Everything one needs to know to master this delightful game

1Object and structure of the game

Sniff is a scoring and go-out game played with dominoes. The first player or team to reach 250 or more points wins the game.

A game is a series of hands. Each hand begins with a set — the first tile played — and ends when someone goes out by playing every tile in hand, or when the hand is blocked and nobody can play.

Points are earned two ways: by creating a board count that is a positive multiple of five during play, and by ending a hand with fewer tiles than your opponents.

2The dominoes and essential terms

2.1 The deck

Sniff uses all 28 tiles of a double-six set. Each end shows a number from 0 to 6; 0 is a blank. A single has two different values; a double has the same value on both ends. A tile is named by its values — a tile with 3 on one end and 4 on the other is the 3-4, or equally the 4-3.

A clutch is the group of seven tiles containing a particular value. There are exactly seven blanks, seven 1s, seven 2s, and so on through 6.

Players stand their tiles on edge, faces hidden from opponents. The number of tiles in each hand must stay visible to everyone.

2.2 Layout terminology

Layout

All face-up tiles in play on the table.

Open end, or extremity

An exposed end on which another tile may legally be played.

Coupling

Joining equal values. Except for the set, every play must couple a matching value to an open end.

Board count (BC)

The total value of all scoring extremities, including exposed doubles and the Sniff.

Boneyard

The facedown tiles not dealt into the starting hands.

3Beginning a game

3.1 Choosing the first setter

Turn all 28 tiles facedown and shuffle them thoroughly. Each player draws one tile. The higher total number of dots wins the right to set the first hand; if the totals tie, the tile containing the higher single value wins. If that ties too, draw again. Return the drawn tiles and reshuffle the complete deck before dealing.

The first setter may choose his chair.

3.2 The scorekeeper and the table

Choose one player as scorekeeper and keep the score pad visible throughout. Place the boneyard at the corner opposite the pad, so the layout has room to grow between them. The scorekeeper must preserve the score each player began every hand with — that is what makes a renege adjustment possible later.

4Starting each hand

4.1 Shuffle and draw

Turn all 28 tiles facedown and mix them. The setter draws first, and nobody else touches the deck until that draw is complete. The remaining tiles are moved into the boneyard without being exposed.

4.2 Making the set

The setter may play any tile as the first of the hand — no match is required, because the layout is empty. Five sets score immediately:

The set is the only score that need not be called by the player. The scorekeeper must record it, and an omitted set score may be corrected at any time during that hand.

5Playing a turn

5.1 Mandatory play and matching

A player holding a playable tile must play one. You may not go to the boneyard instead. Couple one end of your tile to an open end showing the same value; the matched ends become dead for scoring, and the unmatched outer end becomes a new extremity.

Where a tile could go in several places, or several tiles could be played, the choice is yours. But a playable tile placed on the table with the intention of coupling it must be played and may not be taken back. The play is complete once the tile is properly coupled and you take your hand off it.

5.2 Keeping the layout on the table

When an arm reaches the edge of the table, or interferes with the score pad or boneyard, reroute it with two 90-degree turns so it doubles back. The direction an arm runs has no effect on legal play or the board count.

6The Sniff — the first double played

The first double placed in a hand becomes the Sniff, also called the Spinner. It may be the set or appear later, and its identity never changes during that hand. It is the only tile that can eventually support play in four directions, and it is placed crosswise and centred on the line of play. Every later double is an ordinary double: usable in two directions only, and set offset with one half projecting beyond the line. That visual difference is how you identify the Sniff at a glance.

The Sniff must be developed in order: both long sides first, then its two short ends. No play may be made on a short end until both long sides are covered.

6.2 How the Sniff counts, stage by stage

There can never be more than four playable or scoring extremities on the layout. Only the first double is the Sniff — every later double stays an ordinary double even after the Sniff is fully covered and dead.

6.3 Ordinary doubles

An ordinary double at an extremity contributes both halves, so an exposed double-n counts 2n. Once another tile is coupled to it, the double is cut off and contributes nothing; the new outer end replaces it in the count.

