Blocked Dominoes: Who Wins a Locked Game and How It's Scored
The boneyard's empty, nobody can move, and somebody's reaching for the pen. Here's who gets paid, how much, what the other tables do differently, and how to make a block happen on purpose.
Most hands end with somebody slapping down their last bone and hollering. About one in six doesn't. In a simulation we ran with the Cookout Dominoes engine, two strong players, first to 150, 17.2% of hands ended blocked, and only 0.2% of hands blocked in a dead tie. So roughly once a game the board locks up, and the players who understand what happens next pick up points the others don't even know are on the table.
If you're new to the game, read How to Play Fives Dominoes first. This one assumes you know the deal, the count, and the draw.
What "blocked" means
A hand is blocked, or locked, or jammed, depending on who's talking, when three things are true at once:
- The boneyard is empty. Nobody can draw.
- The player whose turn it is has no bone that matches any open end, so they pass.
- The next player has no legal play either, and passes too.
Two passes in a row with nothing left to draw and the hand is over. Nobody went out, so nobody dominoed, and the hand has to be settled some other way. That way is the pip count.
One rule that matters here: you have to play if you can. You only go to the boneyard when nothing in your hand matches, and you only pass when nothing matches and the boneyard is empty. Sitting on a playable bone and knocking is against the rules everywhere we've ever played, and in Cookout Dominoes there's no pass button while you're holding one. Blocks happen because nobody can play, never because nobody wants to.
Counting the hands
Both players turn their remaining bones face up and add every pip on them, both halves of every bone. That's your pip count. The lighter hand wins.
How much you score
The difference between the two counts, rounded to the nearest 5. In the example above that's 22 − 9 = 13, which rounds to 15 points. Same rounding as when someone dominoes: 1 or 2 rounds down to nothing, 3 through 7 is 5, 8 through 12 is 10, 13 through 17 is 15, and so on.
| Pip difference | Light hand scores |
|---|---|
| 0 | Nothing. It's a tie (see below) |
| 1 or 2 | 0 |
| 3 to 7 | 5 |
| 8 to 12 | 10 |
| 13 to 17 | 15 |
| 18 to 22 | 20 |
| 23 to 27 | 25 |
Notice a light hand can win a block and still score nothing: 8 pips against 10 is a two-pip win, which rounds to zero. You still won the hand, and you still open the next one. You just didn't get paid for it.
The tie
If both hands count the same, nobody scores. The hand ends, the bones get washed, and you deal again.
There's a wrinkle people miss. Normally the winner of a hand opens the next hand with any bone they like. A tied block has no winner. So the next hand goes back to the first-hand rule: whoever draws the highest double leads. It comes up about once every five hundred hands, so when it does, you'll be the one at the table who knows what happens.
What other tables do
The lighter-hand-wins-the-difference rule is how Cookout Dominoes plays it and how most tables we know play it. It isn't the only version, and blocked-hand scoring is one of the top three things a new table will disagree about before the first wash. Here's the spread:
| Variant | How it settles | Where you'll meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Difference, rounded to 5 | Light hand scores heavy minus light, rounded. Tie scores nothing. | Most Black American tables; the app |
| Winner takes all pips | Light hand scores every pip in the heavy hand, rounded to 5. Their own pips are ignored. | Some Southern and Caribbean tables; a few rulebooks |
| Nobody scores | A blocked hand is a dead hand. Wash and redeal. | Casual and kids' tables |
| Last to play wins | Whoever placed the final bone before the passes wins the hand, regardless of pips. | Rare; usually block dominoes, not Fives |
None of these is wrong. They're different houses. What is wrong is finding out which one you're playing after the board locks with 22 pips in your hand. Settle it before you deal. The whole list of things to settle is in Dominoes House Rules: 150 or 200?
Forcing a block on purpose
Here's where the good players separate from the rest. A block isn't just something that happens to you. If you're holding light and the other side is holding heavy, a locked board is a payday, and you can steer toward it.
When to go for it
- You're light and they're heavy. The whole point. If you're holding a 2-1 and a 3-0 and they're sitting on doubles, every play that keeps the board locked is money. Going out would pay you their pips too, but a block pays without you needing a matching bone.
