Bones — All Fives Dominoes · Complete rules reference
All Fives (Muggins) is a domino variant where you score points by making the open ends of the board sum to a multiple of 5. The first player to reach 150 points wins.
Bones is played with a double-six domino set — 28 tiles, each showing two pip values from 0 to 6.
Each player is dealt 7 tiles. Leftover tiles form the boneyard — your reserve when you have no legal play.
| Players | Tiles per Player | Boneyard |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 7 | 14 tiles |
| 3 | 7 | 7 tiles |
| 4 | 7 | None — draws not possible |
The player holding the highest double goes first and must play it as their opening tile. If no one has a double, the player with the highest pip total leads.
From round 2 onwards, the winner of the previous round leads and can play any tile — not just a double.
Turns proceed clockwise. Each player has 30 seconds to act — the timer is visible at the top of the board.
On your turn, place a tile so that one of its pip values matches an open end of the chain on the board.
The board always has a left end and a right end. Once the spinner is active, it can also have top and bottom ends.
The first double played in a round becomes the spinner — the most important tile on the board. It opens four arms: left, right, top, and bottom.
All other doubles after the spinner are normal tiles — they only extend the arm they're placed on and don't create new branches.
If a double is played mid-chain (not as the very first tile), it still becomes the spinner. However, the existing chain tiles on either side do not count toward unlocking top and bottom — new tiles must be played beyond the spinner on each arm first.
After you place a tile, the game adds up the pips at all open ends of the board. If that total is a non-zero multiple of 5, you score that amount immediately.
| Spinner state | Contribution to pip sum |
|---|---|
| Both horizontal arms uncovered | Full double value (high + low) |
| One arm covered | Still full double value, plus covered arm's exposed tip |
| Both arms covered | Spinner disappears from sum — only exposed tips count |
| Top / bottom arms | Always their exposed tip once a tile is played there |
If you have no tile that matches any open end, you must draw from the boneyard. The boneyard picker opens automatically — tap any face-down tile to draw it.
The tile flips over revealing its pips. If it's playable, the picker closes and you can place it. If not, keep drawing until you find a playable tile or the boneyard runs out.
In a 4-player game there is no boneyard. If you can't play you must pass immediately.
You may only pass your turn when both of these are true:
A round ends in one of two ways:
A player plays their last tile. They win the round and score the total pip count of all opponents' remaining hands, rounded to the nearest 5.
No player can move and the boneyard is empty — all players pass consecutively. The player with the lowest pip count in hand wins. They score the difference between their pip count and each opponent's, rounded to the nearest 5.
The first player to reach or exceed 150 points wins. Scores are checked after each round completes. A player may exceed 150 during a round — the game ends once that round finishes.
If multiple players cross 150 in the same round, the player with the higher score wins.