Dominican Domino Tournament Format

The Dominican federation is the Federación Dominicana de Dominó, Fedodo (also written Fededodo). According to El Nuevo Diario, it was set up on 17 December 1972 and incorporated in 1974, and in 2018 it had about 4,000 registered players in 25 associations. The same paper says a decree by Leonel Fernández declared domino a sport.

No Fedodo rulebook was found online. What is published are the rules of single events, like the two examples below. The Dominican Republic also competes in international tournaments: it won the IX FID world championship in San José, Costa Rica, in June 2011, with the pair Claudio Uribe and Joaquín Martínez, according to El Día.

In everyday play the team that goes out scores only the losers' tiles, not the partner's, writes the linguist Roberto Guzmán in Acento. Some tables count every tile left, and so did the 2019 Santiago tournament: its rules say 'se cuenta todas las fichas'. In international tournaments, the FID rulebook also counts every tile left.

Under either count, heavy tiles left in your hand can end up on the other team's score.

The Dominican tournaments we found that name a target play to 200. The 2018 Fedodo event used the Swiss system, 200 tantos a game, with a 35-minute limit, El Nuevo Diario reported. The 2019 Santiago tournament played to 200 by sudden death, the losing pair out ('el que perdió se va'), as its rules in Momento Deportivo RD say.

Everyday tables usually play to 100, 'hasta un ciento', writes Guzmán; some play to 200, depending on the table. A tournament fixes its target in its rules.

Both published Dominican rule sets block 'con el de abajo': the blocker compares his tiles with the player on his right. The Santiago 2019 sheet says 'el tranque es con el de abajo'; La Guáyiga 2025 says 'se tranca con el jugador de abajo'. FichaFlow uses the same rule. The Santiago sheet also lists a pair-against-pair tranque where a tie scores nothing, so ask the organisers which one applies.

In international tournaments (FID rules), the pair with fewer points wins the tranque, and a tie scores nothing.

The two published rule sets show both usual values. Santiago 2019: capicúa 25, paso a la salida 25, and paso corrido worth nothing. La Guáyiga 2025: capicúa +30, and a paso corrido gave +30 to the other team.

Penalties are written down too. In Santiago, passing with a playable tile cost the guilty pair 50 and gave the other pair 50. In La Guáyiga, passing with a tile, opening or playing out of turn, lifting a tile out of turn, or a 'chivo' (a tile that does not fit) gave +30 to the other team, and 'si levantas ficha y vas, debes jugarla'.

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. The Tranque bonus also starts at 0 extra.