Teaching Pinhole (& Others) To Play Chicken Foot!

When we play chicken foot we use dominos in our double fifteen set. Those dominos not only have patterns for the various numbers denominations but are color coded as well. Having double fifteen, double twelve or double nine dominos allows more people to play at one time. But it is not necessary to have special dominos to play.

Let's use the standard double six set as our base for the description of the game, and you can modify it to whatever set you have. We will assume four players. Each player selects seven dominos. The object of the game is to get rid of the dominos in your hand. The game starts with the one who has drawn the double six laying it face up in the middle. Play moves to the player on the left. If s/he has a six in his hand he places it next to the double, on either side, with the six adjacent to the double. Play continues in the same direction, with each player required to play a six until there is a three pronged chicken foot on each side of the double. If a player runs out of sixes, s/he passes his/her turn.

When both side of the double have been turned into a chicken foot, the next player is free to play any domino in their hand that matches one of the six that are attached to the double six. The side of the domino that matches the denomination of the one on the board are juxtaposed. If a double is played, it must be played upon until it is covered by a three pronged chicken foot. Then the next player is free to play on any open end that matches one of the dominos in his.her hand. If s/he cannot play, s/he passes.

When one player runs out of dominos, or if the board is locked so that no one has a domino that can be played. Each player then counts the number of total spots on their remaining dominos. That amount is their score for the hand. The only domino that does not count its total spots is the double blank. It counts fifty points against the player that gets caught with it remaining in their hand at the end of the set.

The second set begins with the double five, the next with the double four, and so on till each double has started a round. So if you play with a double six set, a game is seven rounds. Winner is the player with the FEWEST points at the end of the game!

i hope this is clear to the readers, if not ask me to explain some item to you. It is a great game for families to play over the holidays. Even the little children can play. And those double nine dominos are less than ten dollars, but they allow far more folks to play at once, so I think the investment is well worth it!

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