7Board count and scoring during play

7.1 Calculating the board count

After every play, total all scoring extremities. If the layout is a single set tile, both its ends count. Once a single has been coupled in, count only its exposed outer value. An ordinary exposed double counts both halves; the Sniff counts by the stage table above.

If the board count is a positive multiple of five, the player scores that full amount. If it is not a multiple of five, there is no score. The highest possible play score is 35.

7.2 Calling and verifying a score

Except for a scoring set, a score must be announced before the next player couples a tile. Miss that moment and the score is lost. Any player may correct an undercall, an overcall or a nonexistent score before the next tile is coupled — after that the announced score stands, even if it was mathematically wrong.

7.3 Automatics and counter-scores

An automatic is a tile that preserves or changes a just-scored multiple of five by another multiple of five, producing an immediate counter-score. Automatics are strategy rather than a separate rule — the resulting board count must still be called normally.

The most versatile are the 0-5 and the 1-6, which is called the Pet. The Pet is not an automatic when played directly on an exposed double-1 or double-6.

A separate Sniff automatic applies while the Sniff has only one long side covered and is part of a score: a single matching the Sniff’s number, with a blank or 5 on its other end, played on the opposite long side, preserves the score or increases it by five.

7.4 Bulletproof play, fluidity and defence

A bulletproof or safe layout is one no remaining legal tile can score on. A leadback is a play that returns a value the opponent wants, helping him score, stay fluid or go out.

8The boneyard, drawing and passing

8.1 When you have no legal tile

Draw one facedown tile, provided the protected reserve will remain. The instant a drawn tile is examined it is committed — if it plays, it must be played that turn. If it does not, add it to your hand and draw a second, again only if the reserve will remain. If that one plays it must be played; if not, add it and pass.

You may never draw more than two tiles on one visit to the boneyard. A draw is complete when you see the face or feel the dots.

8.2 The protected reserve and passing

In two-player Singles the last two boneyard tiles are never examined or played, so no draw may take the boneyard below two. If you cannot play when only the protected tiles remain, you pass; your opponent continues if able. The hand ends only when nobody can play — any legal play in between resets the sequence of passes.

9Ending and scoring a hand

9.1 Going out

A player goes out by legally playing his last tile, and the hand ends immediately. He receives the total dots left in the opponent’s hand, rounded to the nearest five, on top of any play scores already earned. The award may be 0 if the opponent has nothing left.

9.2 A blocked hand

A hand is blocked when nobody can legally play and no legal draw remains. Each player totals the dots in his own hand, and the lower total receives the opponent’s full remaining total, rounded to the nearest five — not the difference between the hands. Equal totals score nothing for either player.

Rounding: remainders of 0, 1 or 2 round down; 3 or 4 round up.

9.3 Winning

The first player to reach 250 or more wins. Exactly 250 is not required.

10Between hands and games

The set alternates from hand to hand and keeps alternating between games for as long as the players keep their seats. Winning the previous game does not earn the next set. Each new hand starts from a full reshuffle of all 28 tiles and re-deal (4.1).

11Penalties and irregularities

11.1 The renege

A renege — or revoke — is the only formally penalised offence in Sniff. It happens when a player holds a playable tile but goes to the boneyard instead, or draws a playable tile and passes rather than playing it.

Discovered, announced and proved before the next hand begins, the hand stops immediately. The offender loses every point earned in that hand and a further 25 points; the score may go negative. The other player keeps points already recorded but receives no further score and no go-out award. A player is not required to report an offence he did not notice — if nobody proves it in time, play proceeds as though it did not happen.

By prior agreement an alternative may be used: play the hand out, keep all points scored, and deduct 50 from the offender at the end. The 25-point procedure above is preferred.

11.2–11.5 Other irregularities

An exposed tile while drawing

Keep it. No penalty, and no requirement to play it at any particular time.

An exposed boneyard tile

Continue by agreement once everyone has seen it and the boneyard is reshuffled; otherwise throw the hand in and redraw.

Too many or too few starting tiles

An overdraw keeps every tile drawn. An underdraw takes the missing tile when noticed; if never noticed, there is no later penalty.

