Domino Poker rules

Goal

Score the most points across the selected number of rounds by bidding how many tricks you will take, then matching that bid as closely as possible.

Setup

Four players use a double-six domino set. Each round deals seven tiles to every player. In this version, you play against three AI opponents and scoring is handled automatically.

Round flow

Each round moves through dealing, bidding, seven tricks of play, and scoring. The winner of a trick leads the next trick. The winner of the round becomes the next dealer.

Bidding and scoring

Each player bids once from 0 to 7 tricks.

Match your bid exactly and each trick is worth 15 points.

Take more tricks than you bid and every trick you won is worth only 5 points.

Missing your bid scores -5 points for each missing trick.

Bidding and taking all 7 tricks gives +50 bonus points; bidding 7 and missing it gives -50 points.

Special tiles

Trumps, strongest to weakest: 0-0, 1-1, 1-6, 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-2, 1-0.

Aces: 6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2, 0-6. The 0-6 tile is an ace only when played as 0; when declared as 6 it behaves as a regular 6.

Other tiles are played by declaring one of their numbers. Opponents must follow the declared number if they can.

Playing a trick

The lead player may start with any tile.

If trump is led, every player must play a stronger trump if they have one. If not, they may play a weaker trump. Without any trump, they may discard any tile.

If an ace is led, players must follow the matching number. If they cannot, they must play trump if possible.

If a regular number is led, players must follow that number. If they cannot, they must play trump if possible; otherwise they may discard any tile.

Winning the game

After all selected rounds are complete, the player with the highest total score wins. Ties are broken by bid, then tricks won, then seat order from the dealer.

Gold Coins

Registered players have a gold-coin balance shown in the lobby. Every new account receives a one-time welcome bonus of 5000 coins. Gold is a virtual in-game currency only — it has no real-world value.

In single-player, finishing 1st or 2nd against the bots awards coins by difficulty: Medium 50, Hard 100, Epic 300. Daily limits apply. You can play without an account, but anonymous play earns nothing.

In multiplayer, a room can have a gold entry fee. Each player pays it on taking a seat, and the prize pot is shared between the top two registered human players. See the multiplayer rules for the full details.

Statistics

Statistics are counted only from multiplayer games where all four seats are taken by four distinct registered (logged-in) players.

Public and Private Rooms

Players can create either a public or private room.

Public rooms are meant to be discoverable from the lobby. Other players can find them in the room list, open the room view, choose an empty seat, and join while the room is still waiting to start.

Private rooms are intended for invited players. They still have normal room state and seats, but joining a private room requires the room code. A private room cannot be joined just by using its room id from the public lobby flow. The room code is shown in the room view and should be shared only with the players you want to invite.

Both public and private rooms support the same game rules, same seat system, same bot-fill option, and same match flow. The difference is discoverability and join access: public rooms are lobby-joinable; private rooms require the code.

Room Seats and Host Controls

Each room has exactly four seats. The player who creates the room becomes the host and is placed in the first seat. Other players can join available seats while the room is waiting.

The host can fill empty seats with bots. This allows a game to start even if fewer than four human players are available. The host is also the only player who can start the game.

A game cannot start if any seat is still empty. If the host tries to start too early, the server rejects the start. The practical rule is simple: four occupied seats are required, humans or bots.

If the host leaves while the room is still waiting, host ownership moves to another remaining human player. If no human players remain in a waiting room, the room is destroyed.

Gold Coins and Paid Rooms

Rooms can be free or paid. When creating a room, a logged-in host may set a gold entry fee — any amount up to their own balance (0 means a free room, which behaves exactly as before).

Only registered, logged-in players can take a seat in a paid room: they have a gold balance. Anonymous players have no wallet, so they cannot join paid rooms, but they can still join free rooms.

Every player pays the entry fee at the moment they take a seat, including the host. A seat can only be taken if the balance covers the fee. The collected fees form the room's prize pot.

Before the game starts, money is fully refundable. If you leave your seat while the room is still waiting, the host deletes the waiting room, or the room expires before starting, your entry fee is returned to your balance.

Once the game starts, the entry fee is no longer refundable. Leaving, forfeiting, or disconnecting during the match does not return your fee — it stays in the pot for the winners.

When the match ends, the pot is split between the top two registered human players by total score: 70% to first place and 30% to second. Bots never receive a share, and players who forfeited are excluded. If only one registered human remains, that player takes the whole pot.

If every human leaves and the match is abandoned without finishing, there is no winner, so the pot is not paid out.

The balance you see updates live as you pay, get refunded, or win the pot. The server is always the authority on every coin movement.

One Room at a Time

A player can only be in one room at a time. If a player has already created or joined a room, the server will reject attempts to create another room or join a different one until that player leaves the current room, forfeits an active game, or the game ends and the room is cleaned up.

This prevents one browser identity from occupying seats across multiple rooms at once.

For local testing with multiple human players on one machine, each player needs a separate browser identity, such as different browsers or incognito/private windows.

