Domino Playing-Annou zwe domino 

What is the Domino?

A domino is a small rectangular tile with a line down the center. Each end of the tile contains a number of dots or pips. It is is about 5cm long, 2cm wide, and ½ cm thick – small enough to be held comfortably in the hand, but large enough to be easily manipulated, and bear the shock of being smashed on to a table.

In the dominoes played in Seychelles which is the double-six set , the numbers vary from 0 (or blank) to 6. In a double-six set, there are seven suits (blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), each with seven members. This produces 28 unique tiles. With 28 tiles, a double-six set is easier to manage than some of the larger sets, and takes up less space on a table-top. .

Dominoes are referred to by the number of dots or pips on each end, with the larger number usually listed first. Thus, a tile with a 2 on one end and a 5 on the other is referred to as a “5-2”. A tile with the same number on both ends is called a double or doub , so a “6-6” is referred to as double-six or doub sis. A double-six is the “heaviest” domino; a double-blank or doube blan is the “lightest” domino value.

Tiles which have ends with the same number of dots are members of the same “suit”. In a double-six set, there are seven suits (blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), each with seven members (0-5, 1-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5, 5-5, & 5-6) make up the “fives” suit, for instance. Except for the doubles, each tile belongs to two suits.

A piece of the domino set is called called a tile or bout in Creole . En bout domino is a domino tile.

History

Modern dominoes may have developed from a similar Chinese game dating back to 11th century and is known to have been played in 18th century Europe. The game was first found in Italy and then made its way to France and was introduced to England by the late 18th Century during the Napoleonic wars by the French prisoners.

Early dominoes were traditionally carved from ivory or bone. Modern dominoes are made from plastic resin. In Seychelles, in the early days, the dominoes were made from aluminium bars and the dots or pips were drilled using the old-fashioned manual hand drill. They were also made out of hard timber and the dots were burnt using a hot iron rod with a sharp end. The dominoes were cut with a hacksaw giving rise a slight variations in sizes!

The domino and the Seychellois

Domino playing is a social game and is a very popular leisure activity that must be present at most picnics. It is very popular on Sundays and played under the shade of trees or under a boat shed on the beach. It has also, for quite a while now, been taken very seriously, so much so that there is now a Domino Association on the islands and most districts have teams which hold competition very frequently.

Glossary of Domino Terms in Creole

Blan
This a half of a domino that has no dots. A doube blan has no dots on it whatsoever.

Brouye.
This is the process of shuffling the dominoes. They are placed face-down on the table and they are randomly mixed. Each team member picks seven tiles and the shuffler always picks his set of seven last.

Bwi
This term literally means’ boiled’ and is used when you have a double that you cannot play because you do not have an end to match it to. For example, if 6 tiles in the suit of fives are on the table and you have the double 5, you have no end left to match it to. You are technically blocked from finishing a game. You must now rely on your partner to do so and you have to sacrifice your own strategy to assist your partner. It is a team game after all!

Doube
A doube is a domino that has the same number of dots on both halves. For example, double sixes or double blank.

Double
This is the action of placing a double tile in the game.

Lake

Lake means a ‘tail’. This happens when a player places a tile to another tile and the ends do not match. For example, the player places a domino with four dots to the end of another domino with five dots! This is a no-no in a competition and the player who plays a lake may have to leave the game in shame together with his partner.

Lakle.

I lo lakle means the player has the ‘key’, meaning that the player has the 7th piece of a suite and is in a strong position and has control on one end of the domino chain. This forces the other players to play on only one end of the chain. Sometimes a player may end up controlling both ends. In that case he plays twice, giving him a great advantage and in most cases will be the player who finishes the game because he will have one tile less.

Lakros ek krose
A game is blocked or krose when all players still have dominoes but no one can make a move. The winner of a blocked game is the team who has the fewest points on their remaining dominoes.

Lanmin
Means a ‘hand’ and refers to each individual round played between shuffles of the dominoes and also the dominoes held by a player during a round of play.

Lapoz
Whose turn to start the game? Mon lapoz means my turn to start the next game. Poze is the action of placing the tile down

Kapot
A Kapot means that you have lost the game. Which means that you have no points and the opponents have 50 and above.

