How to Play Matador

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Matador is a domino game for two to four players that puts a clever twist on standard domino play. Rather than matching identical pip values, players must place tiles so that the two touching ends sum to seven. This single rule change transforms familiar dominoes into a game of real calculation and timing.

The game is popular at kitchen tables, in social clubs, and at family gatherings wherever a standard double-six set is available. Its appeal lies in the constant tension between holding back your matador wild tiles for a tight spot and spending them early to keep your turn alive.

A little history

The origins of Matador are not clearly documented. It belongs to the broader family of domino games that spread across Europe and the Americas from the eighteenth century onwards, and variations under the Matador name appear in domino game collections published in several countries through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beyond that, the precise time and place of its invention are uncertain.

Setting up

1. Turn all 28 tiles face down and shuffle them thoroughly.
2. Each player draws their starting hand: seven tiles each for two players, five tiles each for three or four players.
3. Remaining tiles form the boneyard (stock), left face down in reach of all players.
4. Decide the first player by mutual agreement or by each drawing one tile and returning it; highest pip total goes first.

How to play

1. The first player lays any tile face up in the centre to start the chain.
2. Play passes clockwise. On your turn you must place one tile so that the pip value it contributes to an open end, added to the pip value already showing at that end, equals exactly seven.
3. Example: if the open end shows a 4, you must play a tile whose touching end shows a 3 (because 4 + 3 = 7). If the open end shows a 0 (blank), you must play a tile whose touching end also shows a 0 (because 0 + 0 = not seven, so blanks can only be closed by a matador).
4. Matadors are the four wild tiles: the double-zero (0-0), and the tiles whose pips sum to seven: 6-1, 5-2, and 4-3. A matador may be placed on any open end regardless of what is showing there, and it may be placed in either orientation the player chooses.
5. After playing a matador, the end the matador presents to the chain becomes the new open end value for the next player to match against.
6. The chain grows at both ends. A player may add a tile to either open end on their turn.
7. If you cannot play any tile from your hand, you must draw from the boneyard one tile at a time until you can play or until the boneyard is exhausted.
8. If the boneyard is empty and you still cannot play, you pass your turn. You must announce the pass clearly.
9. If all players pass in succession with no tile played, the round ends immediately as a blocked game.
10. Play continues until one player places their last tile (goes out) or the game is blocked.

Winning and scoring

The player who plays their last tile wins the round. They score points equal to the total number of pips remaining in all other players' hands, rounded up to the nearest multiple of five if your group prefers simplified scoring. In a blocked game, the player holding the lowest pip total wins the round and scores the difference between their pip total and each opponent's pip total. A full game is typically played to a target of 100 or 200 points, and the first player to reach or exceed that target wins overall.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns matador orientation. The standard ruling is that the player who lays the matador chooses which end faces outward, and that chosen end immediately becomes the value opponents must respond to. The matador itself is never counted as an open end; only the value it presents matters. If a player forgets to announce a pass and simply sits in silence, the standard ruling is to treat this as a pass once the next player has drawn or played, but any tile drawn before the omission is noticed must be kept.

A second common edge case is the blank-end problem. Because 0 plus any non-zero number cannot equal seven, a blank open end can only be closed by a matador. This sometimes leaves the game effectively blocked on one end while the other end remains active. Play continues normally on the active end; players are not required to close the blank end before using the other. If both ends are blank, only matadors can be played anywhere, and the round will end quickly as players are forced to draw heavily or pass.

How to win more often

• Count your matadors carefully before spending one. A matador held late in the round gives you a guaranteed play when both ends are otherwise impossible to match.
• Watch which pip totals your opponents are struggling to match and try to steer open ends toward those values to force them to draw.
• If you hold several tiles with the same pip value, play to keep that value appearing at an open end so you can chain plays on consecutive turns.
• Do not draw from the boneyard more than necessary. Every tile you draw is a tile an opponent cannot reach, but it also adds to your pip count if you lose the round.
• In a two-player game, tracking which tiles have been played lets you calculate exactly what your opponent might hold, making the decision to open a blank end a calculated risk rather than a guess.

Variations

Five-Up Matador

Scoring is taken not just at the end of a round but also during play: any time a player places a tile that makes the sum of both open ends a multiple of five, they score that total immediately. This running score is added to the end-of-round score, producing higher and faster totals. The target is usually still 100 or 200 points.

Double-Nine Matador

Played with a double-nine set of 55 tiles. The target sum changes from seven to ten: each join must produce a combined pip count of ten rather than seven. The matadors become 9-1, 8-2, 7-3, 6-4, 5-5, and the double-zero. This version suits four players well and significantly lengthens the game, making hand management more demanding.

Team Matador

With four players, partners sit opposite each other and combine their scores. A player who goes out scores all pips held by both opponents, not just the opponent to their left. Partners may not show their tiles or communicate their hands explicitly, but experienced pairs develop an understanding of each other's tendencies through normal play. Target is typically 200 points per team.

Blind Matador

All tiles are dealt face down and players may not look at their own hand until the moment they draw a tile to play. On their turn a player draws one tile at a time from their face-down hand and either plays it or discards it face up out of the game. This strips away hand management and makes the game almost entirely probabilistic, giving younger or less experienced players a fairer chance against seasoned opponents.

Matador: frequently asked questions