How to play
Everyone starts with a castle. Each domino has two squares of land (field, forest, lake, meadow, marsh or mine), and some squares have crowns. Each round a new row of dominoes is laid out, lowest number first; better dominoes have higher numbers.
Picking. In the first round, players take turns picking a domino from the row. After that, the order of the row sets the order of play: whoever picked the lowest domino last round goes first. So a weak domino now buys you first pick next time.
Placing. On your turn, first place the domino you picked last round, then pick one from the new row. A domino must touch your castle, or have at least one square beside the same land. Your whole kingdom must fit in 5 × 5 squares. If a domino can’t go anywhere, it’s thrown away.
With two players, each player picks two dominoes a round. Three play twelve rounds of three dominoes, four play twelve rounds of four, and two play six rounds of four.
Scoring
Each patch of connected squares of one land scores its size times the crowns in it. A big field with no crowns scores nothing; three crowns in a patch of six score 18. The highest total wins; ties go to the biggest single patch, then the most crowns.
Tips
Pick one or two lands to grow big and look for crowns in them. Leave room: a kingdom boxed in at 5 × 5 throws dominoes away. Crowns on mines and marshes are rare and worth a lot.