An illegal coupling found too late

Correct it immediately if you can. Once the next player has properly coupled a tile and released it, the layout stands and all scores stand. There is no compensation or replay.

A marked or damaged tile

If a chip or mark makes any facedown tile identifiable, the whole set must be replaced.

12Etiquette and permitted information

By the book, game-related speech is limited to:

• Calling a score.
• Announcing the current board count.
• Reminding players which values are on the open ends.

No player may reveal useful information about his own holdings or strategy, suggest a play, mislead an opponent with game information, or signal through speech or handling of tiles. Social talk is fine only while it conveys nothing useful about the hand.

Keep faces concealed but tile counts visible. Do not bow or manipulate your hand in a way that hints at what is playable. Wait for the preceding player to finish drawing. Keep the score pad in view, protect the boneyard, and play with reasonable dispatch — the dots will not change while you deliberate.

13Consolidated playing advice

14Optional traditional game-point scoring

After a game is won, the book offers an optional game-point award based on the losing player’s final score. These may be used to score a series across a day’s play; any monetary use is a separate agreement and is not required to play Sniff.

A loser at 150 or below is Rubed; reaching 155 crosses the Rube line.

15Traditional Sniff vocabulary

Automatic

A counter-scoring tile that preserves or changes a prior multiple-of-five score by another multiple of five.

Bareass / Lighthouse

Setting a double without another tile of that value in hand.

Bell is ringing / Bongoed

One player is 100 or more points ahead, or behind.

Bone

The boneyard.

Bulletproof / Safe

A layout the opponent cannot score on.

Diver

A player going to the boneyard.

Episcopal

A 10-point board count with extremities 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Fluid

Able to play on two or more open values.

Go-out seat / The Seat

The player with the fewest tiles, initially held by the setter.

Leadback

A play that restores a value useful to the opponent.

Moonfaced

Scoring no points during a hand.

Pet / Fake Pet

The 1-6 automatic; the 1-3 associated with an exposed double-3.

Rack

A player’s own tiles, stood on edge with the faces hidden from everyone else. Sometimes called a hand — the two mean the same thing.

Renege / Revoke

Failing to play a playable tile from the hand or from a boneyard draw.

Sniff / Spinner

The first double domino played, and the only tile that can be played on all four sides.

Terminating the Sniff

Covering the fourth and final direction of the Sniff.

Shunk shunk

The game is over.

Weight in the rack

The total number of dots on the tiles a player is holding. It is what the player who goes out is paid, and what settles a blocked hand — so weight is a liability at both ends.

15.1 Traditional tile names

—Two, three and four players

Everything above is common to every game of Sniff. Only three things change with the number of players — the draw, the protected reserve, and, in the four-player game, that you play in partnerships.

Three players — the Three Game

Also called Cutthroat or Screw Your Buddy. Each player is on his own. Each draws six tiles, and one tile must remain in the boneyard, never drawn.

The set rotates clockwise from hand to hand, and keeps rotating between games while the players keep their seats — it does not alternate as it does with two.

The player who goes out is awarded the combined total of the dots left in both opponents’ hands, rounded to the nearest five. If the hand is blocked, the player holding the fewest pips takes both opponents’ totals combined — again the full total, not the difference — and a tie for lowest scores nothing.

Four players — Doubles

Partners sit opposite one another, so play alternates between the two sides as it passes round the table. Each player draws five tiles, and no tile is protected — unlike two- and three-player Sniff, the boneyard in Doubles may be drawn dry. Play proceeds clockwise, and the set rotates clockwise from hand to hand and between games.

The partnership of the player who goes out receives the combined dots left in both opponents’ hands, rounded to the nearest five. Scores are kept by partnership, and the first partnership to 250 wins. If the hand is blocked, each partnership’s two hands are added together and the lower total takes the opposing partnership’s combined total; tied totals score nothing.

Penalties fall on the partnership: a renege costs the side any points recorded that hand and a further 25, and a partnership score may go negative. The etiquette rules apply without relaxation between partners — you read one another from the tiles played, never from anything said at the table.