Dominoes are small rectangular blocks marked with two groups of spots, called pips. They are used for playing many different games.
Traditional domino sets are made from bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (MOP), ivory, or dark hardwood such as ebony with contrasting black or white pips.
Some modern sets are made from polymer materials like tin and plastic, although they tend to be much heavier than those of the past.
Origin
Dominoes have been around for thousands of years. They have been played by many cultures and have been enjoyed by all ages.
The origin of dominoes is a mystery, although some historians believe that they originated in China. They may have been introduced to Europe by Marco Polo.
Alternatively, they might have been created independently by Italian soldiers in the 1700s. Regardless, they became popular in Italy and quickly spread throughout Europe.
The early Western dominoes were made from ivory for the rich and from bone for the poor. Initially, the dots or pips were inlaid with thin pieces of ebony.
Rules
The game of domino is a family of games with a number of variations. The most common are layout games, blocking games, and scoring games.
These games involve placing tiles from one’s hand to a layout in the center of the table. There are also trick and trump games which draw inspiration from card games.
Some domino games have a variation called the “highest double”. In this game, the player holding the heaviest double begins play.
Another variant of the game is called 5s-and-3s. In this game, players attach a domino from their hand to one end of a previously played tile so that the sum of the two tiles is divisible by five or three. This is a popular game in British public houses and social clubs.
Materials
When it comes to domino tiles, the type of material is a major factor. European-style dominoes are traditionally made of bone or ivory with contrasting black or white pips (inlaid or painted).
The modern commercial version of domino is typically a synthetic material, usually polystyrene plastics, bakelite or other phenolic resins. Many of these mimic the look and feel of ivory.
They also often use a different color for each end value to make identifying them easier. For example, one-spot dominoes might have black pips while two-spot dominoes might be green or three-spot might be red.
Some seasoned players even like to use a tile rack, which is a bar of wood with a ridge and backstop cut into it that holds seven to nine dominoes on each side. This arrangement allows the player to keep his or her hands free for other movements and to stack dominoes more efficiently.
Variations
Dominoes are square shaped pieces of wood or plastic with spots (pips) that represent numbers. A set of dominoes usually consists of five tiles – one for each player.
The goal of the game is to score points by laying dominoes that have a multiple of five pips showing on them. Each player counts the open ends of the dominoes that they have placed and divides by five to determine their score.
A special variation of this game is the spinner dominoes variation. This variant is played with a double-nine set of dominoes and each domino has a “spinner” symbol on them.
This game is similar to Cross dominoes, but the first domino played is different. Instead of forming a cross around the initial double, it forms a “spinner” that can be used to create two new chains of dominoes. This creates more possibilities for play, especially with larger sets like double-nine or double-12.
Scoring
A domino is a small rectangular block marked with two groups of spots, or pips. It has a line in the middle to divide it visually into two squares, called ends.
The identity-bearing faces are each marked with an arrangement of pips, and the other squares may be blank or patterned in some other way. The number of pips is often used to rank the dominoes, with lighter ones having fewer pips.
In a scoring game, the objective is to play a domino onto the layout so that the open ends add up to a multiple of five. For each multiple of five, the player scores five points.