Kapot bef
A Kapot bef means that you have lost the game but you have points in between 1-9 and the opponents have 50 and above. This traditionally is considered the worst of the two kapots and, because the term bef means cow, the winning team may get up grab some grass and place it nest to the loosing team. Quite a demeaning act!

Pass
A player will pass, and call out ‘pass’, when he cannot play any of his tile because he has no end that matches the dominoes on the table.

Tape
When a person is the first to play the last tile in his hand, tradition requires that he shouts out ‘domino’ and he is said to have ‘dominoed’ or tape.

Zete
Literally means to ‘throw away’ and arises when both teams end up with the same amount of points or a draw after the game was blocked or krose.

Holding the dominoes

A seasoned domino player will hold all seven tiles in one hand, five in palm of hand and two others between the fingers. The dominoes are never left on the table. Dominoes left on the table may indicate to your partner that you have a heavy domino eg. double six or five that you would like to get rid of. And he can then try to place the tiles that could assist you in disposing of the heavy domino. This will not please your opponents. When all the tiles are in one hand it leaves the other hand free to play the tiles and for the equally important business of drinking a glass of toddy.

The Rules

There are many ways in which the domino is played and in Seychelles we play a multi-round game which closely resembling the ‘Straight Dominoes’ version with its own set of unique rules and strategies.

Find a shady spot

The preferred place is usually under the shade of a takamaka or Indian almond tree or badamier or under a boat shed close to the beach where the breeze keeps the players cool and the noise of the game will not disturb any one. It can become a noisy game. Source a solid low table with a hard top. Thin tables will bounce the dominoes when  the players hit the tiles on it. Four stools, chairs, anything the players can sit on will do, but they have to be low enough to allow you to keep your dominoes out of view of your opponents.

Players
Two, three or four players may play the game of dominoes. We will focus on the four- player version of the game. If four are playing the game, which is the most popular version, it is played as a partnership. The two players sitting opposite one another are partners. Partners add their scores together to yield a team score. If three are playing, not very popular, it is an individual game and the double zero is removed from the set and all players end up with 9 pieces each. If only two players are playing the game then each player picks 14 dominoes.

Shuffling the dominoes

Before a game begins, the dominoes must be shuffled, so that no one knows the location of any given tile. Typically, the tiles are shuffled by turning them all face-down on the table, then moving them around in a random motion, being careful not to flip over any of the pieces. Once the shuffling is over, every player picks 7 dominoes and the shuffler is the last one to pick his tiles.

Begin Play

The player who draws the highest double, and in this case the double-six tile, is the person who starts a game. The player does not have to place the double six and may decide to play any domino he wishes from his hand. He may decide to keep his double-six depending on the strategy he has in mind or how many other pieces of the same number of pips he has. If, for example, he has 4 dominoes ending with 6 , plus the double-six, he may decide not to play the double six first because he technically has a strong hand. On the other hand, not playing the double-six is high risk because your opponents now know that you have the tile and may block you from removing it from your hand.

Placing the first tile

Once all the players have drawn their dominoes, the first player (determined by who holds the double six tile,) places the first tile on the table. Typically, this is the double-six but not mandatory as mentioned before.

Playing Subsequent Tiles

The basis of the domino game is to lay down a tile next to another tile so that the number of dots (or blank) on the adjacent tile match each other. Only the “open” ends of a layout are open for play. An end is open when it has no other tile connected to it. Each player must in turn then play a tile onto the table positioning it so that it touches either end of the domino chain which thus gradually increases in length. A double is always placed cross-ways in the layout, straddling the end of the tile that it is connected to. A tile played to a double must be placed perpendicular to the double touching at its middle. The shape of the domino chain develops snake-line at random according to the whims of the players and the limitations of the playing surface.

For example, in the photo, the first tile played was the 6-6. At this point, a domino can either be played to the right or left of the 6-6. The second tile placed was a 6-5, to the left of the 6-6. At this point, the open ends are 5 and 6. The third tile played was a 4-6, to the right  of the initial tile, producing open ends of 4 and 5. The fourth tile was the 5-5, placed vertically. Again, the open ends are 4 and 5.

At any time, due to space constraints or mere whim, a tile may be connected at a right-angle, creating an “L” in the layout. As the turn passes from player to player, if a player cannot make a move,ie. he has no appropriate tile to play the player must “pass” if he cannot make a move.

