If you’re looking for a simple but highly enjoyable way to keep your kids entertained then why not give our free printable dominos a try? After all, the game of dominos has been keeping us captivated for hundreds of years, dating back to 12th century China and perhaps even beyond, to the storied days of Ancient Egypt.
With its easy-to-follow rules, and the help of our printable dominos – which mean you don’t even have to fork out for your own set – your kids will soon be pleasantly absorbed in a game
What’s Included In Our Free Printable Dominos PDF
Our printable PDF domino set consists of 28 printable dominos with cheerful coloured dots on a white background.
How to Prepare Your Printable Dominos
Playing dominos has never been simpler with our free printables! All you need to do is print them and then cut them out and you’re ready to go! Top tip: it’s probably a good idea to store them in a special plastic box or a plastic folder so they don’t get lost in between games.
How to Play Dominos: A Quick Guide for Beginners
Dominos is one of the best traditional games to play with kids as it is simple to understand but undeniably fun and engaging for them to play. There are different versions of the game that you can play, but one of the easiest for kids to learn is the version called Double Sixes. This is how you play!
- Setting up the game
To prep your game of double sixes, simply lay out your printable dominos face down and shuffle them about. Once they are thoroughly mixed up, it’s time to choose your dominos. Dominos can be played with 2-4 players. If you have just 2 people playing, then you can each choose 7 dominos but if you have 3 or 4 people playing then each of you will select 5 dominos each, with any extra tiles being left face down on a pile for later.
Once you all have your dominos, it’s time to examine them (while keeping your dominos hidden from everyone else’s view). If someone has a double domino, they go first. If more than one person has a double domino then the person with the highest double goes first. On the other hand, if no one has a double, then it’s the person with the highest number (from adding both sides of a domino) that makes the first move.
As with many board games, the gameplay moves clockwise once you have sorted out who is going first.
- Playing the game
Playing dominos is delightfully simple. Taking turns, you each lay a domino down, ensuring that the domino you choose has a number of dots – or ‘pips’ – that match those on the domino you are placing it next to.
Single-number dominos are placed short end to short end across the table or playing surface, while double-number dominos are placed perpendicular. If you don’t have a domino in your collection that you can use then you can select one from the pile of extras. Once the pile is gone, and you still don’t have a domino that matches any on the table, then you have to skip your turn.
The player who uses up all of their dominos first wins the game!
- Scoring
Not sure how domino scores work? Again, it’s delightfully simple. Each player wins 5 points when the end dominos have a number of pips that can be added up to make a multiple of 5. When someone uses up all their dominos first and wins the game, you should add up all of the pips on the remaining dominos belonging to the other players. You then round this number to the nearest 5, and the total is added to the winning player’s score.
Whoever reaches 100 points first is the ultimate victor!
Other Fun Activities at Mandy’s Printables
Our free printable dominos are bound to provide you and your kids with hours of fun, but the great news is that if they want to try another game, we also have plenty of other entertaining options for them – all free, and all printable!
For instance, they could try their hand at making their very own printable farm or play a game of pin the tail on the donkey with our free printable template. They can even make their own kite, or improve their vocabulary with our Qu word printable flashcards for the perfect blend of learning and fun. There are so many fun-filled options to choose from, so prep your printer and get started!