PogoTips.com - Dominoes

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Dominoes


Game awards	Play it to the Bone Rank 10 - 18,000 points Give a Dog a Bone Rank 20 - 45,000 points Funny Bone Rank 30 - 81,000 points Bone Pile Rank 40 - 126,000 points Roll Dem Bones Rank 50 - 270,000 points

Challenge badges	Domination (10/1/03) Win 50 games Bonehenge (2/18/04) Win 12 rated games Play Dominoes! (6/16/04) Win 20 games Bone Pile (10/13/04) Win 65 games Monolith (2/23/05) Win 5,000 tokens (includes spins) Dot Dot Dot (5/18/05) Win 5 games with at least 15 points more than your opponent Tumbling Dominoes (3/22/06) Win 15 games Tuxedo (8/16/06) Win 25 250-point games Domino Hero (12/12/07) Score 5 or more points on your turn 100 times Hundred Hand (3/12/08) Win 100 hands

Premium badges	Domino Whomp (animated) Badge Bonanza book Win 15 games with at least 20 points more than your opponent Shifting Sands (animated) Relax and Play book Play a double-5 tile 35 times
Mix & Match	Geronimo! Domino EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 11/14/07) Win 15 250-point games without using "colored dots" Domino Dream (animated) Mix & Match (thru 12/9/08) Win 40 250-point games Double Pair Mix & Match (thru 3/17/09) Play a double-2 tile 22 times Bone Chillin' Mix & Match (thru 11/24/09) Win 10 games

Badge tips

For Tuxedo, Geromino! Domino or Domino Dream, be sure to set Game points to 250 on the table options! Also be sure Pips is set to Normal in the Domino Style options (once you're inside a game) for Geronimo! Domino.

Be sure to select Rated game in the table options for the Bonehenge badge! Also be aware you can't play rated games against Pogobots - you must play with humans. Serious, rated Dominoes players probably won't be willing to let you win 12 games as that would reduce their rating, so find a friend or cooperative partner for this one if you don't know how to play. Ratings for two players taking turns will be relatively unchanged if each player wins an equal number of games, but they could vary a bit depending on the game scores.

You can win the Monolith badge without winning any games: you'll earn one token for each domino dot you put on the board. If you go out first, you'll get the value of your opponent's remaining dominoes as a bonus, and if you win the game you'll get a spin.

For Shifting Sands or Double Pair, you have to finish the game to earn badge progress.

The easiest way to earn game win badges is to play with a friend or cooperative partner and take turns winning. The designated loser should play lower value dominoes whenever possible, and should avoid plays resulting in end-dominoes totaling multiples of 5.

For game win badges, refer to Game tips.

Game tips

ALWAYS read a game's How to Play, and also check for a Hints or Tips tab and/or Tutorial. They do help!

You can win games against Pogobots but the games will last longer than with a friend who plays to lose, and you'll lose some games to the bot as you go.

The 5-5, 5-blank and blank-blank dominoes can often be used to extend point-earning plays for several turns.

Whenever possible, start a game with a domino valued at 10 or 5 (6-4, 5-5, 5-blank, 4-1 or 2-3).

Play your higher value dominoes early so your opponent won't get a lot of bonus points from your hand if they go out first.

If the end values are say, 4 and 6, and your opponent draws from the pile, try to leave 4s and 6s at the ends again on your next turn so they'll have to draw again.

When you several options (indicated by highlighted dominoes in your hand), hold each playable domino over its possible play spots and count up the end dots to determine your best play.. but do not release your mouse button until it's at the position you want to play it!

More about Dominoes

Ranks and badges were added to this game in October 2007, along with the introduction of a companion game, Super Dominoes.

Pogo adjusted the new features for this game shortly afterward by reinstating the Draw Until Legal Play option and adding a Limited Animations option which makes the games faster. But you often can't see the whole board and sometimes it scrolls on its own. They really should keep a Classic option for these upgraded games (like they did with Sweet Tooth) for those of us who prefer functionality over bells & whistles.

Like most classic games, dominoes is easy to learn; but unlike games like Chess or Cribbage, it isn't too difficult to learn to play well. To improve your game, pay attention to scoring plays made by a good opponent or Pogobot.

In the first hand of a game, the player who has the highest doubles automatically goes first. After that, the player who didn't go out in the prior hand goes first.

You can't play off the vertical ends of the first doubles domino until horizontal plays have been made off both sides.

If the domino you want to play has only one possible place to go, you can drop it anywhere in the playing area.

You can expand or collapse your opponent's domino count, score, and the board overview window if you wish, or toggle them back & forth depending on how the layout progresses during a game.

Check Draw Until Legal Play in table options to speed up the game, unless you want to hand-select your own dominoes.

Thanks to blazingwolf1987 for submitting additional Dominoes tips!

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