Room Lifetime and TTL

Rooms have a time-to-live of 1 hour from creation.

Waiting, starting, finished, or destroyed rooms are cleaned up after their TTL expires. The cleanup runs periodically, so removal may happen shortly after the exact expiry time rather than at the exact millisecond.

Active in-game rooms are not destroyed just because the original TTL passes. If a match is already in progress, the room is allowed to finish. After the game ends, the server delivers the final game result and then destroys the room so players are free to create or join another room.

If all human players disconnect from an active game, the server gives a short reconnect grace period. If no human returns during that grace period, the abandoned room is destroyed.

Starting the Game

When the host starts a full room, the server creates the authoritative game state and sends each seated human player their own personal game snapshot. Each player receives only their own hand. Opponents' hidden tiles are never sent to other players.

After the room enters the game, there is a 10-second pre-game countdown before the first bidding turn begins. This gives players time to load the table before the real turn timer starts.

This pre-game countdown is separate from the per-turn 10-second timer.

The 10-Second Turn Timer

Each human bid or move has its own 10-second server-controlled timer.

The timer starts only when it is actually that human player's turn. If bots need to act before the next human, the server plays the bots first, with a short pacing delay, and only then starts the human player's 10-second countdown. This means a human player is not losing time while waiting for bot animations or bot turns to resolve.

The server is the time authority. The client displays the countdown, but the server decides whether an action arrived before the deadline.

If a player submits a bid or move before the deadline, the action is validated and accepted only if it is legal.

If the action arrives after the deadline, the server rejects it as too late.

If the timer expires and the player has not acted, the server automatically resolves the turn so the game never stalls:

• During bidding, the timeout bid is forced to a safe legal bid, normally 0.
• During tile play, the server chooses and plays a legal move for that player.
• If a trick is completed by the timeout move, the server resolves the trick winner and advances the game.

Repeated missed turns affect the player's inactivity status. After the first missed turn the player is marked with a warning state. After the second, they are considered inactive. After the third, auto-play is enabled for that player. A returning player can resume and disable auto-play to regain manual control.

Disconnects and Reconnects

If a player disconnects during a game, their seat is not immediately removed. The game continues, and their future turns can be handled by the timeout system if they do not return in time.

When the player reconnects with the same browser identity and reconnect token, the server restores their room, seat, connection state, and sends a fresh personal snapshot. That snapshot includes the current game state and, if a turn is active, the current turn deadline.

If a player deliberately leaves during an active game, that is treated as a forfeit. Their seat becomes a bot seat, the player is returned to the lobby, and they cannot rejoin that same seat. The remaining players continue the match.

Bidding and Gameplay

Each round starts with bidding. Every player bids once, choosing how many of the 7 tricks they expect to win. Valid bids are 0 through 7.

After all bids are placed, the play phase begins. Players play one domino per trick. The winner of each trick leads the next trick.

The server validates every move. A client may highlight possible moves for convenience, but the client does not decide what is legal. The server rejects illegal moves, wrong-player moves, stale turn ids, and late actions.

Tile Rules

Trumps are the strongest tile group. From highest to lowest, the trump order is:

0-0, 1-1, 1-6, 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-2, 1-0.

Aces are:

6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2, 0-6.

The 0-6 tile has a special dual role. If it is played or required as 0, it behaves as an ace. If it is declared as 6, it behaves as a regular 6 tile.

When leading a trick, a player may lead with any tile. If the led tile is not a trump or double, and it has two different numbers, the player must declare which number is being requested.

When following a trick:

• If trump was led, players must play trump if they have one. If they have a stronger trump than the strongest trump already in the trick, they must play a stronger trump.
• If a number was requested, players must follow that number with a non-trump tile if possible.
• If they cannot follow the requested number, they must play trump if they have one.
• If they cannot follow and have no trump, they may discard any tile.

Scoring

After 7 tricks, the round is scored by comparing each player's bid with the number of tricks they actually won.

• Exact bid: 15 points per bid trick.
• Exact bid of 7: 105 points plus a 50-point bonus.
• More tricks than bid: 5 points per trick won.
• Fewer tricks than bid: -5 points per missed trick.
• Failed bid of 7: -50 points.

Round scores are added to the match total. After the configured number of rounds, the player with the highest total score wins. If needed, the game uses tie-breakers based on score, bid, tricks won, and seat order from the dealer.

Privacy and Fairness

The multiplayer server is authoritative. It owns the shuffled deck, the game state, the timer deadlines, legal move validation, scoring, and round progression.

Each player receives only their own hand. Other players' hidden tiles are not included in their snapshots. Public information includes bids, tricks won, total scores, current trick, completed tricks, player statuses, and each player's remaining tile count.

The multiplayer deal is generated from a server-side seed. This makes matches reproducible from the seed and event history, which helps with fairness checks, replay, debugging, and recovery.

Statistics

Statistics are counted only from multiplayer games where all four seats are taken by four distinct registered (logged-in) players.