Tri-Ominos

Spicing up your Dominoes Experience

Triominos is an alternative version of dominos where the tiles you use are actually triangular in shape. You can buy dedicated Triominos games that are called ‘Tri-Ominos’ and these are usually more aesthetically appealing than the normal triominos you can purchase.

Starting your Game

As with most domino games you start with all the tiles in the centre of the table face down. In triominos there are 56 tiles in total and each player must choose random tiles to start. The number you pick is dependent on the number of players you have. If you have only 2 people playing, you both choose 9 tiles.

To get the game up and running, the player who has the largest ‘triple’ has to place it down to be played. This is similar to regular domino rules where you start off the game with the highest double. If a triple tile is not held by any player, the player with the highest tile value must play that.

Scoring in Triominos

The difference in triominos in comparison with normal dominoes is that you win the game by scoring points based on the dominos you place down. At the beginning, the player who placed the highest value triple or highest value tile is awarded ten points plus the number of points on their tile. The exception to this rule is that if someone can play the triple zero on their first turn (where there’s no other triple available) then they will score 40 points immediately. One player keeps score through out the game and simply adds up the points as the game progresses.

Playing the Game

When the game is up and running, you continue by placing tiles that match existing exposed tiles on the table. You must make sure that you always place a tile that has two of the three numbers aligned. This can be quite tricky, because if a tile is placed so it is touching two other tiles, then the numbers must match. If a player can’t play a tile then a new tile has to be chosen from the centre pile. This will incur a point’s penalty of minus 5. The player must continue to draw tiles until they find a matching one that can be played or until they reach three attempts at doing so. If this happens, the player is deducted 25 points.

Winning the Game

There are some interesting bonus points to be found whilst playing triominos. If a tile is played that completes a hexagonal shape, then 50 bonus points are awarded to them, as well as their normal tile score. There is also something known as ‘bridges’ where you obtain an extra 40 bonus points by matching one side of the tile and the point opposite, much like forming a bridge between them.

If a player gets to the point where all the tiles have been drawn from the centre and there’s none left to play in the player’s hand, then 10 points is deducted. When a player no longer has any tiles to play, or no more moves are possible, this is the end of the round. This stands even if there are tiles in the centre to be drawn still.

If someone manages to play their last tile, they get an extra 25 bonus points and also get to count up all the points from every player's remaining tiles. They then add this to their own score. The way to determine an overall winner is normally to play to 400 points, but this is completely up to the individuals who are playing.