That's It

This was a game developed by David Galt for Cardinal Industries double fifteen domino set. The game does not scale down to a double six or double nine set of dominoes. It is a version of Gin Rummy or the Chinese game Kap Tai Shap and follows the convention that doubles are treated as a suit when forming melds.

Equipment

The game uses a double fifteen domino set. The game can be played by two or more players to an agreed upon score.

The Deal

The players draw a hand of seven tiles, leaving the rest in the boneyard.

The Play

A player takes a tile from the boneyard. If he can use it in his hand, he keeps it and discards another tile face up on the table. If he does not wish to keep the drawn tile, he discards it tile face up on the table.

The following player has the option of picking up the discarded tile for his hand if he wishes. If he does so, he then replaces the discarded tile with one from his own hand. If he decides that he does not want the discarded tile, the tile is put into a "trash pile" and is not used in the rest of the game. The following player then draws a tile from the boneyard and proceeds as the player before him did. Notice that this means that you can get tiles only from the boneyard or the player to your immediate right.

Scoring

The game is played to some agreed upon total of points. Poker chips can be used for keeping track of the scores, since the number of points per hand will be fairly small.

The goal of the game is to make a four tile meld and a three tile meld. A player doing so calls "That's it" and reveals his hand in his turn.

[Presumably if no one calls "that's it", the play ends when a player needs to fraw from the boneyard and it is empty. Probably no one scores in this case. JM]

There are two types of meld:

1. A set of three or four doubles is worth one point. Melds of doubles score one bonus point for each consecutive pair of doubles. For example:
   [0-0] [2-2] [10-10] [7-7] = 1 point
   [0-0] [2-2] [10-10] = 1 point
   [0-0] [1-1] [10-10] [7-7] = 1 point + 1 bonus points = 2 points
   [0-0] [1-1] [10-10] = 1 point + 1 bonus points = 2 points
   [0-0] [1-1] [2-2] [10-10] = 1 point + 2 bonus points = 3 points
   [0-0] [1-1] [9-9] [10-10] = 1 point + 2 bonus points = 3 points

   If all the tiles in the meld are consecutive, add 2 points per tile, for example:

   [0-0] [1-1] [2-2] [3-3] = 1 point + 8 bonus points = 9 points
   [0-0] [1-1] [2-2] = 1 point + 6 bonus points = 7 points
2. A set of three or four tiles in the same suit and it is worth one point. Suit melds score one bonus point for each consecutive pair numbers within the suit. The double of the suit can be used as a tile in that suit. For example, let the suit of the meld be seven:
   [7-0] [7-2] [7-10] [7-7] = 1 point
   [7-0] [7-2] [7-10] = 1 point
   [7-0] [7-1] [7-10] [7-7] = 1 point + 1 bonus points = 2 points
   [7-0] [7-1] [7-10] = 1 point + 1 bonus points = 2 points
   [7-0] [7-1] [7-2] [7-10] = 1 point + 2 bonus points = 3 points
   [7-0] [7-7] [7-8] = 1 point + 1 bonus points = 2 points
   [7-0] [7-1] [7-9] [7-10] = 1 point + 2 bonus points = 3 points

   If all the tiles in the meld are consecutive, add 2 point per tile, for example:

   [7-0] [7-1] [7-2] [7-3] = 1 point + 8 bonus points = 9 points
   [7-0] [7-1] [7-2] = 1 point + 6 bonus points = 7 points

If both melds are in the same suit or are both doubles, the score is doubled. Only the winning hand is scored.

Comments & Strategy

It is more important to complete your hand and get some points, than it is to try to improve a hand.

Notice that the length of the melds leads to funny situations in counting points. For example, if you had this four tile meld:

[7-0] [7-1] [7-2] [7-10] = 1 point + 2 bonus points = 3 points

You would be better off throwing away the [7-10] tile to give yourself a three tile suit meld with consecutive numbers in the suit, thus:

[7-0] [7-1] [7-2] = 1 point + 6 bonus points = 7 points

The game can also be played with a hand of ten tiles and the goal of making a four tile meld and a pair of three tile melds.