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Double-six Domino Search

This is the set in the box in the cupboard: twenty-eight pieces, from the double blank to the double six, on a seven by eight grid. It is the set published domino puzzles use, and the one most people picture when they hear the word.

A bigger set is harder, and each grade picks the layout with the longest chain of deductions. Every puzzle splits exactly one way.

double-6 set, 7×8. Every piece of the set is in the grid once, with the boundaries rubbed out. Draw them back in.

Two pages: the puzzle and its answer. Every puzzle is proved to have exactly one answer by the same engine as our KDP studio.

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This makes one puzzle. Sign up to turn it into a full Domino Search book for Amazon KDP: hundreds of graded puzzles at any trim, as print-ready PDFs.

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Preview

How to solve a domino search

Every piece of a complete domino set is laid out in the grid with the boundaries rubbed out. Draw them back in so that each piece appears exactly once, which is the only rule there is.

The method

  1. 1Start with the pieces that only fit one way. Run down the checklist and ask where each piece could possibly go. A double, or any pair of values that sit next to each other only once on the whole board, is settled before you have drawn anything.
  2. 2Then look at cells rather than pieces. Each cell has to belong to some domino. When all but one of its neighbours have been taken, the one left is forced, whatever piece it turns out to be. This is the move that keeps a board going after the obvious pieces are gone.
  3. 3Cross each piece off as you place it. That is what the checklist under the grid is for. It is not bookkeeping, it is the solve: a piece you have already used cannot be used again, and that is usually what rules out the next candidate.
  4. 4Watch for a cell being cut off. If a cell ends up with no uncovered neighbour, something earlier is wrong. The same goes for a piece whose every position has been built over. Both are worth checking before you go further.
The one rule people get wrong
A piece is used once and only once. Two 4-6s in the finished grid is not a near miss, it means a boundary somewhere else is in the wrong place.
What the answer page shows
The same grid with every domino outlined.
How the grades differ
A bigger set, and a layout chosen for a longer chain of deductions. Most random layouts of a set have more than one answer; the ones printed here are the small minority that have exactly one.
Good for
Anyone who likes crossing things off a list as they go.

Making a whole Domino Search book?

This page makes one puzzle. To publish a book on Amazon KDP, the KDP Domino Search maker generates hundreds of graded puzzles at any trim, as a print-ready 300 DPI interior and solutions PDF.

More printable domino puzzles

See every printable Domino Search

Questions

Are these double-six domino search free to print?
Yes. Generate the puzzle above and print it with its answer, at no cost and with no sign-up.
Does every puzzle have one solution?
Yes. Most layouts of a domino set can be split more than one way; every puzzle here is checked so the pips fix exactly one partition before it prints. The answer is on the second page.
Can I make a Domino Search book to sell on KDP?
Yes. The free tool makes one puzzle. The KDP Domino Search maker generates hundreds of graded puzzles at any KDP trim, as a print-ready 300 DPI interior and solutions PDF.

Publish a Domino Search book

Hundreds of graded puzzles, any KDP trim, print-ready PDFs. Start free.