How to Play Dominoes at LaFicha
Welcome to LaFicha, an online app for playing Team Dominoes with friends, family, or players from around the world. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how to create a table, configure your match, understand the game mechanics, and start playing.
For those unfamiliar with Team Dominoes, it is a popular game in Spain and Latin America played with tiles ("fichas") that are placed to match either end of a chain. The game is played in teams of two players each, with partners sitting opposite each other at the table. The objective is to be the first team to reach a certain number of points by winning games (rounds).
For questions about managing your account, keeping a rating, or other app-related topics, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page.
General Tips
- Practice with Bots: Play with robots to become familiar with the game before playing with others. From the home page, tap "Create table" to play with bots.
- Forced Plays: A forced play means the player had only one play to make, and by doing so they ran out of that suit.
- Thinking Plays: A thinking play means the player had multiple options to choose from.
- Play Speed: Avoid the forced-play timer by playing at a reasonable speed, that way you don't disclose to your opponents whether you had multiple options or not.
- Communication: Use the in-game video chat to communicate with your partner and opponents. Make sure the app has permission to access your camera and microphone.
- Rating: To keep a good rating, never abandon a match when you are playing with other humans. Your rating is only updated after a match to 100 points or more, with at least one other human player, is completed.
- Premium Features: With a Premium subscription, you can press a tile on the chain to check who played it.
- Safety: To make our app safer, online play with strangers on public tables has no video chat. Create a table and invite friends to play with video chat.
Key Terminology
Before you begin, here are some common terms used in dominoes and within the LaFicha app:
Match ("Partida" in Spanish): A complete competition consisting of several individual games. The first team to reach a predetermined score (e.g. 50, 100, 200, etc) wins the match.
Game ("Mano" in Spanish): A single round of play that ends when a player plays their last tile, the game becomes blocked, or a team's time runs out.
Blocked Game ("Juego Cerrado" or "Tranca" in Spanish): A situation where no player can make a legal move. The team with the lowest total pip count on their remaining tiles wins.
Dominate ("Bater el juego" in Spanish): The act of playing your last tile to win the game.
The Thought ("La Pensada" in Spanish**)**: The strategic use of time a player takes to make a move. This pause can signal to a partner that the player has multiple options, while a quick play often indicates a forced move.
Creating and Configuring Your Table
To start a match, you must first create a table and customize the rules. LaFicha offers several configuration options to tailor the game to your preferences.
Match Point Limit: Set the target score your team needs to reach to win the match.
Game Starting Rule: Decide who starts each new game after the first one. Your options are:
The winner of the previous game.
The loser of the previous game.
The player to the right of the previous starter (counter-clockwise rotation).
Note: This rule does not apply to the first game of a match, which is always started by the player holding the double-six tile.
Game Time Limit: Each team receives a set amount of time (from 60 to 600 seconds) to play all their tiles in a single game. If your team's timer runs out, you lose the game, and the opposing team is awarded 25 points.
Forced-Play Timer: This unique feature replicates the strategic concept of "the tought" ("la pensada") in an online environment.
- How it works: You can set a timer for 3, 5, or 10 seconds. If a player has only one possible move, the app will automatically play that tile after the timer expires and display a "forced" message. This prevents opponents from mistakenly thinking the player had other options. If the player has multiple options, a "thinking" message appears, correctly signaling to others that the player is making a strategic decision.
Swap Seats Rule: Choose whether to have partners on one team swap seats every two games or remain in the same positions for the entire match.
Pass the Start to Partner: Allow or disallow the player designated to start a game to pass this responsibility to their partner.
Understanding the Game Mechanics
Team Dominoes is a four-player game where partners sit across from each other. The game uses a standard 28-tile set with 7 suits (numbers) from zero (blank) to six. At the start of each game, all tiles are dealt, giving each player 7 tiles.
Objective: The primary goal is to be the first player to run out of tiles. If the game is blocked, the objective is for your team to have a lower combined pip total on unplayed tiles than your opponents.
Gameplay:
The first game of a match begins with the player holding the double-six.
Play proceeds counter-clockwise. Each player must add a tile to an open end of the chain, matching the numbers.
Doubles are traditionally placed perpendicularly to the chain.
If you cannot play a tile, you must pass your turn.
Winning a Game: A game concludes in one of three ways:
Domino: A player plays their last tile. Their team wins the hand.
Blocked Game: No player can make a move. The team with the lower total pip count on their remaining tiles wins.
Time Out: One team runs out of their allotted game time. The opposing team wins and scores 25 points.
Scoring: When a team wins by domino or a block, they score points based on the value of the tiles remaining in the losing team's hands.
Starting Your First Match
Once your table is configured (see above), you're ready to play.
When you first create a table, you will be the only human player. Your partner and two opponents will be filled by robots.
Optionally, invite friends to play at your table before starting. You will be prompted to sign in or create an account if you haven't done so.
As the table creator, you decide when to begin. Once you are happy with the players at your table, you can start the first match.
Normal gameplay will then begin, following the rules you have set. Good luck!
Rating, Abandoned Matches, and Completed Matches
Your rating, abandoned matches, and completed matches, are statistics that are only updated after completing a match to 100 points or more, that was played with least one other human player.
That means you can play with bots without worrying about your rating or abandon rate.