Mexican Train Dominoes has become a popular party game, and has spawned something of it’s own sub-culture within the domino family, inspiring clubs, tournaments, commercial games, and now an online version.

Mexican Train Dominoes Online, from DillyDallyGames, is a well-done version of the game, in which you compete against three computer opponents in thirteen rounds of dominoes action. The lowest cumulative score wins, and gets a chance to make the worldwide leaderboard list!

If you’re new to Mexican Train Dominoes, you can learn how to play using the in-game tutorial, or check out our collection of Mexican Train Dominoes Rules.

According to a post on listverse.com (Top 20 Greatest Strategy Games), Dominoes is the 20th-best strategy game of all time:

The game features bones (tiles) with a number of pips on them. Players match them up trying to empty their hands by matching one of the numbers with one of the free numbers on the table. Dominoes are also noted for being able to stand on end in long rows so that when one is knocked over they all fall in a row. A popular pasttime is lining up hundreds or thousands of dominoes to make designs when they fall.

OK …

Some domino games are purely mechanical, other can be quite strategic. Which dominoes game is the poster referring to? Doesn’t say.

The number one, most strategic game in the world, according to this list? Poker.

Uh, yeah.

What do you think? How should Dominoes rate in the pantheon of strategic games?

The first U.S. Open Domino Championship is being held in Mesquite, Nevada (1 hour north of Las Vegas) on December 6, 2008.

The tournament is organized by the USITA, an organization formed to promote fee-based internet tournaments of all types. USITA has an agreement with Game Colony to host all tournaments.

You must be a member of Game Colony (membership is free) to join USITA. Being a member of USITA will not guarantee you entry into tournaments (entry into tournaments will be on a first-come basis) but you must be a member of USITA to participate in USITA tournaments hosted by Game Colony.

In addition to the U.S. Open Domino Championship, the USITA hosts 12 online tournaments every month, with low entry fees and great cash prizes.

Join Game Colony

Learn more about the USITA and the U.S. Open Domino Championship.

Bendomino offers a new twist on the classic game of dominoes – literally!

Bendominoes play just like regular dominoes but their innovative, curved design gives players more control over the game. In this twisting game, a new bendomino in play needs to match by number to either end of the chain, but also has to fit! This adds an intriguing new element of strategy to a familiar game.

Each game of Bendominoes is unique, with a new pattern being created each time you play, with pieces twirling around the table.

Bendomino was created by Thierry Denoual and is published by Blue Orange Games. The Bendomino set includes 28 curved dominoes (a double-six set), and is intended for 2 to 4 players. Most standard domino games can be adapted for Bendominoes, once you account for the unusual shape of the tiles.

A Junior version of Bendomino is also available, which uses pictures instead of pips.

Learn more about Bendomino

Online video site VideoJug has produced an excellent introduction to the game of draw dominoes. The video includes everything from basic information about the dominoes themselves, to rules and variations for playing Draw Dominoes. Even if you’ve never played the game before, this video explains the rules in a simple and straightforward manner that will have you up and going in no time.

If you’re absolutely new to the game, you should probably be aware that the rules provided in the video are a bit non-standard, particularly in terms of their use of blanks as wildcards. Refer to our Draw Domino Rules for the rules you’re likely to find in most references and Draw Domino games.

Read more about the How To Play Dominoes Video and VideoJug.

Zigiz Dominos is an interesting new online game. The game is played solitaire-style, and it’s actually more a puzzle than a traditional dominoes game. Your goal is to play all of the stones onto the board, earning bonuses based on your speed and skill.

The flash-based gaming environment is quite rich, with great graphics and sound. The game is also easy to use, with a simple drag-and-drop interface.

Zigiz is a European skill gaming company, and offers a large number of great games, including card games, puzzle games, and arcade games, all of which can be played for free as long as you like, or played for a chance to win great cash prizes.

In addition to the Dominos game, Zigiz also offers Klondike Solitaire, Pyramid Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Mahjong Solitaire, a Yahtzee-style game, a Bejeweled-style game, and many more, all of which are very nicely done.

In an article in the Sacremento Bee (Domino Effect), staff writer Alison apRoberts writes about a new board game based on dominoes.

ZingaMino was created by an engineer named Dahmane Dahmani and his 11 year old son Yanni. Together, they formed a company to take their form of family fun to market. The game is the product of more than 2 ½ years of quality father-son creative brainstorming and considerable investment in professional design and prototyping. They introduced their game at the American International Toy Fair in New York City in February. “Today, it’s possible for game lovers everywhere – including children — to participate in the market,” Dahmani says.

ZingaMino is a colorful twist on classic dominoes where you literally “play outside-of-the-box.” Taken from Swahili, the word “Zinga” means to turn in circles, and that’s just what you’ll do. Players race to fill four game circles that must connect sequentially. The luck of the draw can bring a Zinga!™ for extra points or even the win. What goes around comes around in a beautiful balance of strategy and chance.

The game is available for sale from the ZingaMino web site for $29.95.

This is not, strictly-speaking, a domino game, which is why I’m not going to list it on this site’s Dominoes Software section. But Mah-Jomino is certainly a game that may be of interest to domino fans, particularly those who also enjoy the game of Mah Jong Solitaire.

Mah-Jomino, as its name implies, is a mixture of dominoes and mah jong. Basically, it’s mah jong solitaire played with domino-like tiles rather than classic mah jong tiles. The object of the game is remove matching pairs of tiles from the layout, until the entire board is cleared.

What makes this game different than all the other mah jong solitaire games is not just the use of domino tiles, but the fact that a domino tile has two ends. This small change helps to make Mah-Jomino a truly unique game, and a rather interesting and enjoyable one as well. It’s worth checking out.

Gamezebo offers a list of Tips & Tricks for the game.

More information about Mah-Jomino
Download Mah-Jomino (16.13MB)