How to play All Fives
Score points during the hand whenever the ends of the line add up to a multiple of five. The first double is the spinner, so the line can grow in four directions. Play to 150 (or your table’s target).
Counting the ends
All Fives is a counting game. After every play, you add up the open ends of the line.
That total is the count, and a double sitting on an end counts both of its halves. Everything in this game comes back to it.
My cousins in New York could count a table faster than I could say hello. You’ll get there.
Remember
- After every play, add up the open ends: that total is the count.
- A double sitting on an end counts both of its halves.
Scoring on the fives
Here’s the whole point of All Fives. When the count lands on a multiple of 5, you score that many points.
Make it 10, you get 10. Make it 15, you get 15. Make it 13 and you get nothing.
At the Sunday tables in Miami we play to 150, and every five counts.
Remember
- When the count lands on a multiple of 5, whoever just played scores the whole count.
- Before you play, try every tile on every end, looking for a multiple of 5.
The spinner
The first double played is the spinner. It sits crosswise, and the line can grow off it in four directions.
First both of its sides need a tile. Then its top and bottom open up too.
An open arm with nothing on it adds nothing to the count. Once somebody plays there, its end counts like any other.
Remember
- The first double is the spinner: once both its sides are covered, it opens up and down.
- An empty arm adds nothing to the count until somebody plays on it.
- Once both its sides are covered, the spinner itself stops counting.
The boneyard
In All Fives, the tiles nobody was dealt sit face down in the boneyard.
If nothing in your hand fits, you draw from the boneyard, one tile at a time, until something does.
You pass only when the boneyard is empty. My cousin Eddie hated that rule. He drew half the boneyard once.
Remember
- Nothing fits? Draw one tile at a time until one does, and pass only when the boneyard is empty.
- If a tile fits, you have to play it, even if it won’t score.
Ending a hand
A hand ends one of two ways. Somebody plays their last tile, or nobody can play at all.
Go out first and you score the pips left in the other side’s hands, rounded to the nearest 5.
If the game is blocked, everybody counts their pips. The lighter side scores the difference, rounded the same way.
Remember
- Go out first and you score the pips left in the other side’s hands, rounded to the nearest 5.
- If the hand is blocked, the lighter side scores the difference, rounded to the nearest 5.