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Playing a game of dominoes

Winners to receive prize money, bragging rights after state competition

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  • Brandon Leonard •
  • Originally published January 26, 2009 at 9:13 a.m., updated January 26, 2009 at 9:13 a.m.

HALLETTSVILLE - Ken Henneke held seven dominoes in his hand, glancing at the winding snake of tiles on the table in front of him.

The 69-year-old Hallettsville resident considered his next move, adding a tile to the trail.

"Ten," he said with enthusiasm as his partner, Mike Technik, chalked a Roman numeral X into the team's score.

Henneke and Technik joined 200 other players at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Hallettsville on Sunday for the Domino State Championship Tournament. Teams of two battled in the double-elimination tourney to advance to the final round, fighting to seize first place - a $300 prize.

"It's not that much money," Gene Migura said of the prize money. Migura and his teammate, Cliff Howard, both of Victoria, beat Henneke and Technik to win the tournament in 2002. "Mostly, it's bragging rights."

Teams are made up of players from the Crossroads region, and some even come from out of state, Daniel Rother, committee chairman for the tournament, said. People from Mississippi, Alabama, Gonzales, Yoakum, Ganado and Victoria come each year, he said.

A winner has emerged by 1:30 a.m. usually, Rother said.

Some players have been playing the game for most of their lives.

Henneke started playing dominoes when he was three years old.

"We started early back then," the 69-year-old Hallettsville resident said. "There was no TV, no radio, so you played games like dominoes and things like that. You just grew up like that."

Henneke, a farmer who also does some ranching, and his wife play at least twice a week with his sister and brother-in law, he said. In 2008, they played 313 games of Eighty, a game of dominoes where the bones with blanks are removed, making each hand worth up to 80 points.

"The girls keep track of it," he said.

Henneke has participated in several other area domino tournaments also.

Migura learned to play when he was six but quit for about 20 years, he said. He has competed in the Hallettsville tournament for the last 20 years.

The companionship that the game of dominoes creates is what keeps Migura interested in the game, he said.

"Most domino players I think are really good people," Migura said.

The variety of the game also keeps the interest of players. Some of the game is luck.

"A player can get by on luck in dominoes," Mike Bludan said of the random draw of tiles by each player at the beginning of the game. "It's not like that in other sports like golf where the most skilled player wins nine out of 10 times. But not in dominoes, the best man doesn't always win."

  • POPULAR DOMINOES GAMES

    Private Trains - A domino game where players must match their dominoes in numeric sequence, trying to have as few points as possible at the end of a round.

    Chicken Foot - Similar to another domino game ...

  • SHOW ALL »

    • POPULAR DOMINOES GAMES

    Private Trains - A domino game where players must match their dominoes in numeric sequence, trying to have as few points as possible at the end of a round.

    Chicken Foot - Similar to another domino game Mexican Train, the player with the highest drawn double lays it in the center. The other players build off this tile until the next double is laid, also known as a chicken foot. The player first to empty their hand wins the round, or if no one can play a tile, the player with the lowest number of spots on their dominoes wins. The player with the lowest number of spots at the end of the game wins.

    42 - Also known as Texas 42, the game is played by four people in teams of two. The goal of the game is to be the first team to win seven points, also known as marks. A number of hands are played, and each hand is worth a mark or more depending on the bid. The players bids how many tricks they think they can take for that hand. The game is named for the total count of all pieces, 35, plus the number of tricks in the game, seven.



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