Luxembourg DD Tournament Summery:

To review the tournament from the start game by game click here and follow the new posts link at the bottom of the page, bellow are Tournament points charts game by game.

After a very good show from Arwin Caljouw and Stijn van der Vlueten, who were marked as possible winners for the tournament, our 3rd favorite David Luxembourg takes the tournament with 2 stunning games. beating Arwin 29 - 103 and Stijn 53 - 107. A surprising end to the day from the Domino Master who had high hopes to see one of his apprentices win, but could not give them their victory so easily.


(In the photo: Stijn and David Shake hands at the end of the tournament final game)

While the main games were going on, a series of Friendly games between the players who went out continued, the target of these games was to make sure that all players participating in the tournament will 5 games, and in the case of a winning of the tournament by David or Daniela, the grand prize will to the player who has the lowest score after 5 games.


During the games we have also seen 2 new Luxembourg Draw Dominoes records take place:

Arwin Caljouw set the record for the smallest amount of points ever collected during a Luxembourg game - 23 points
Lea Liabastre-Chopin set the record for the most points ever taken in a single round -58 points

At the end of Day, after all players completed the game we compose the following score chart:

From which we can create the Luxembourg DD Tournament Rankings:

#1 - David Luxmebourg - 322 points
#2 - Arwin Caljouw - 343 points
#3 - Stijn van der Vlueten -356 points
#4 - Florian de Visser -432 points
#5 - Jannita van den Haak -450 points
#6 - Daniela Pais -507 points
#7 - Lea Liabastre-Chopin -520
#8 -Tzhan Yeh - forfeit
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the day is to find Daniela and Lea in the last positions. seeing 2 of the most experienced Luxembourg DD players in the tournament reach those positions was as surprising as watching Arwin , practically a newcomer, blitzing them out of the tournament in game 2b.

And the Grand Prize goes for Arwin Caljouw, with only 343 points collected in 5 games he is the next eligible palyer for the prize, and after such good performance during games 1, 2 & 3, including a new Luxembourg DD record we think he deserves it!

(In the photo: Arwin Receives the Grand Prize from the Luxembourg Domino Dojo Master himself - David Luxembourg. Well done dude!)

The organizers of the Luxembourg DD tournament would like to thank all those who participated in the tournaments and also to those who followed. Next tournament will happen in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, this July - stay Tuned!!

Luxembourg DD Tournament Game 5 Results:

FINAL (David, Stijn)

And here are the results round by round:

Round 1

(In the photo: end of the round - - very good start for David)

Score:
D -0
S -26

Round 2

(In the photo: Arwin, observer, gives advice to Stijn)

(In the photo: end of the round and Stijns strikes back)

Score:
D -10
S -0

Round 3

Stijn wins again, but David slips away form any serious damage.

Score:
D -14 (24)
S -0 (26)

Round 4

(In the photo: end of the round and another Master storke for David)

Score:
D -0
S -25

Round 5

David keeps up presuring Stijn.

Score:
D -0
S -15

round 6

(In the photo: end of the round as Stijn beats David to the finish, placing his double 4, before David gets the chance to Lock the game with his 4 /2 piece )

Score:
D -6
S -0

round 7
Score:
D -0
S -9

round 8

At the end of round 8 the gap between the players stands on 50 points.

Score:
D -0 (30)
S -13 (88)

round 9

(In the photo: end of the round, Stijn gets this one right, leaving David with 23 points. If he can keep this up, he might just get it, though the efort of holding on for another 4-5 rounds with only 12 points in reserve is quite impossible )

Score:
D -23
S -0

Round 10

(In the photo: end of the round, Despite last round's succes, it a K.O. for Stijn with 19 points, as David Plays a power game with the 4s and 3s, and beats Stijn to the Domino)

Final score:
D -0 (53)
S -19 (107)

(In the photo: Players shaking hands at the end of a great tournament and an amazing final)

Luxembourg DD Tournament GAME 4 Results:

SEMI-FINAL (Arwin, David Stijn)

(in the Photo: Round 1 in progress.)