Ending a game

A game ends either when a player plays all his tiles, or when a game is blocked. When a player plays his last time, tradition requires him to say, or even shout “domino” and the game ends. A game is blocked when no player is able to add another tile to the layout. When playing a multi-round game, domino games are scored by awarding the number of pips on opposing team’s tiles to the winner. Each pip is a point.

How is the game won?

Technically, the team who reaches the target score of 50 wins the game. This is provided that the other team has no points. In this case the losing team is said to have got a kapot. Now, if the team who has lost has points below 10, this is called a kapot bef , which is deemed to be the worst type of the two kapots. If the loosing team has more than 10 points, there is no winner and the games starts all over again and the player who picks double-six after the shuffling is done starts the game.

Blocking the Game: Lakros

If in the course of the game it is impossible for any of the players to play, the game is blocked or krose. The team having the least spots in their combined hands scores the total of the spots in the opponents’ hands. The score of 50 points is considered a game. The partnership to score this amount wins the game provided the loosing team does not have any points. If the opponents do not have any points then they get a kapot and move on and allow another team to play. If they have got above 10 points from previous rounds, then there is not kapot. If the 50 points is not achieved, and the loosing team does not have any points or has less that 10 points, a new round is started.  If when there is a blocked game and the points are equal then no one wins. There is a draw and points counted are “thrown out’ or zete and not counted and the games starts all over again.

Zwe final
Sometimes a game may go on for several rounds and no team gets a kapot. Then, to be fair to others who wish to play, a round may be deemed to be the final round or zwe final. In this case whoever loses has to leave and allow the next team to join the game.

Tips and Strategies

Dominoes is a relatively simple game, however there are a few general dominoes strategies to keep in mind when playing.

Play doubles early
Get rid of your doubles as soon as possible. It’s easy to get stuck with doubles since you don’t have as many opportunities to play them. This is the general tendency but may not be appropriate all the time. At times, a player may even decide not to play his double if this is the only piece of tile that he has or he has a very strong hand, ie 5 pieces or more from the same suit including the double.

Play high-value dominoes early
Try to play your high value dominoes as soon as possible. That way, even if your opponent wins the round, hopefully they won’t score too many points. This is a defensive way to play the game or it may work if you plan to give your opponent a kapot bef, ie. let your opponent end the game and ensure that they get less than 10 points from you and your partner.

Keep your options open
Try to keep at least one of every number in your hand for as long as you can. This will help keep you from getting stuck in an unplayable position and has to pass.

Identify your opponent’s weaknesses
When your opponent has to pass, make a mental note of which number or numbers they don’t have. You can use this information to try to block them later on.

Determine your opponent’s tiles
Take note of which dominoes have already been played. By looking at what dominoes have already been played, plus the dominoes you have in your hand, you can often determine which dominoes your opponent has. This is especially true late in the round when most of the dominoes have been played. You can use this information to block your opponent.

Stitch the ends up
Stitching the ends up happens when a player plays a domino with the result that both ends of the chain show the same number. This strategy normally strengthens the game of the player and distasteful to the opponents.

Plan to stay in the game

Look at the dominoes you hold and try to play them in such a way as to set yourself up for plays on your next turn. If you have lots of 2’s , try to play a 2 so you will be able to match it the next time around ( if someone else does not get it first). Always remember that you have to monitor your partner’s game. You may have to change your strategy if you feel that your partner is stronger than you and has a better change of tape or ending the game.

Some phrases to accompany the tile you place

The domino is not usually gently placed on the table; they are in fact smashed down accompanied by verbal description of the piece or by some other phrases that are pictorial or graphic. A few of them are listed below and I am sure that there are many more. Any contribution as to their meaning would be greatly appreciated.

Pike– this is when a player places a domino ending with one pip

Katesis se monper– domino with 4 and six pips ( Quatre et Six)

Bonm Do- Bonm- ( Bonnonm) Do was a black man from Takamaka- meaning Double six

• trimeni.
• dokter de
• katakata
• pikir pou larouzol
• tank
• lion granziz
• trezege
• kalkouta
• tenten
• Fanm blan
• abor tank
• kat kari krab
• met mon bef dan park

NB. In order to facilitate the description of the game, I have not managed to be gender neutral. My apologies!

The photo of domino players courtesy Ministry for Youth, Sports & Culture

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