- The boneyard is empty. A block can't happen while there's anything to draw. Once the yard is gone, every bone not on the table is in someone's hand, and the whole game becomes visible if you've been counting.
- You hold the last of a suit. Seven bones carry each number. If six 6s are already on the table and the seventh is in your hand, nobody else can ever play a 6. An end showing a 6 is a wall for your opponent and a door only you have the key to.
How you actually do it
You can't pass when you have a play, so you don't block by refusing to move. You block by choosing the play that leaves ends your opponent can't answer. Suppose both ends show a 6, the boneyard is empty, and you've counted that your opponent holds two bones with no 6s on them. You hold a 6-4 and a 6-2. Play the 6-4 and the ends are 6 and 4. If they hold a 4, they play, the hand goes on, and they might go out on you. Play the 6-2 and the ends are 6 and 2. If you've counted that they have no 2 either, they pass, then you pass if your last bone doesn't fit, and the board is locked with you holding one light bone against their two.
That's the entire skill: know what's in their hand, and expose the numbers they don't have. It's the same skill as reading the boneyard, which is why the two go together. See How to Count Dominoes.
When not to
- You're the heavy hand. Obviously. If you're holding the big six and they're holding a 1-0, you need to go out, not lock up. Shed the heavy bones early so a late block doesn't bury you.
- You can go out this turn. Domino pays you their full rounded pips. A block pays you the difference. If they're holding 15 and you're holding 8, going out is worth 15 and blocking is worth 5. Take the domino.
- A scoring play is sitting there. Don't leave a dime on the board to chase a five-point block. Points now beat a maybe later.
Reading the boneyard
The boneyard is what makes the block predictable. There are 28 bones. You can see the ones on the table and the ones in your hand. Whatever's left is either in the boneyard or in your opponent's hand, and the moment the yard empties, every one of those bones is in their hand. If you've drawn four times and they've drawn three, you know their hand size to the bone. Combine that with the suits you've seen come out and you know, often exactly, what they can and can't play. A hand averages about four and a half draws, so this information arrives in almost every hand, and most people ignore it.
Table manners for a locked board
Because a block ends with everybody's hand face up, it's the moment in the game most likely to get heated, so there are some manners:
- Turn your own bones over. Nobody touches anybody else's hand. Flip yours, count yours out loud, let them do the same.
- Count both halves. A 6-6 is 12, not 6. The heavy hand always seems to forget this.
- The pen writes the difference, rounded, next to the light hand's name. If you're keeping score on paper, that's a line or two in the house.
- The light hand washes and deals. At most tables the winner of the hand opens; at some, the loser washes. Know your table.
- Don't relitigate. Once the bones are washed, the hand is gone. If you wanted to argue about whether that 4 was playable, the time was before the second pass.
Questions people ask
What is a blocked game in dominoes?
A hand where the boneyard is empty and neither player can make a legal play. Once both players have passed in a row, the hand is over and gets scored by counting the pips left in each hand.
Who wins a blocked dominoes game?
The player holding fewer pips. Both hands are turned face up and counted, and the lighter hand wins the hand and scores the difference between the two counts, rounded to the nearest 5.
How do you score a blocked hand in Fives?
Subtract the lighter hand's pips from the heavier hand's pips and round to the nearest 5. Nine pips against twenty-two is a difference of 13, so the light hand scores 15. Some tables instead give the winner every pip in the losing hand, or nothing at all; agree before you start.
What happens if both players have the same pips in a blocked game?
Nobody scores and the hand simply ends. Because there is no hand winner to open the next hand, the next hand goes back to the first-hand rule: whoever draws the highest double leads.
Do you have to play a domino if you can?
Yes. You may only draw when you have no legal play, and you may only pass when you have no legal play and the boneyard is empty. Holding a playable bone and passing is against the rules, and Cookout Dominoes does not offer a pass while you hold one.
Who opens the hand after a blocked game?
The player who won the blocked hand, meaning the one with fewer pips, and they can lead any bone. If the pip counts were tied, nobody won, so the highest double opens the next hand instead.