Beginners can just place them on their edge in a row facing them. The traditional English pub method of doing this is face down in two rows of three so that all six can be picked up with both hands, looked at and returned leaving the other hand free for the equally important business of drinking a pint. Each player draws 6 dominoes and places them so that the other players can't see their value.
The dominoes are ritually shuffled face down in circles with the flat of the hand - producing a sound that has been familiar down the centuries.
