The draw game
If you cannot play, you draw. In the usual version, the last two tiles in the boneyard stay where they are.
Draw takes its name from the rule that allows players to draw new tiles from the boneyard. Pagat describes it as one of the simplest and most common domino games, played in a dozen different ways, and offers one representative set of rules. pagat.com
On a double-six set, Pagat's representative draw deal is: 2 players get 7 tiles each; 3 players get 7 tiles each; 4 players get 6 tiles each. The rest stay in the boneyard. pagat.com
Players take turns placing tiles to form a single line. A tile can be placed on either end of the line. Doubles are played across the line, but are not spinners. pagat.com A player who cannot or does not wish to play a tile from hand must draw from the boneyard. The player continues to draw tiles until either he plays a tile or the boneyard is reduced to two tiles. pagat.com The last two tiles of the boneyard are not drawn, and when the boneyard has only two tiles a player who cannot play simply passes his turn. pagat.com
The hand stops when one player dominoes or when the boneyard is reduced to two tiles and nobody can play. pagat.com Draw is similar to block except that when a player is blocked the player draws from the reserve until a play can be made. The last two pieces in the stock, or boneyard, may not be drawn. Britannica Kids
Scoring
Scoring in Pagat's representative draw rules is the same as in the representative block rules: each player is counted for the pips in hand; the lowest scoring player is credited with the sum of the losers' scores minus his own; a tie for lowest scores nobody; the game is played for 100 or 61 points. pagat.com Early accounts, Pagat notes among the scoring variations, specify that the winner of the game — the player who goes out or has fewest remaining pips in a blocked game — scores just 1 point for a win. pagat.com A common method is for the winner to score the total pips on the tiles of the other player(s). pagat.com
How is a hand scored, and what is a game?
Britannica Kids says the winner is the player who goes out, or who has the fewest spots left, and that one player's score is the number of spots on the opponent's unplayed dominoes; a game may be 50 or 100 points. Pagat's representative block and draw rules credit the lowest-scoring player with the sum of the losers' pip totals minus that player's own total, and play a game to 100 points (two players or a partnership) or 61 (three or four), so a cribbage board can be used. Pagat also records early accounts in which a win is just 1 point, and many other local scoring methods. We treat Pagat's representative rules as one clear system, not the only system.
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