Rules

Dominoes  Spades

The rules around here are serious business. To talk the most you shit, you have to know them inside and out, along with all the terminology that goes with them.

Dominoes:

Adapted from dominorules.com

Number of Players: 2-4
Type of Dominoes Used: Double 6
Type of Game: Scoring Game

Players: Two, three or four may play the game of Dominoes. If four are playing the game, it may not be played as a partnership. Every one for themselves.

The Shuffle: To begin, the dominoes are placed face down and “shuffled.” Players draw dominoes based on the number of players.

Drawing: Each player then draws the number of dominoes listed in the draw line above that corresponds to the number of players. The remaining dominoes (the boneyard), if any, are left face down on the table to be drawn later if a player is unable to play from his hand.

Begin Play: The player who drew the highest double plays first, playing the highest double domino from their had.

Object of the game: Scoring points by laying the dominoes end to end (the touching ends must match: i.e., one’s touch one’s, two’s touch two’s, etc.). If the dots on the exposed ends total any multiple of five, starting at ten, the player is awarded that number of points. You must score at least ten points to be added to the scoreboard. All sides of the first double (the spinner) may be used one piece to each side and later one to each end. All other doubles are played at right angles to the line and the total points on both ends are counted. Dominoing occurs when one player goes out by playing all of his dominoes. The person who was in the order of play directly before person playing the last domino is called the backman.  The sum of the spots remaining in the backman's hand is computed and added to the dominoing player’s score (rounded to the nearest five). You must be on the scoreboard with at least ten points in order to get the points from the backman's hand. When the next hand begins, the player who won the last hand, gets to touch the dominoes first in the draw and play first.

Locking the Board: If in the course of the game it is impossible for any of the players to play, the "board is locked.” The player having the least spots in their hand scores the total of the spots in all of the opponents’ hands (rounded to the nearest five). When the next hand begins, the player who draws the highest double plays first again.

Winning the Game: The score of 150 points is considered a game. The first person to score this amount wins the game. Shuffle and begin a new game. The player who draws the highest double plays first again.

Spades:

Number of Players: 4 (2 teams)
Type of Cards Used: Standard pack with two distinct jokers; the twos of diamonds and hearts are removed from the pack leaving 52 cards. The two jokers are the highest trumps. The joker with the least amount of writing on it, or the one in the darker color (if the jokers only differ by color) is considered the Big Joker.  The joker with more writing or in a lighter color (like red) is considered the Little Joker. If one is colorful and the other is plain, the colorful one is the Big Joker. If your pack has identical jokers, write "Big" on one of them, and that one is the Big Joker.   The cards, in each suit, rank from highest to lowest: Big Joker, Little Joker, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
For the purpose of following suit, the jokers count as spades. Spades trump all other suits.
Type of Game: Scoring Game

Players: There must be four to play the game of Spades.  Players sitting opposite each other are on teams, there are two teams.

The Deal: The first dealer is chosen at random, and the turn to deal rotates clockwise. The cards are shuffled and offered for a "cut" to the person on the dealer's right.  The person cutting may split the deck up a number of times and turn a maximum of 4 non-consecutive cards face-up back into the deck for dealing face-up in what is called a "french cut". The dealer must offer the deck for a cut or the hand can result in a mis-deal. The person cutting is not required to cut, they may simply tap the deck to allow the dealer to proceed.  After cutting, the cards are returned to the dealer to be dealt singly, beginning with the player on dealer's left, and ending with the dealer getting the last card, until all 52 cards have been dealt and everyone has 13 cards. If someone has more or less than 13 cards, or if the dealer doesn't get the last card in the deal, it is considered a "misdeal". If a misdeal is called by any player, the cards are thrown in and a new hand is dealt by the next player clockwise as dealer. Generally a misdeal may only be called before the bid or first card is played.

The Bidding: The first hand of a new game is normally played without any bidding. The teams just play to win as many tricks as possible and score 10 points per book. If a team makes 10 or more books on the first hand, they win the whole game and their opponent must "get up from the table" if other players are waiting to play, and get back in line to play again. After the first hand, both teams bid a number of "books", beginning with the dealer's opponents. Partners may tell each other how many books they think they can make and how many "possibles" (extra books that may or may not be made) they have. Based on this, they agree on a bid for the partnership. When the non-dealing team has bid, the dealer's team agree their bid in a similar way. All conversations are heard by all players, so the dealer's team may also be influenced by the nondealers' discussion. No player is allowed to "talk across the board", or give away information that can determine what specific cards that player has in their hand. The minimum bid for each team is 4, a minimum bid is referred to as "going board". There are no Nil bids. Each team adds together the bids of their two partners, taking possibles into account, and the total is the number of books that team must try to win in order to get a positive score. The bidding begins with the player to dealer's left and their partner to the dealer's right and continues to the dealer and their partner next. Each team must bid a number, and in theory any number from 4 to 13 is allowed.

In some cases, teams are allowed to bid "blind". If both teams agree to allow it, this is a bid declared before either player looks at their cards. It is usually agreed that "blind" may only be bid by players whose team is losing by at least 100 points. A blind bid scores double (20 points per book) if successful but only singly (-10 points per book) if lost. A blind bid fails if the team takes fewer books than they bid. After agreeing on a blind bid, the partners pick up their cards and look at them.

For a bid to succeed, the team must win the number of books bid, and must limit overbooks (sandbags). For a successful bid they win 10 times the number bid, with nothing extra for overbooks. If the team wins fewer tricks than they bid, they are "set" and in this case they lose 10 points per book bid.

For a bid of 10, the team scores 200 points if they take 10 books. If a team gets double the amount of books bid, they get -100 points to discourage
"underbidding".  

The Play of the Hand: The player to dealer's left leads with any card. Each player, in turn, clockwise, must follow suit if able; if unable to follow suit, the player may play any card. If a player plays out of suit or "reneges", they may pick up the card and replace it only if it is before the next card is played, the exception to this rule is that "spades stick to the board", if a spade is played, it may not be picked up. If a player plays out of suit, the other team can request to "check their books" and look at what had been played to verify that the player "reneged" or played out of suit.  If a player reneges they lose 3 books. If a team checks the other teams books and they were wrong about them reneging, then they lose 3 books. If any rule is broken and the other team catches it, the rule breaking team looses 3 of their books or -30 points automatically.  If this causes the team to be set, then so be it.  A book containing a spade is won by the highest spade played; if no spade is played, the book is won by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each book plays first for the next book.

Winning the Game: The first team to score 500 or more points, or the team with the higher score if both achieve this on the same deal, wins the game. If there is a tie at 500 or more points, further deals must be played until the tie is broken.