And here are the results:

Arwin -103
David -29
Stijn -62

(In the Photo: End of round 1 - counting the score)

Highlights: What a suprise! After Keeping in low profile through out the tournament David does the Blitz. Round 1 ends with A -32, D -0 and S-30 points, unbelievable. Round 2 ends with a victory for Stijn, but david has only 1 stone left in his hand and that is the double zero. Arwing gains another 15 points. Round 3 goes for Arwin, Stijn is left with the double zero and david takes in only 10 points- his first points in the game. Round 4 David wins again leaving arwin with and extra 16 points and Stijn with extra 23! at the end of the round we see the sub total and it is: A- -63, D -10, S-53. What a game!.

(in the photo: a view over the field from David's position)

While stijn keeps his cool through the rest of the game, winning 2 of the 3 follwoing rounds and taking in only 9 points, Arwin looses his game completly taking in another 40 points and at the end of round 8 finds himself out of the tournamnet with 103 points. David plays truely at another level, collecting only 29 points through out the whole game and even performing the ultimate Luxembourg Domino Dojo move 'Divine Intervention' - a form of game blocking that forces other rivals to keep on taking in more stones.

So its David and Stijn into the final.

Luxembourg DD Tournament GAME 3 Results:

(In the photo bellow: Game 3 - keeping the score, View of the game from Daniela's position)


And her the results for game 3 of the tournament.

David -87
Arwin -71
Daniela -105
Stijn -67

(In the photo: Game end in round 9, Stijn takes the round, David, Daniela and Arwin find themselves stuck with 14,13 and 16 points respectively. Daniela is out of the tournament.)

Highlights: David & Arwin open the game very well and after 4 rounds this is what we see: Dv -37, A -28, Dn -60 and S -56. At this point Stijn took control of the game, winning 3 of the 5 following rounds and inflicting 50, 43 and 45 points on David, Arwin and Daniela respectively, while taking in 11 points himself. After the 9th round Daniela finds herself out of the tournament not surprisingly, considering her score in past games in which she narrowly avoided the 'getting kick out option' with 101 & 97 points.

Stijn Definitely managed to surprise both Arwin and David pushing them both out of the lead and even inflicting 29 points to David on round 6. Arwin, whether still in by skill or luck, has performed quite well during the game keeping his losses under an average of 8 points per round and never taking in more then 19 point. David who could have defiantly played better in this game, as well as in the previous ones, has to wonder whether he'll still be around after the next one.

Luxembourg DD Tournament GAME 2 Results:

For Game 2 the players starting positions in groups A and B have been reshuffled, here are the Game's results:

Group 2A (David, Stijn, Jannita)

(In the photo: Game 2A in progress)

(In the photo: end of round 4, jannita wins, David & Stijn in Trouble)

David -65
Stijn -97
Jannita -102

Highlights: very soon in the game David gains the upper hand, with Jannita and Stijn hardly keeping up. At the end of round 6 this is how things look like: D -23, J- 66, S -56. By round 9 Stijn stand at 97 points while Jannita plays very well with 2 victories and 1 loss of 5 points and David gaining another 21. The surprise strikes the round after with an amazing victory for Stijn, gifting Jannita with 25 point and and David with 13. Stijn continues to collect another victory gifting Jannita and David 6 and 8point s respectively and pushing Jannita out of the tournament after 12 rounds.

Group 2B (LEa, Daniela, Arwin)

(In the Photo: End of round 4 - a disaster for Daniela, Arwin wins, Lea escapes the Damage)

Lea -123
Daniela -97
Arwin -23

Highlights: it took Arwin only 6 rounds to win the game and kick Lea out of the tournament. In his blitz on the girls Arwin managed to inflict 50 points to Daniela in round 4, and 58 point to Lea in round 5. An achievement that marks him as a viable favorite for winning the tournament and marks Lea with a new Luxembourg Domino Dojo record for the most point collected in a single round.

(In the photo: Round 5 - Lea's new record - 58 points)

(in the Photo: Keeping the score at the end of game 2B)

(in the Photo: Keeping the score at the end of game 2a)

Luxembourg DD Tournament GAME 1 Results:

Group 1A (David, Stijn Lea, Tzuhan)
(In the photo: View over the domino field from david's position at the start round 4)

Unfortunately Tzuhan could not join the tournament, even though the beginning of the games was delayed, and we were waiting for her. The game went on as a friendly game between the 3 remaining contestants, here are the end results after 9 rounds:

David -88
Stijn -84
Lea -101

Highlights: Game started good for Lea with 1 victory and one 5 points after 2 rounds, but turned very rough as David began blocking massively leading to 24 points to Him and Lea, and 22 points to Stijn at round 3. These sort of amounts in points continued for 2 more rounds bringing the score to D- 78, L -73, S -64. From then on David Changed his style, taking in only 10 more points and inflicting 28 and 20 points on Lea and Stijn respectively. Still not enough point to take the game which went to Stijn.

