Dominoes Scoring: How to Count the Open Ends in Fives
One rule, four wrinkles, eight worked examples. By the end you'll be able to count a board faster than the person slamming on it.
Everything in Fives comes back to the count. It decides which bone you play, which end you play it on, and what you leave for the other side. Players who count well win; players who guess at it lose to players who count well and never quite understand why. So let's make it automatic.
This article assumes you know the basics of the game. If you don't, start with How to Play Fives Dominoes and come back.
What counts: the open ends
An open end is any end of the layout you're allowed to play on. Before the spinner fills up there are exactly two of them, the left end and the right end of the chain. Once both long sides of the spinner have been played, its top and bottom open up too, so a layout can have as many as four ends.
The number showing on each open end is what you add. Nothing else. The bones in the middle of the chain, the halves that are touching each other, the number the spinner has facing sideways once it's buried: none of it counts. Only the ends.
The four wrinkles
1. Doubles on an end count both halves
A double lies crossways, so both of its halves face outward. When one sits on an open end, you count both. A 3-3 on the end is 6. A 6-6 on the end is 12. This is the rule that turns a dull board into a 20 or a 25, and it works for the spinner and for every double that lands after it.
2. The spinner alone counts both halves
When a double opens the hand and sits there by itself, both of its long sides are open, so you count both halves. Open with the 5-5 and you've scored a dime before anyone else touches a bone.
3. The spinner with one side played still counts both halves
Somebody plays on one long side of the spinner. The other long side is still open, and a double on an open end counts both halves, so the spinner still contributes its full value. A 6-6 with one side played is still worth 12 on that side.
4. The spinner with both sides played counts nothing
Once both long sides are covered, the spinner is inside the chain. It's worth zero. Its top and bottom are now open for play, but they don't join the count until a bone is actually placed on them. Three bones on the table with the spinner buried is a two-end count, not a four-end count. This is the mistake that starts more arguments than any other, so read it twice.
Eight worked examples
Follow the count on each one. Doubles ringed in gold are sitting on open ends.
The mental-math trick
You don't have to re-add the whole board every turn. A play only ever does one of two things to the count: it replaces one end with a new one, or it adds an end when a bone goes onto a fresh spinner arm. So keep the running total in your head and adjust it:
New total = old total − the end you covered + the end you exposed. On a fresh arm there's nothing to subtract, so new total = old total + the end you exposed.
Say the ends are 3 and 6, total 9. Cover the 3 with a 3-1 and the total is 9 − 3 + 1 = 7. Cover the 6 with a 6-4 and it's 9 − 6 + 4 = 7. Cover the 6 with the 6-6 and the exposed end is worth 12, so 9 − 6 + 12 = 15, trees. Run those three sums in your head before you touch a bone and you've just evaluated your whole hand in about four seconds.
It also works backward, which is how defense happens. If the total is 7 and you're about to expose a 3, you've made 10 available to anyone who can cover the other end with a difference of... nothing. Ends of 3 and 4 add to 7; whoever swaps the 4 for a 2 scores a nick, whoever swaps it for a 6 scores 9, nothing. Think about what you're exposing, not just what you're scoring. More on that in Fives Strategy: 12 Tips That Win Hands.
What the scores are called
Since every score is a multiple of 5, every score has a name at the table:
| Points | Name | How common |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Nick, nickel | About 44% of all scoring plays |
| 10 | Dime | About 41% |
| 15 | Trees, triplets | About 13% |
| 20 | Twenty, big money | About 3% |
| 25 | Quarter | Under half a percent |
| 30 | Thirty | About one scoring play in a thousand |
| 35+ | Earthquake | Never happened on the board alone in 31,000 simulated hands. It takes a 6-6, 5-5 and 4-4 on three ends and a 5 on the fourth |
Those frequencies come from a simulation we ran with the Cookout Dominoes engine, two strong players, first to 150: about 28% of all plays score at all, and 84% of scores are a nick or a dime. Method and the rest of the numbers are in The Best Opening Domino, by the Numbers. The full vocabulary is in Dominoes Slang, Explained.
Five counting mistakes everyone makes once
- Counting the inside of the chain. If two halves are touching, neither one counts. A 5-2 next to a 2-6 has a 5 and a 6 in the count and no 2s at all.
- Counting a double on the end as one half. That 4-4 you just played on the end is 8, not 4. Undercount it and you've missed your own dime; undercount your opponent's and you've handed them one.
- Still counting the spinner after both sides are played. The moment its second long side is covered, the spinner is worth nothing. The most common phantom score in the game is someone adding a buried 6-6 into the total.
- Counting the arms before a bone is on them. Both sides played means the top and bottom are open. It doesn't mean they're counted. An arm joins the total only when a bone is actually sitting on it.
- Rounding. Twelve is not a dime. Fourteen is not trees. Close doesn't count on the board; the only rounding in Fives happens when you domino or the hand blocks, and it applies to leftover pips, not to the layout.
Where the count comes from
The version we play scores exact fives, and only exact fives. Some tables score fives and threes ("Fives and Threes" is its own game, mostly in the UK), and older American rulebooks describe a game called Muggins where you score the same way but the opponent can claim your points if you miss them. Nobody at our table is calling muggins on anybody, but if you sit down somewhere new, ask what's being counted before the wash. The rules comparison is in Dominoes House Rules: 150 or 200?
Questions people ask
How do you count points in Fives dominoes?
After you place a bone, add up the pips showing on every open end of the layout. If the total is an exact multiple of 5, you score that total. If it is anything else, you score nothing for that play and the turn passes.
What counts as an open end in dominoes?
Any end of the layout you could legally play on: the two ends of the chain, plus the top and bottom of the spinner once both of its long sides have been played and a bone has actually been placed on that arm. The inner halves of bones in the middle of the chain never count.
Do doubles count double in dominoes scoring?
Yes. A double sitting at an open end counts both of its halves, so a 4-4 on the end is worth 8 and a 6-6 is worth 12. That applies to the spinner while it still has an unplayed side and to every later double that lands on an end.
Does the spinner count toward the score?
While it sits alone it counts both halves. Once one long side has been played, its unplayed side still counts both halves. Once both long sides are played it sits inside the chain and counts nothing, and its top and bottom only join the count after a bone is placed on them.
Do you round the score in Fives dominoes?
Not on the board. A count of 12 or 13 scores nothing; only exact multiples of 5 pay. Rounding to the nearest 5 happens in just two places: the pips your opponent is left holding when you domino, and the pip difference in a blocked hand.
What is the most points you can score on one play in Fives?
35 on the board itself. Four open ends is the most a layout can have, and the biggest total that is also a multiple of 5 is a 6-6, a 5-5 and a 4-4 on three ends plus a plain 5 on the fourth: 12 + 10 + 8 + 5. Going out on that play adds your opponent's rounded pips on top, which is how the rare 40- and 50-point plays happen.