Rules of Sniff Dominoes

The game Sniff which is a domino game closely related to All Fives and Muggins is a unique game. Regarded as one of the best games in dominos, particularly for two players. Sniff can be played as a game of partnership if there are four players.

Setup

After the dominoes are dealt, one tile is drawn by each player to decide who is the leader; the player who draws the highest tile goes first. Afterwards, the tiles are placed back in the pile for reshuffling. Tiles are then drawn by individual players to constitute their hands. In the succeeding hands, the initial player moves to the left. The number of players determines the amount of tiles to be selected. � 7 tiles each for 2 players � 6 tiles are drawn by 3 players � 4 players select 5 tiles each

The remaining number of tiles constitute the boneyard and are set aside to be drawn when necessary.

The game moves on a clockwise direction. When possible, a domino is added to a free end of the layout. When no move can be made by a player, he has to pick less than two dominoes in a single time from the boneyard. When two players are playing, the boneyard must have two dominoes left; on the other hand, for more than two players, all the remaining tiles on the boneyard can be drawn. The player passes when no dominoes remain.

The objective of Sniff is to make the free edges of the layout total to five or multiples of five (5, 10, 15, 20, etc.). The player who accumulates that kind of score gets that number of points.

At any point, there may be from two to four free edges. When a double is hit, all the dots are reflected in the total score.

Ending A Hand

A hand is terminated either when a player has consumed all his tiles, or when no more moves can be made, in this case the lowest hand accumulates the total of the points of his opponents, rounded to the nearest five and then divided by five. For instance, a winning player got 3 points in his hand, and the three losing players 5, 11, 13 points respectively, the final difference is 26 (5 + 11 + 13 - 3).

When rounded to nearest five and divided by the same number, the bonus points added to the total of the winner is 5 points. The points accumulated throughout the duration of the game will be retained by the players, however only the winner has additional points at the conclusion of the hand.