Stones of the Wall
Stones of the Wall is a game for two or more players, for which each player needs one set of double-six dominoes and 33 small beads, stones, or other small markers that will stay in place. Three of the markers must be clear, while all other markers should be of a uniform color for each player. The dominoes form the game board, while the markers are the playing pieces that will be placed on the board.
The object of the game is to be the last player able to make a legal move.
To set up the board, the dominoes are laid out horizontally in columns of 14 dominoes. A game involving two players would then have a game board of four columns of 14, and a three-player game would have six columns of 14. The dominoes are placed at random in the columns.
To begin play the first player places his marker on the domino covering the pips on one side. He needs to place enough markers to cover pips to equal exactly 9 pips total. All his pieces must be adjacent to each other. No single domino half, or square, may be counted more than once. The next player builds off the last player’s placement of their markers. To do this, the player places one of his markers adjacent to any marker from the most recent play. The new marker cannot be placed diagonally, only horizontally or vertically adjacent. Other markers are then placed adjacent to his own markers to make exactly a total of 9 pips. All markers must be contiguous with each other. Players may use as many markers as they wish each turn as long as the pips equal a total of 9. Play continues from player to player placing new markers from the last player’s placement and making the pips equal to exactly 9 pips total. Blank domino faces count as zero.
On any given turn, a player may include up to one of the clear markers in their layout of markers. This clear marker adds normally to the count of 9 pips as any other marker. However, the next player may not build off of that clear marker for their new placement. The player must build on any other marker played by the previous player. If an open square (half of a domino) is adjacent to both a clear marker and a regular marker, the square may be used normally.
If there are no moves available such that the current player cannot cover contiguous squares to total 9 pips, the previous player has won the game, even in games with more than two players. This includes situations in which the current player has run out of game markers.
Game play typically proceeds quickly, and it is customary for two-player games to proceed to the best two games out of three. Three-player games may play to the best five out of nine, and so on. Wagering prior to the start of play is common.