Game etiquette online is the same as at a nardi board in a Tbilisi courtyard: respect your opponent, do not drag the game out, and lose with dignity. The difference is that you cannot see the face on the other side of the screen, so one rude word or an endless wait lands much harder. tamashebi.cc gives you a few tools for this: chat and reactions, the move timer, resigning, a friends list and blocking. Here is how each one works, and how to use them so the game stays pleasant for both sides.
What makes a good player
- Say hello and goodbye. “Good luck” at the start and “good game” at the end take two seconds and change the whole mood.
- Play within your time. Thinking about a move is normal; running the clock down on every single move is not.
- Do not grade other people’s play. Commenting on a bad move, especially after you have won, teaches nobody anything.
- Do not walk out mid-match. In a two-player game it ends the match; in Joker it leaves three people playing with a bot.
- Take a loss calmly. The dice and the deal are random, and the server decides them — not your opponent, and not the site.
Be especially patient with beginners. Many people arrive as guests, without registering, and learn the rules while they play: in nardi they are still working out which checker can move, in domino they hesitate over drawing from the bazari (the boneyard). Such a player needs more time for every move, and that is fine. If you can see your opponent is new, do not rush them — you started the same way once. A kind reaction to their first good move may be the reason they come back tomorrow.
Using the chat
A domino match has text chat and quick emotes. A message can be up to 200 characters and is plain text only — links and formatting do not work in it. The chat is flood-protected: you cannot send more than eight messages in 20 seconds. The last forty messages are kept for an hour, so a player who comes back after a dropped connection sees the end of the conversation. The emotes are a fixed set: clap, fire, laugh, thumbs up, “good move”, “good luck”, “rematch” and “good game”.
Joker and nardi tables have no free text — only reactions: faces and short Georgian phrases from a fixed list. That is deliberate: a short reaction is enough to greet an opponent or praise a good move, and it leaves no room for insults. Reactions have a limit as well, so nobody can flood the table with them.
- Good: “good luck” at the start, “good move” after a nice play, “good game” at the end.
- Bad: repeating the same emote on every move, or mocking whoever is losing.
- If someone bothers you, do not answer — block them. Two players who have blocked each other no longer see each other’s chat at all.
A slow opponent
Every player has a move timer, and it is what protects your evening from endless waiting. In domino the standard is 45 seconds per move. At Joker and nardi tables the table’s creator sets the timer — anywhere from 10 to 120 seconds, 30 by default. When the time runs out, the game does not stop and the match does not end: the server makes one move for that player, with the same logic the bot uses and knowing only that player’s own hand. The next move is theirs again.
So there is no point getting angry at a slow opponent: they are either thinking or their connection has dropped. If the screen says your opponent is coming back, they have gone offline and the server is giving them time to return. Wait — they may be back at the table within a minute. And if you know you need time yourself, choose a longer move timer when you create the table.
Resigning — when
In domino and nardi you can resign: the match ends at once and your opponent wins. In nardi, resigning ends the whole match, not just the current game. Classic Joker has no resign button: if you leave the table, a bot takes your seat and plays the match to the end, and you cannot come back to the table.
- Resigning is fine when the position is clearly lost and playing on would waste both players’ time.
- Do not resign in anger: in a multi-point match one bad game decides nothing yet.
- In Joker, do not leave mid-match: the other three carry on with a bot, and that is the least pleasant breach of etiquette there is.
- After a domino match you can offer a rematch — an old and good tradition.
- If your opponent resigns, do not gloat: “good game” is worth double at that moment, and next time they will be glad to play you again.
Adding a friend
- Friends need accounts — both of you. Guests do not have a friends list.
- Open the friends page and send a request by username, or press “add” on their profile.
- Once they accept, you see each other in the list, including whether you are online right now.
- You can challenge a friend to a domino match: you choose the target score, and the challenge stays open for two minutes. A pair can have only one live challenge at a time, and you cannot send more than five challenges a minute.
- Nardi and Joker tables can be created as “friends only” — then only your friends see them in the lobby.
Friend requests have a limit too — up to twenty in ten minutes, so nobody can message everyone in a row. If you both send each other a request at the same time, that counts as a friendship and no extra confirmation is needed. You can remove someone from your friends at any time, from the friends page. The list shows your friends in a way that lets you see at once who is on the site right now and whom you could invite to a game.
Blocking is silent. The blocked player is never told: their requests and challenges simply stop reaching you, and neither of you sees the other’s chat. That is deliberate — a message saying “you have been blocked” would turn a safety tool into a provocation. You can block someone from their profile or from the friends page, and unblock them there too. If it is more serious — abuse, or a suspicion of unfair play — write to us through the contact page with the player’s username and the time of the match.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is there no chat at the Joker table?
- Joker and nardi tables have no free text, only reactions — faces and short Georgian phrases. Text chat is part of the domino match.
- Will a player find out I blocked them?
- No. Blocking is silent: their requests and challenges simply stop arriving, and you no longer see each other’s chat.
- What happens if my opponent does not move?
- When their move timer runs out, the server makes one move for them and the game goes on. You never wait longer than the move timer.
Every game on tamashebi.cc is free to play. Domino Coin is a virtual in-game coin: it is never money, cannot be bought or cashed out, and means nothing outside the site. The site is available in Georgian, English, Russian and Turkish.
The games on Tamashebi.cc are played in a Georgian-language interface. They are free and use a virtual coin, never real money.