Group 1B (Jannita, Arwin, Florian, Daniela)

(in the Photo: end of game 2, Florian at the top with 24 points and becoming the first player to drop out of the tournament)

The game lasted 12 rounds, here are the results:

Jannita -70
Arwin -64
Florian -115
Daniela -101

Highlights: the first rounds were were slow and defensive as each player was dumping stones. Arwin especially managed to keep his losses low and in the rounds after opened a gap of 14 between him and Jannita and of 27 between him and Daniela. rounds 5-8 saw Jannita take in 23 points and Florian 29, extending the gap between 1st and 2nd places to 22 points leaving the game at A- 20, J -50, D -64, F -69. At this point it appears both Daniela and Florian lost their balance and began collecting points. on the 12th round Florian made the mistake of his tournament, with 91 points for him and 96 for Daniela, he locked the game on sixes while still holding 4 heavy stones. The round ended with A -3, J -4, D -5, F -24.

Special adjustment to rules regarding Grand Prize,

In a meeting between the organizers of the tournament it was decided that in the case of either David or Daniela winning the tournament the prize will go the next player with the lowest score.

This means side by side during the tournament, players who were taken out will continue to play till all the contestants of the tournament have played 5 games. the points of each player from each game will then be counted and in case that David or Daniela win - the grand prize will go to the player (other then David or Daniela) with the lowest score.

Here is the record chart:

Luxembourg DD Tournament *Special Report*

Today the first ever Luxembourg DD Tournament will take place between5 PM and 10.30 PM.

To win the tournament, a contestant had to win 5 games: 2 games of 4 players, 2 of with 3 players and 1 game of 2 players - the final. All games were played till 100 point where the first player reaching 100 both ending the game and being removed from the rest of the tournament.

Meaning: in games 1 & 3 the 3 players holding the smaller scores will be allowed to advance (and the first player to reach 100 points is out of the tournament). These 2 games, with 4 players are games of luck, giving as much good and bad chances to advanced Luxembourg DD players as they do with beginners. Anything can happen!

Games 2 & 4 the advantage will surely be with the experienced players, and the final game of 1 vs 1 will be the pinnacle of the domino strategy and tactics.

And here are the contestants:

*David Luxembourg - the Luxembourg Domino Dojo Master himself, a strong favorite for winning the tournament, possible also the player with most experience.
*Stijn van der Vleuten - Also a strong favorite for winning the tournament. Although receiving only a crash course introduction to the secrets of Luxembourg Draw Dominoes, Stijn has showed great Domino talent, loosing only 2 out of the 20 to 30 games he played against/with David.
*Lea Liabastre-Chopin - Lea has been a full time apprentice in the Domino Dojo for the past few months, and has shown great potential. A player of the Intern League in the past weeks she managed to cut her losses down and move to the leading position. If she plays well she might just take the grand prize.
*Tzuhan Yeh - has only fundamental knowledge of the game. She might make it all the way to game 4, but chances are low on her making it to the final.
*Arwin Caljouw - despite having some small experience Arwin has only fundamental knowledge of the game as well. He might make it all the way to game 4, but chances are low on him making it to the final.
*Jannita van den Haak - Another Domino player with basic Domino skills, again might make it all the way to game 4, but chances are low on making it to the final.
*Florian de Visser - joining the Dojo only a few weeks ago, Florian has gain already some experience and might even make into the final, it will require a good mix of talent and lack to get him there however.
*Daniela Pais - a very strong favorite for winning the tournament, and the 2nd most experienced Domino player to enter the competition. although never completing her domino architecture levels Daniela is consider as an informal Domino Dojo master.

