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Merry-Go-Round

A Point-type domino game for two to four players using a Double-Six domino set and a score sheet or cribbage board.  Closely related to the similar game Fives, but played with the difference that the first double played (the spinner) must be played on all four sides before any subsequent tiles may be played.

Play:

The dominoes are shuffled, facedown, then each player draws seven tiles that only they can look at.  Any remaining tiles are used as the boneyard and may be drawn upon by players during the course of play.

The lead player sets down the first domino (which must be a double) and then players in turn lay tiles onto the open ends of the domino layout with same-number adjacent to same-number.  The first double, and only the first double, played is placed horizontally allowing play to branch four ways and is known as the spinner.  However, the first double must be played on all four sides before any subsequent tiles may be played.

Players score points every time they play a tile onto the layout and the pips on the open ends total a multiple of 5 (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.).  The player who makes such a play scores one point for each multiple of five open on the layout, so 1 point for 5 pips, 2 points for 10 pips, 3 points for 15 pips, and so on.

Should a player be unable to play a domino from their hand onto the layout, they must continue to draw one tile from any in the boneyard until they are able to play one or the boneyard is exhausted.

Once a player has dominoed by playing their last tile, or the game is blocked with no player able to play a tile, the round is over and the player who dominoed or has the lowest total of pips left in their hand, is the winner of that round.  The winner of a round then scores the total number of pips on all the other players' dominoes, minus the total number of pips on any remaining tiles in their hand, then rounded to the nearest five and divided by five.  A number of rounds are played and the first player to score a set total of 61 points, wins the game.  However, if a player doesn't score exactly 61 points, but goes over, then their turn scores nothing and play continues with the next player in turn.

Variations:

Sometimes played so that the last two tiles in the boneyard are not drawn when players are unable to make a play.

 

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