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What Does Muggins Mean In Dominoes?

Are you someone who loves to play Domino’s games? Are you trying to be an expert in the game? Or are you someone who is in search of certain phrases like “ muggins ” and what it means in the game of dominoes? If that is the case, then you are in luck.

In this article, we will be talking all about dominoes and what muggins mean. So if that is something you are interested in, make sure to read till the very end.

What Does Muggins Mean In Dominoes
Image by LoggaWiggler from Pixabay

Origin Of Dominoes

Before we dive into talking about the inner workings of the dominoes game, let us take a look at the history and popularity of the game.

Many people out there do not know this, but one of the first game-playing equipment is the domino which is a relative of playing cards that has its root back to the 1300-1400 hundreds.

It must be mentioned that the game of Dominoes may be used for several purposes, such as to test a person’s ability to retain anger and show patience regardless of the outcomes of the game.

Originally, the pips which are essentially markings on dominoesrepresentthe outcomes of tossing two six-sided dice. The seven extra dominoes in the European version of the game set it apart from its Chinese counterparts.

Six of them represented the outcomes of a single dice throw, with the other half of the domino tile left blank, while the seventh represented the blank-blank combination.

Play Format

The reason why the game of domino took the world by storm is because of how addictive and fair it is.

There are no rooms to cheat, lie, or hide/remove any pieces to win. You may be surprised to know that the majority of domino games include emptying one’s hand while obstructing the playoff rivals.

The pips, which we mentioned above, are the spots on a tile in which the losing players’ hands are counted in games like Bergen and Muggins to determine the score.

Blocking games like Matador, Chicken Foot, and Mexican Train are some of the other play types that are played widely around the world. Not just that, but Some domino games imitate card games without the risk of the cards being blown away by the wind, etc.

Every type of domino game also aids in teaching children arithmetic concepts and number awareness. The technicality of the domino game can be adjusted according to the age range playing the game, thus showing that the game is versatile.

If you wish to know more about muggins and dominoes games, then make sure you head over to https://joywallet.com/article/games-that-pay-real-money/.

Understanding Muggins

As we have mentioned before, muggins is a type of domino game that differentiates slightly from the typical domino game. If you do not know much about muggins, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

The rule of the domino game known as “muggins,” sometimes known as “all fives,” is that if a player can place a piece so that the total of the open-end pips on the layout is a multiple of five, he or she scores that amount. It must be noted that essentially only five pieces are taken by each player.

The number of pips on the piece is scored by the leader if he poses (places) a 5-5, which is also known as double-five, 6-4, 5-0, or 3-2.

The second player earns 5 (2 + 3) if the leader doesn’t score, and the following player plays 4-3 to reach 2-4; if he or she can play 4-4 to reach 2-4, he or scores 10 because a doublet counts for its full value.

If he can match, he has no other choice but to play. However, in a situation where he does not, he draws till he can.

Calling Of Muggins

Now that you have a better understanding of what muggins is let us talk about when the term muggins is used.

It is important to remember that if one of the players misses a score as agreed upon, his or her opponent may call “muggins,” which essentially means “simpleton,” and take the score for himself/ herself.

The number of points awarded to the first player to play all of his pieces must be a multiple of five that is closest to the number of pips on pieces still in his opponent’s hand.

The lowest number of pips wins, and the score is calculated as before if neither hand can match. Now you may be asking yourself, what is the minimum score required for each of the players to win?

Well, the score could be anything depending on how long you want the game of domino to be but typically, in muggins, the first player to score 200 points in total wins.

In essence, a sniff is a muggins, a very well-liked domino game in the United States. However, the initial double played in sniff or more commonly known as muggins, may be placed either endwise or sideways.

This arrangement in the game of dominoes is known as à cheval and can be done at the player’s discretion. After that, this piece can be played both end-to-end and side-to-side.

Scoring Rules In The Dominoes Game

Hopefully, now you know how muggins work and what scores are needed to win the game. However, you may be asking yourself, how can one achieve scores with simple and effective tactics? The answer to that is quite a simple one.

The two open ends are put together once a player has finished adding a tile to the arrangement. The player instantly receives the score quantity of fives and/or threes in the sum if it is a multiple of five, three, or both.

These are the potential scoring sums for those who are new to this game and want to know more about scoring rules:

  • 3 to 1 point
  • 5 to 1 point
  • 2 points to 6 (two threes)
  • 3 to 9 (three threes)
  • 10 to 2 points (two fives)
  • 4 – 12 points (four threes)
  • 8 – 15 points (three fives and five threes)
  • 6 points to 18 (six threes)
  • 20 points to 4 (four fives)

Keep in mind that doubles only get their total pips if, at the time, they are at an open end of the pattern. Otherwise, they would not get any double and would only get singles or a zero score.

 The Takeaway

So there you go, folks! Now you know all about muggins and what it means in the game of Dominoes. Although it may look difficult to play and get a hold of, once you practice, you will easily be able to master it.

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