Eleven Point Black Tile

A card-type domino game which is an adaptation of the Hearts family of playing-card games, incorporating some of the same strategy.  It is played with a Double-Six domino set and cribbage board or score sheet, by three or four players.  Because the three suit is scoring, some players decide to paint the three-spots red (like the hearts in a deck of playing-cards).

Play:

The lead player is first decided by each player drawing a tile from the shuffled boneyard, with the highest playing first.  The lead and order of play subsequently passes to the left.

The dominoes are shuffled, facedown, then each player draws a number of tiles, that only they can look at, that differs according to the number of players taking part:

• 3 players draw 9 tiles each.
• 4 players draw 7 tiles each.

The remaining tiles are set aside and not used in further play.

Players win tricks of tiles which are ranked.  Tiles rank as double of the lead suit as high with the rest of the lead suit tiles ranking according to the suit on the other end (lead suit and 0 (blank) would be low).   Doubles may be played as a suit of their own, with double-6 ranked high and double-blank, low.

Players then place, from their hand of dominoes, three tiles of their choice down in front of themselves   These sets-of-three tiles are then passed to the players to their left.  Players then pick up their set-of-three tiles and place them in their hand, but only after they have set down their old set-of-three.

The lead player may then elect to pass the lead play to the player on their left, or they set a tile down.  If the lead player elects to pass the lead on, then this player must set a tile down.  The lead player announces which suit on either end of the tile is the lead suit.  In the case of a double, the lead player must state whether it is played as a double suit or as the highest tile in its own pipped suit.  Subsequent players in turn must set a tile down of the same suit, if they have one, or any other tile they wish, if they don't.  Remember, doubles must be played if the lead tile was played as the double suit.

The highest ranked tile wins the trick and all the tiles played are set aside next to the winning player.  Players score points based on the tricks they've won with particular "counters" (or "count dominoes").  These "counters" are the double-blank (scoring 4 points) and all seven tiles bearing the suit of three (scoring 1 point each). The winner of a trick then leads in the next trick.  Play continues as before until all the dominoes have been played.

The name of the game is derived from the fact that their are 11 possible points in a round.  However, if a player scores all 11 points (called "shooting the moon")  he scores 0 points and each other player scores 22 points.

A number of rounds are played as before and the first player to score a set total (usually 61 points), wins the game.

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