What is a double in dominoes?

Doubles are the personality tiles of dominoes: they open hands, spin layouts, score double, and strand careless players more than any other tile.

Quick answer: A double is a tile with the same value on both halves - there are seven in a double-six set, from 0-0 to 6-6. Doubles are laid crosswise, the first one played can become the spinner, and because each double fits only its own suit, they're assets early and liabilities late.

Doubles on the table

A double is placed crosswise to the line, straddling the end it matches. In games with a spinner, the first double played becomes one, eventually opening two extra arms. Doubles also open most hands - convention gives the first play to the highest double drawn. In scoring games a double at the end of a line counts both halves, which is how the 5-5 mints ten points in All Fives.

Why doubles are risky in hand

Every other tile belongs to two suits; a double belongs to one. The 6-6 can only ever land on a six, so when sixes run dry it becomes twelve points of dead weight - exactly what you don't want when a blocked hand goes to the lighter side. The standing advice in every dominoes primer is the same: play your doubles early, while their suit still breathes.

Doubles across the variants

The variants each put their own spin on doubles. In Bergen a double at a matching end upgrades a 2-point play to a 3-point triple-header. In Matador doubles lie inline like ordinary tiles and the double blank is one of the four wild matadors. In Cross, the opening double becomes the hub of the whole layout.

Play All Fives dominoes

Related questions

What is a spinner in dominoes?

The spinner is the first double played in a hand, laid crosswise to the line. Once both sides of the spinner along the main line are covered, its two remaining sides open as new arms, so the layout can grow in four directions. Spinners are central to All Fives and Cross.

What is Matador dominoes?

Matador inverts the most basic rule of dominoes: instead of matching an open end, your tile's touching half must add to seven with it. The four matadors - 6-1, 5-2, 4-3 and double blank - are wild and play anywhere, and they're the only tiles that can follow a blank.

What is Bergen dominoes?

Bergen is a scoring variant where points come from symmetry: make both open ends of the line show the same value and you score a double-header for 2 points, or a triple-header for 3 if one of those ends is a double. Hands also score for going out, and the game races to just 15.