The rules in brief are as follows:
-Use a set of double 6 dominoes
-Draw 7 tiles (5 if 4 or more are playing)
-Player with highest double starts
-Players play off the starting double in up to four directions (from its endpoints and from its sides)
-Whenever all the endpoints equal to a multiple of five, player earns that amount of points
-Player with highest double starts
-Players play off the starting double in up to four directions (from its endpoints and from its sides)
-Whenever all the endpoints equal to a multiple of five, player earns that amount of points
-Doubles are played perpendicularly (so their sides match with an endpoint). Count both sides of a double for adding up a score.
-Only the starting double is considered a "spinner".
-If you can't play, draw a tile from the bone-yard
-Round ends when a someone goes out (plays their last domino).
-All other players add up the values of their remaining dominoes. These points go to the player who went out.
Endpoints equal 11 (no score).
These were the rules that my wife and I played at first, but when I looked in the rule set included in our box of dominoes, I found two rules variants:
1. When a player does not have a domino that is playable, they must draw from the bone-yard until they draw one that they can play.
2. Even if a player has a domino that is playable, they may still draw from the bone-yard.
I admit that the reason I went looking for Muggins, was because I wanted to find a domino game with more strategy than Mexican Train, so I felt free to use whichever rules added the most depth to the game. Question: Which of the two additional rules, then, did I add? The answer: Rule number 2. I quietly ignored ruled 1, since I think that rule would exacerbate moments when a player is unable to play, increasing the margin between victory and defeat. Rule two, on the other hand, gives players an interesting choice. On any turn they can play according to their hand, or increase their potential to score more points, by increasing the risk (remember that any unplayed dominoes are added up and awarded to the player who plays all their dominoes first). This rule also adds an interesting amount of opportunity cost associated with taking on extra dominoes instead of going out sooner.
In conclusion, my wife and I played Muggins again, but this time with Rule 2 from above added. The depth of game play was improved moderately, and I believe that the distinction between luck and skill has been widened, something I usually like.
Hooray for Muggins!
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Dennis, this is a very popular game, which my grandpa plays every week. He almost always knows what's in our hand towards the end, as long as we've not played too foolishly. He does not like playing with a bone yard. When one cannot play they are skipped. Whoever uses all of their Dominoes first wins the points on the other players dominoes, rounded to the nearest 5.
ReplyDeleteThere is a neat way they keep score because the first to five-hundred wins the game. The first ten points is a plus sign where each line is about one inch long and stands for 5 points. Then in each quadrant that is made by the first plus sign, you would put another plus sign. When all 4 quadrants are filled with plus signs, then you would have 50 points. They often play in partnerships.
Lastly, the spinner has to be cut before you can play on it's ends, so it should always be played on perpendicularly first. Your picture looks like you were not cutting the spinner properly.
Cheers,
James