Marking them according to their Luxembourg DD experience this is what we can see:
1- David Luxembourg
2- Daniela Pais
3- Lea Liabstre-Chopin
4- stijn van der Vlueten
5- Florian de visser
6- Arwin Caljouw
7- Jannita van den Haak
8- Tzuhan Yeh

Domino Terminology Part 1

Domino - The tile used in the game of dominoes. To domino means to play all the tiles in your hand.
Hand - Are the dominoes of each player.
Layout - The dominoes in play on the table.
End - Each dotted side of the domino face with a number (or blank).
Open End - The end of a domino that is not connected to other tiles. Tiles are played on open ends of dominoes.
Shuffle -To mix the bones while they are turned face down on the table.
Draw - To pick the bones for your hand out of a central pile or the boneyard, or to choose a domino from the boneyard to add to your hand.
Blocked game - When no players can make a move.

Bone or Tile - A common term for a domino.
Bone pile or Boneyard - Spare bones left after the drawing of hands that may be used as a draw pile in some games.
Back of the domino - The side with no dots.
Dot, Pip or Spot - the markings on a domino, which reflect the value of the domino.
Bar - the line that separates the two ends of a domino.

Heavier - A bone with more spots on it is said to be heavier than another bone with fewer spots.
Lighter - A bone with fewer spots on it is said to be lighter than another bone with more spots.

A suit of dominoes - The tiles which have the same numbers on the ends. Each suit has seven tiles.
Blank - An end of a tile which contains no pips or spots. It can also be called the zero, white or pale domino.
Ace - The end of a domino with only one dot.
Deuce - A domino with two dots on one end.
Trey - A domino with an end containing three dots
Doublet or Double -A tile which contains the same number of pips at both ends.

Double Sixes - The highest ranking tile in a 28 tile set. Also, the name of such a set.
Double Nines - The highest ranking tile in a 55 tile set. Also, the name of such a set.
Double Twelves - The highest ranking tile in a 91 tile set. Also, the name of such a set.

Spinner - The first double domino that is played during the game and also A double which is turned sideways in the line of play and has the addition property that other tiles can be played from its two exposed ends and the open side. The lines of tiles that radiate from the spinner are called its arms.

Luxembourg Draw Dominoes Rules

Before naming this game /set of rules after my self I have been searching high and low, looking for anything like it (I will post all the web links that I found soon) and after a week long of searching I concluded no other domino game exist that uses my set of rules.

I did manage to find a few other games similarly interesting names: Bergen, Cyprus and Sevastopol ( though I am sure there are more out there).


Anyway, this is how we play domino is the Luxembourg house/style/family:

Luxembourg Draw Domino
For 2-6 players.

Setup
After shuffling the dominoes, each player draws tiles to make up their hand. The number of tiles drawn depends on the number of players:
2 players draw 7 tiles each
3 players draw 6 tiles each
4 players draw 5 tiles each
5 players draw 4 tiles each
6 players draw 3 tiles each.

The remainders of the tiles make up the bone yard, or stock, and are held in or reserve to be drawn upon at need.

After drawing their hands each player then draws 1 more tile from the bone yard and turns it over so that the pips on its face could be seen by all other players. The tile with the highest number of pips is placed on the table - this is the winning tile; all other tiles are then returned to the bone yard and the bone yard is shuffled again.

Game play
The player who drew the tile with the highest number of pips starts the game and tries to match the pips on one end of a tile from his hand with the pips on either ends of the winning tile. If that player is unable to match a tile from his hand with the winning tile he then must draw only 1 domino tile from the bone yard and pass his turn to the player on his left.

Play then proceeds clockwise as each player tries to match the pips on one end of a tile from his hand with the pips on an open end of any tile in the layout.

Drawing Tiles
A player that is unable to match a tile from his hand with a tile in the layout must draw 1 domino tile only from the bone yard and then pass his turn to the player on his left. If there are no dominoes left, then that player must pass.

Ending a Round
A game ends either when a player plays all his tiles, or when a game is "blocked" meaning; when all players still have tiles in their hand, but none of them is able to add another tile to the layout.

Scoring
When a Round ends, each player counts the number of points (1 pip = 1 point) in his hand, the rounds last till one of the player has reached 100 points. The winner of the game is the one who has the lowest number of point at game’s end.

PS.
Traditionally (again for the past 2 years or so) we play 3 rounds per game and The winner of the game is the one who has the lowest number of point at game’s end. we only do a tournament ( up to 100 points) when there is a crowd (3+ persons) playing.