Crescendo

Crescendo is a two-to-four player game of dominoes with escalating scores that lead to a grand finale.

Components

One set of double-nine dominoes, preferably with colored pips
One square 10 x 10 grid such that a domino covers any two adjacent squares. This is optional. (See Setup below.)
Paper and pencil to keep score.

Setup

Place and mix the dominoes face down to one side of the playing area but within easy reach of all players. This is the draw pile.

Place the empty game grid in the center of the playing area. Or, use 20 face-down dominoes from the draw pile to outline a 10 x 10 area, using five dominoes to a side. See Figure 1. As the game progresses and the limits of the board are determined by played dominoes, the face-down dominoes can then be returned to the draw pile.

Players determine who will play first. Each player draws seven dominoes to form a hand which should be kept hidden from the other players.

In turn order, each player positions one domino from his or her hand face-down onto the game grid so that the domino covers two adjacent squares and does not touch any other previously placed domino along an edge or at a corner. See Figure 2. The player then replenishes his or her hand from the draw pile back up to seven dominoes. When all players have placed a domino, they are turned face-up while keeping the domino faces in the same squares. This seeds the board. There is no scoring for this first round.

Game Play

Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise around the game board, each player performs all the following steps in order:

1. The player places a domino from his or her hand on any two empty squares of the game board.

2. The player determines his or her turn score and adds it to his or her game total. See Basic Terms and Scoring below. If his or her total score exceeds all other player total scores, he or she becomes the new leader. Leadership does not change hands on ties.

3. Lastly, the player draws another domino from the draw pile to bring his or her hand back up to seven. If the draw pile runs out, the player does not get a replacement domino.

Winning the Game

The object of the game is to be the first player whose game total surpasses a threshold score and to maintain the lead for one or two rounds of play. See Table 1.

Table 1. Winning Conditions

Figure 1. Standard 10 x 10 game board. You can print up a grid or use face-down dominoes to temporarily border the playing area.

Figure 2. Sample setup. During setup dominoes may not be placed orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to any other setup domino. However, they can touch the border dominoes if they are present.

Figure 3. Completing the setup. Flip the dominoes so that the faces remain in the same squares.

In the three- and four-player games all other players get one chance to take over the lead; for the two-player game the other player gets two rounds of play to beat the leader’s score. In the latter case, the leader does get one turn between the other player’s two turns. Note that tying the leader’s total score does not overtake or beat the leader’s score. If the leader successfully holds the lead, the game is over and that player wins the game. Bravo! If another player surpasses the leader's total score, this player becomes the new leader and must pass the same test to become the winner.

If dominoes can no longer fit onto the game board, the current scoring leader is the winner. Ties are not possible, even when space runs out, since the first player to achieve the winning or highest score is not dethroned unless a new higher score in reached.

Basic Terms

Face: Each domino has two faces whose values can range from zero (blank) to nine. The faces are separated by a small line segment which can be painted, imprinted, or imagined.

Scoring Region: When a domino is played face-up to the game board, the small line segment that separates its two faces can be thought of as extending across the board and splitting the game board into two scoring regions. See Figure 4. Each of these regions will help determine a score multiplier for the moving player’s turn.

Connected Group: A connected group is a set of domino faces - all of which have the same pip value and lie in the same scoring region. Two faces are connected if they are adjacent orthogonally or diagonally. The size of the group is how many faces are in the group. Size is used as a score multiplier.

Score Multiplier: Each face of a played domino generates a corresponding score multiplier. To determine a score multiplier, determine the size of the connected group that contains the played face and that lies entirely in the same scoring region as the played face.

Scoring

A player’s turn score is the product of the two score multipliers produced by a played domino. For example, if a player's score multipliers are three and five, the player's turn score would be 15 (=3 x 5). If doubles were played, this product is then doubled, 30 (3 x 5 x 2). The player’s turn score is then added to the player’s game total. Note that the number of pips on a face is used to determine groups and it is not used in the multiplication - ones are as useful as nines for creating groups.

Wildcards: When a player plays a domino that has one or two blank faces, that player may declare one value to replace the blank or blanks. For example, the player could play the double-blank domino as if it were a double-eight, but not as a one-eight. A player could play a blank-four domino as, say, a nine-four or even as a double-four with the doubling bonus in effect! See the Doubles section below. Of course, the player would be wise to choose a wildcard value that produces the best score multiplier. After the player has scored the wildcard domino, the selected wildcard value is forgotten and blank faces become ordinary blanks once again. If there is a large blank (zero) group on the board, a domino with a blank face can be placed as a zero. Normally, this is not the case. Blanks, once played, tend to block off groups of numbered faces, a useful defensive maneuver.

Doubles: Doubles, blank-blank to nine-nine, have an additional multiplier of two. After finding each face’s score multiplier and multiplying these together, the player then multiplies the result by two. This new value is then added to the player’s game total. For example, if a player places a double-three whose multipliers turn out to be four and five, the player’s turn score would be a rather large 40 (= 4 x 5 x 2). See Figure 7.

Print and Play

Click on the following link, ScoreBoard.pdf, and print a convenient scoring board sheet. Each player will need a small scoring token to use with the sheet.

Figure 4. Scoring regions. The placement of the three-two domino splits the board into two scoring regions - one above the arrowed line and one below. The arrowed line represents the extension of the line that separates the two faces of the three-two domino.

Figure 5. Connected groups. The placement of the two-nine domino creates two connected groups of domino faces, one group on either side of the arrowed line. Faces can be connected orthogonally or diagonally. The group on the left is size three and on the right size 2, for a turn score of 6 (3 x 2).

Figure 6. Wildcards. Here the blank-seven domino is played as if it were a two-seven, scoring 12 points (4 x 3). Notice that the two below the arrowed line is not part of the two-group because it does not lie in the proper scoring region. Playing the domino one square lower would score 15!

Figure 7. Doubles. When a double is played the normal turn score is doubled. Blanks on a domino can be assigned any one value. Here the double-blank domino is played as a double-three. The turn score for this placement is 12 ((2 x 3) x 2).

Please note that these game rules may be duplicated and distributed via the web but the rules may not be altered and full credit must be given to the designer, Phil Leduc. Otherwise, all rights are reserved. Those that wish to program or sell this game in any form should contact the author at philleduc.pled@gmail.com for permission or a license to do so.

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