Line Up

Line Up (which is also known as Ends) is an easy dominoes game for young children. Children sit around a table. An adult or older child may need to explain the rules, shuffle and deal the dominoes and oversee the game.

Age: Young Children

No. of players: 4

Equipment: One standard set of double-six dominoes

Time: 5 minutes+

Aim: To be the first player to get rid of all their tiles.

1. Each player draws seven dominoes and looks at them without letting anyone else see them. (Younger children might need to hide them behind a book or similar.) The player with the double six domino puts it in the centre of the table to begin the layout.

2. The player to their left then attempts to put one of their tiles to match the number of spots on either end of the tile on the table. (In this case, both ends will be sixes.) The next player then tries to add a matching tile to either end of the layout, and so on.

3. If at any time a player cannot match one of their tiles, they can ask the player on their left to give them one. If that player does not have one either, the next player is required to give them a tile and so on. If none of the players have a suitable tile, the original player can put any tile to either end of the layout, even though it doesn't match.

4. The winner is the first player to get rid of all their dominoes.