When you can’t play, you draw from the pot — the leftover dominoes, which you may also hear called the boneyard. This covers when to draw, the settings that change how drawing works, and what happens when nobody can move at all.

The pot

Whatever’s left after everyone’s dominoes are dealt goes face down in the middle as the pot. The rules sometimes call it the boneyard, but most people round a table just say the pot — we’ll use that here. The count of what’s left in it is shown at the bottom of the screen as tiles left.

When to draw

Normally you draw from the pot because you have no legal play. You’re also allowed to draw when you could play, if you’d rather — unless Safe Mode is on.

Safe Mode

Safe Mode stops you drawing from the pot while you still have a playable domino, which is a helpful guard against drawing by mistake. The Draw button is disabled and an orange note explains why — on hover with a mouse, and permanently on touch screens where there’s no hover.

It’s a setting, and you can turn it on or off yourself at any time during a game: click Menu at the bottom of the screen, choose Display settings, and tick or untick it. It only affects you — not the other players. It’s off unless you turn it on.

After you draw

You can play the domino you just drew, or any other domino in your hand — you’re not obliged to use the new one.

Two ways to draw

How many dominoes you take is a game rule, chosen by whoever created the game. Unlike Safe Mode it’s fixed once play starts, and it’s the same for everyone at the table:

• Single draw (the default) — one domino per turn, then you pass if you still can’t play.
• Keep drawing — carry on drawing until you can play or the pot runs out.

Passing

If you still can’t play after drawing, your train opens up to everyone and your turn ends. And when the pot is empty and you have no legal move, the app passes for you — nobody gets stuck.