Settings

This is the full list, one setting at a time. Game settings are the rules of the table — whoever creates the game picks them, they apply to everybody, and they are fixed once play starts. Display settings are yours alone: they change how the board looks and sounds on your screen, they can be changed mid-game, and nobody else is affected. See Are my settings applied to everyone? if you only want that distinction.

Where to find them

Game settings are chosen in Step 2: Settings while you set a game up. Your own defaults for new games live on your Account page, under Game settings.

Display settings are in the game menu: open a game, click Menu to the left of your dominoes, and choose Display Settings. Your defaults are on the Account page under Display Settings.

A note on the pictures below: they are shot in a new game’s setup screen, which is the one place every setting appears together.

Game settings

The rules of the table. Everyone in the game plays by them, and they cannot be changed once the first domino is down — so it is worth a look before you press Start.

Who should start each round?

Who takes the first turn of each round. Whoever won the last round is the default; the person who created the game starts the very first round, since there is no winner yet. Random player each round picks somebody at random every time.

Starting Round

Which double the game opens on. A full game starts at 12 and counts down one per round to the double blank — thirteen rounds. Starting lower is the simplest way to make a shorter game: 6 gives you seven rounds, 3 gives you four. Default: 12.

Must Satisfy Doubles during the game

When on, a double played during the round has to be covered before normal play carries on. Turn it off and doubles behave like any other domino. On by default. See Doubles explained.

Must Satisfy Doubles to go out

When on, nobody can play their last domino and end the round while an uncovered double is sitting on the table. This is independent of the setting above — you can have either one on without the other. On by default.

Train Branching on Doubles

When on, a train can split into two branches once a double on it has been covered, which gives everybody more places to play. Turn it off and trains stay a single line, which is easier to follow. On by default. It lives under Advanced Settings.

Double-Zero Penalty

Extra points added to your score if you are caught holding the double blank (0-0) when a round ends. Anything from 0 to 50, in steps of 5. Zero by default, which means no penalty. Under Advanced Settings.

Tiles Per Player

How many dominoes each person is dealt. Standard scales with the number of players — 15 each for two to four, 11 for five or six, 8 for seven or eight — or you can fix a number yourself. Default: Standard. Under Advanced Settings, and only when setting up a game: it depends on who is at the table, so it is not an account default.

Display settings

Yours alone. Change them whenever you like, including in the middle of a turn; they take effect straight away and nobody else can tell.

Element Size

How big everything on the board is. Five steps, and it scales the whole board — dominoes, numbers and buttons — not just the text. The second step is the default. This is the first thing to reach for if you are squinting on a phone or tablet.

Change number of columns on screen

How many players’ trains are visible at once. Fewer columns means bigger trains. It sits directly under Element Size in the in-game menu, and it only appears where there is room for more than one column — on a phone you see one train at a time and move between them with the arrows. There is no picture here because it depends on a game in progress.

Color Theme

Light, Dark, or System to follow whatever your phone or computer is set to. This one is saved to your account rather than to the browser, so it follows you to every device you sign in on. Default: System. It is on your Account page, under Website and app settings.

Add colors to tiles

Gives every number its own strong colour, the same in every game. A lot of people find it much faster to read than counting pips, and it is worth trying even if you have no trouble seeing the board. Off by default.

Safe Mode

Stops you drawing from the pot, or putting your train up, while you are still holding a domino you could legally play. It is the setting that prevents the most common beginner mistake, and it is worth switching on while you learn. Off by default.

Show Play Hints

Marks the spots where you could play, with the number each one needs. On by default — turn it off if you would rather work the board out yourself.

Disable confirm buttons

Normally the game asks you to confirm when you draw, put your train up, or end your turn, so a mis-tap does not cost you a turn. Tick this to skip the confirm step and play faster. Off by default, meaning the confirmations are on.

Show divider tile

Puts a blank tile in your hand — no numbers, just a slash — that you can drag anywhere among your dominoes. It is only there to divide your hand into two groups: some players like to keep the tiles they can play on one side of it and the rest on the other. It has no value, it is not counted in your points, and it cannot be played on a train — drag it onto one and it hops straight back to where it was. On a phone, tap it and use the arrow buttons to move it, the same as any other tile. On by default; untick this to hide it. See What is the divider tile? for more.

Hide notifications

Turns off the small pop-up messages that appear during a game — whose turn it is, what somebody just played. Off by default. Set it on your Account page and every new game starts that way; change it in a game’s menu and it applies to that game only. See Sounds and notifications.

Disable all sounds

Mutes every sound. Off by default, so sounds are on. Like the setting above, your Account page holds the value new games start with, and a game’s own menu overrides it for that game.

Disable player turn ding

The quieter option, sitting underneath the one above: it silences the ding that other people hear when you play, while you still hear it when it becomes your turn. Off by default.

Reorder columns

Not a toggle so much as a rearrangement: it lets you drag players’ columns into the order you want, so the people you care about watching are next to each other. It is at the bottom of the in-game Display Settings, and like the column count it needs a game in progress, so there is no picture.

Two more things worth knowing

Your Account page holds defaults for new games, copied in the moment a game is made. The two halves reach different games: your Game settings are used for games you create, while your Display settings come with you into every game, including ones you join. Changing either later does not reach back into a game already running.

And nothing here can be changed by anybody else. If a rule seems to have changed mid-game, it has not — see Are my settings applied to everyone? for what the two kinds of setting can and cannot do.

Related

• Are my settings applied to everyone?
• Sounds and notifications
• Accessibility
• Game rule options