright, let’s talk about scoring. So, after all the tricks have been played and won, it’s time to score. Exciting, right?!

If you and your team win, you get a point for each trick you took. But if you lose, you lose points equal to your bid.

Now, if you make a successful bid of 21, you win the game! But if you’re unsuccessful, you lose 21 points.

On the other hand, the opposing team scores one point for each trick they win.

GAME OVER

The game ends when a team reaches 21 points or more. However, if both teams score higher than 21 and it’s a tie, the game keeps going until one team scores more points than the other. That team becomes the winner!

Let me introduce myself – I’m Amber (They/Them), an Austin writer and gaming connoisseur. I like to think of myself as a gaming master, and I have a real soft spot for dogs, plants, and D&D.

Let me introduce myself – I’m Amber (They/Them), an Austin writer and gaming connoisseur. I like to think of myself as a gaming master, and I have a real soft spot for dogs, plants, and D&D.