Dominican domino culture
Dominican Domino Sayings
A Dominican domino table has its own language. These are the calls, table sayings and expressions that Dominican columnists and reporters have written down.
5 min read
Published July 17, 2026
Updated October 15, 2026
Quick answer
Short answer
The basic calls are 'paso' (you have no tile that fits), 'tranque' (the game is closed to count the points) and 'capicúa' (going out on a tile that fits both ends). Around them, Dominican writers record sayings such as 'los mirones son de cera', table talk like 'Tíralo, si te atreves', and domino phrases used off the table, such as 'pasar con ficha' and 'hacer zapata'.
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You can learn the rules from a page, but the table speaks its own language. Here we keep to the phrases that Dominican writers have recorded, and say who recorded them.
01.
The calls: words that change the count
The linguist Roberto Guzmán, in Acento, explains the basics. You 'pasas' when you hold no tile that fits. 'Trancar' is closing the game on purpose to count the points, the tantos. A 'capicúa' is going out on a tile that fits both ends, and the Diccionario de americanismos records the word for the Dominican Republic.
Passing while holding a tile that fits is a foul. El Inmobiliario titled its feature on Dominican domino 'aquí no se pasa con fichas', and each table punishes it in its own way.
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'Paso': you have no tile that fits.
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'Tranque': the game is closed to count the tantos.
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'Capicúa': going out on a tile that fits both ends.
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Pasar con ficha: passing while you can play, a foul.
02.
What the fichas are called
The columnist Aníbal de Castro, in Diario Libre, gives some tiles their table names: the double six is the ficha de autoridad, the double blank is la cajita or el muerto, and the double five is la estrella.
He also writes about the sound: the dry knock of a tile on the table always brings a short pause. El Inmobiliario uses the same image, the golpe seco that opens the evening.
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Double six: ficha de autoridad.
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Double blank: la cajita or el muerto.
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Double five: la estrella.
03.
Table talk and the onlookers
El Inmobiliario quotes the table talk: 'Tíralo, si te atreves', 'Yo te tengo leído', and calls the game a coded conversation. Players there speak of leer la mesa (reading the table), cargar, being amarrao (playing too carefully) and acostarse (following the rhythm).
Guzmán records an unwritten rule: 'los mirones son de cera', onlookers cannot give opinions. When there is money on the table, players keep people away, and they watch that the opponents do not make señas. Aníbal de Castro calls the people watching and commenting around the table el coro.
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'Tíralo, si te atreves' and 'Yo te tengo leído' (El Inmobiliario).
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'Los mirones son de cera': onlookers stay quiet (Acento).
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Players watch for señas between opponents (Acento).
04.
Domino words off the table
Guzmán notes that 'pasar con ficha' also means to play dumb, and that 'hacer zapata' means eating something solid with the drinks. In politics a negotiation gets 'trancada', and someone 'mueve sus fichas' when placing people in positions; being 'una ficha conocida' is not a compliment (Acento; Diario Libre). Guzmán also writes that a tranque is a problem with no visible way out.
A Dominican column by Manuel Quiterio Cedeño in Resumen Turismo says the phrase 'repite, mata y cuadra' comes from the popular game of domino. In FichaFlow, the events behind the calls are scored: capicúa, pase de salida, pase redondo and the tranque count.
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Pasar con ficha: to play dumb (Acento).
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Hacer zapata: eat something solid with the drinks (Acento).
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'Repite, mata y cuadra': a domino phrase (Resumen Turismo).
05.
Bonuses and regional differences
FichaFlow starts capicúa, pase de salida and pase redondo (o corrido) at 25. At the table they pay 25 or 30, depending on the table. Chuchazo is a Puerto Rican finish and pollona a Cuban word; both start at 0 in FichaFlow.
Bring this to the table
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Paso, tranque and capicúa are the calls that change the count.
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'Los mirones son de cera': onlookers do not give opinions.
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Domino words travel off the table: pasar con ficha, mover sus fichas, trancar.
Questions from the table
What do you say when you can't play in domino?
'Paso.' You pass when you hold no tile that fits. Passing while you hold one, pasar con ficha, is a foul.
What does 'capicúa' mean at the table?
Going out on a tile that fits both ends. At the table it pays 25 or 30, depending on the table; FichaFlow starts it at 25.
What does 'los mirones son de cera' mean?
It is an unwritten rule, recorded by the linguist Roberto Guzmán: people watching the game cannot give opinions.
Is trash talk allowed in Dominican domino?
Talk is part of many tables: El Inmobiliario quotes lines like 'Tíralo, si te atreves'. What players watch for are señas, signals between partners.
Where this comes from
Want to check the details? These are the references we used.
- Dominó (Roberto Guzmán, De palabra en palabra)
Acento · Accessed October 15, 2026
Linguist Roberto Guzmán: pasar, trancar, capicúa, los mirones son de cera, señas, pasar con ficha, hacer zapata.
- Tranque (Roberto Guzmán)
Acento · Accessed October 15, 2026
Trancar and tranque, also a problem with no visible solution.
- La república de las fichas (Aníbal de Castro)
Diario Libre · Accessed October 15, 2026
Column with tile nicknames, the sound of the tile, el coro and mover sus fichas.
- La tradición del dominó: Porque aquí no se pasa con fichas
El Inmobiliario · Accessed October 15, 2026
Dominican feature: table talk, leer la mesa, amarrao, acostarse, and no passing with a tile.
- Dominó (Dominó de República Dominicana)
Wikipedia en español · Accessed October 15, 2026
Capicúa, pase de salida and pase corrido pay 25 or 30, depending on the table.
- Cómo jugar al Dominó - Reglas del Dominó
Dominó: arte o ciencia · Accessed October 15, 2026
Capicúa, pase de salida and pase redondo (o corrido), normally 25.
- capicúa
ASALE · Accessed October 15, 2026
Diccionario de americanismos records capicúa for the Dominican Republic.
- pollona
ASALE · Accessed October 15, 2026
Diccionario de americanismos marks pollona as a Cuban domino word.
- Repite, mata y cuadra, como en dominó (Manuel Quiterio Cedeño)
Resumen Turismo · Accessed October 15, 2026
Dominican column: 'repite, mata y cuadra' is a phrase from domino.
- Reglas del dominó boricua
mesa28 · Accessed October 15, 2026
Puerto Rican rules where the chuchazo is a finish on the double blank.
