Dominoes / Rules
How do you play Chicken Foot dominoes?
Chicken Foot is usually played with a double-nine set of 55 tiles. The first hand starts on the [9-9]. Before anything else happens, a tile has to be played against each of its four sides. After that, players match tiles onto any open end, one tile a turn, drawing one from the boneyard when they cannot play. Whenever someone plays a double, they call it out and place it crossways, and nobody may play anywhere else until three more tiles have been played on it — the three "toes" of the chicken foot. The hand ends when one player goes out or nobody can move. Everyone scores the pips left in their hand, the double blank counts 50, and the next hand starts on the next double down. After the hand started by the double blank, the lowest total wins.
That is the game nearly everyone plays. Deal sizes, who leads, and what happens when a foot cannot be finished differ between written sources, and the two used below do not always agree.
The two rule sets compared here
Chicken Foot has no governing body. It is played mostly in the United States, and accounts of where it came from differ: pagat says it seems to have started in Texas or Mexico, while Wikipedia, citing Jennifer Kelley's Great Book of Domino Games (1999), credits Louis and Betty Howsley with inventing it in 1986. Neither claim could be checked against an earlier source.
The rules below come from two places:
- Pagat — the Chicken Foot page at pagat.com, contributed by Joe Celko and maintained by John McLeod, based on the rules of the former Domino Plaza site. Its deal table is credited to Puremco, a domino maker.
- The Kelley rules — the Wikipedia summary of Kelley's book, pages 37–39.
Your table may follow neither, and that is normal.
Setting up and dealing
Pagat recommends four or more players, and says two or three can use a double-six set instead. Big groups move up to double-twelve, double-fifteen or double-eighteen. Here is the Puremco deal pagat gives for a double-nine set, with pagat's smaller alternative alongside:
| Players | Puremco (double-9) | Pagat alternative (double-9) | Left in the boneyard (Puremco) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 20 each | 12 each | 15 |
| 3 | 14 each | 11 each | 13 |
| 4 | 11 each | 10 each | 11 |
| 5 | 9 each | — | 10 |
| 6 | 7 each | — | 13 |
For bigger sets, Puremco's figures for four players on double-twelve are 18 each; the Kelley rules give 15. Double-fifteen runs from 18 each for six players down to 9 each for twelve. Pick a number before you shuffle and stick to it for the game.
The boneyard is called the chicken yard and the layout the barnyard, at least on pagat. Most tables just say "the pile".
The opening double
Who leads. On pagat, whoever holds the [9-9] plays it to start the first hand. In the Kelley rules everyone draws a tile, the highest draw plays first, and the double goes in the centre of the table.
When nobody has it. Pagat has every player draw one tile, and repeat until someone finds it. Two pagat variations avoid this: start on the next double down, or take the starting double out and put it face up before the deal.
How often this comes up depends on the deal. The starting double is in the boneyard exactly as often as the boneyard's share of the set:
| Deal (double-9) | Starting double in the boneyard |
|---|---|
| 4 players, 11 each | 20.0% |
| 4 players, 10 each | 27.3% |
| 3 players, 14 each | 23.6% |
| 3 players, 11 each | 40.0% |
| 2 players, 12 each | 56.4% |
With pagat's smaller two-player deal you will draw for the opening double more often than not. Many tables simply put it out face up.
The four arms. The opening double takes one tile on each of its four sides before any arm gets a second tile. Pagat lists a "double chicken foot" variation that puts three tiles on each side instead. Wikipedia also mentions tables that fill only three sides, though without a source.
How the chicken foot works
Later doubles follow a different rule. When you play a double on an open end:
- Say so. Pagat's call is "chicken foot" or "chickie"; the Kelley rules have you name the number, as in "chickie fours".
- Place it crossways, its long side against the tile it joins.
- Before anyone plays anywhere else, three tiles carrying that number must be played on the far side of the double — one straight out and one angled away on each side. Those are the toes.
- A player who cannot add a toe draws one tile. If it fits, they may play it; if not, the turn passes.
Once all three toes are down, play opens again on every open end, including the three new ones. That is why the layout spreads out like a family tree.
Doubles take five tiles of their number. In a double-nine set each number appears on ten tiles, its double included. A foot on the fours uses the four it was played against, the [4-4] itself, and three toes — five of the ten fours. The opening double uses its own five: the double and four arms.
Drawing and passing
Both sources agree: if you cannot play, you draw one tile. If it fits, play it. If not, your turn is over. When the boneyard is empty, a player who cannot play simply passes. This is a single draw, not "draw until you can play". If your table plays that way, hands fill up much faster.
Pagat lists a "chicken little" variation: with one tile left you must say so. If someone points out first that you didn't, you draw a tile, or if the boneyard is empty you miss a turn.
When a foot cannot be finished
This is the rule people argue about most. Say someone plays the [1-1] late in a hand. If you can count seven of the ten ones on the table, the [1-1] included, three are left, exactly enough for the toes. If you can count eight, only two are left, and the foot can never be finished.
The Kelley rules, as Wikipedia summarises them, end the hand when no legal play remains, which can happen exactly this way: a double without three free tiles left for it, and the boneyard empty. Until the boneyard is empty, everyone who cannot add a toe draws. Pagat's page does not deal with the case at all.
Decide this before you play. Otherwise the first unfinishable foot turns into a twenty-minute argument.
Ending a hand and scoring
A hand ends when someone plays their last tile, or when the board is blocked and the boneyard is empty. Everyone counts the pips left in their own hand and adds them to their total. Low is good.
The double blank is the exception. On pagat it counts 50, with a variation at 25. The Kelley rules also make it 50 if you are caught holding it. They add a rule pagat does not have: you cannot finish a hand on a double, and if you do, you score 50.
To put 50 in proportion: a double-nine set has 495 pips in all, an average of nine a tile, and the heaviest tile, the [9-9], is worth 18. Under pagat's main rule, getting stuck with the double blank costs as much as nearly three [9-9]s.
How many hands
Each hand starts on the next double down: [9-9], then [8-8], and so on to the [0-0]. On a double-nine set that makes ten hands, and the lowest total after the tenth wins. Pagat also mentions playing to a large agreed total, with whoever reaches it losing. The Kelley description of how the next starting double is chosen contradicts itself, so most tables just count down.
How it differs from Mexican Train
Players who know Mexican Train usually pick up Chicken Foot in one hand. The differences that matter:
- No personal trains and no markers. Every open end belongs to everyone.
- Doubles need three tiles, not one, and they freeze the whole board until the foot is done.
- Usually double-nine, not double-twelve, so ten hands rather than thirteen.
- Both games score penalty pips, and the lowest total wins.
If you are unsure which set suits your group, our guide to double-six, double-nine and double-twelve gives the tile counts for each.
Playing it well
Pagat's strategy notes are short, and they hold up:
- Get rid of the double blank early. It is the one tile that costs more than it looks.
- Play a double when an opponent is down to one tile. Unless their last tile happens to carry that number, they must draw instead of going out.
- Keep track of which doubles are still out, and hold a tile of those numbers so you can answer a foot rather than draw.
Two more points follow from the scoring. Because every pip in your hand counts against you, shedding heavy tiles early is sound advice in this game, unlike in games where only the number of hands won matters (see how scoring works across traditions). And holding a double is a risk: a late [8-8] costs 16 if the hand ends before you can place it. The counting habits in keeping track of played tiles apply directly. Count a number's ten tiles before you play its double, and you will know whether the foot can be finished and who is likely to finish it.