Four men were playing dominoes in The Jolly Quizmaster. They followed the normal rules of dominoes building a chain of dominoes where the number on one end of the domino played must match one end or other of the chain. Thus if the two ends of the chain are one and two, a domino with a one on it can be played against the one, and likewise with the two at the other end.
Alan, Bill, Clive and Dave played in that order, starting with Alan, and they each started with seven dominoes. The total value of the spots on the first two dominoes played by each of them are:
Alan 23
Bill 20
Clive 18
Dave 16
The third domino played by Alan is the 6-2.
What were the first eight dominoes played, and in what order?
Alan's two dominoes must have been the 6-6 and the 6-5, which means Bill's two dominoes must have been the 6-4 and 5-5. Clive must have played the 6-3 and 5-4, leaving Dave to play the 5-3 and 4-4, as we know Alan was holding the 6-2.
Alan does not play the 6-6 to start as there is no sequence starting with the 6-6 to use the eight dominoes, so on the first round Alan plays 6-5, Bill plays 5-5, Clive plays 5-4 and Dave plays 4-4.
On the second round Alan plays 6-6, Bill plays 6-4, Clive plays 6-3 and Dave plays 5-3.