Matador (domino game) number of spots), each player gets five dominoes, with the leftover dominoes set aside in an area known as the "boneyard." During play, players must connect either end of the domino line not with a matching number on either end, but one causing the two connecting ends to have a total of seven pips, i. e. a six-spot end must be connected with a one-spot one, a four-spot with a three-spot, and a two-spot with a five-spot. Doubles are placed endwise and count the same as single dominoes. Blanks are closed to play of any domino other than a "matador."
A Spot of Bother Michael Dirda of "The Washington Post" called the book "superbly entertaining", adding "...half the time while reading A Spot of Bother you won't be sure whether to laugh or cry. Which is, I suppose, precisely the point." David Kamp of "The New York Times" wrote that the book "serves as a fine example of why novels exist." Mindy Laube of Australian newspaper "The Sydney Morning Herald" was critical of the book, writing "while the characterisation can't be faulted, A Spot of Bother fails to fulfil its early promise. What initially shapes up as a disquietingly soft stab in the human