Domino is a family of tile-based games, most commonly played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile with a line that divides its face into two square ends.
These two square ends may be marked with a number of spots or blank. These tiles are shuffled before each game and then the winner is determined by who can lay the highest domino.
Rules
Domino is a game of strategic placement of tiles on the table. At the end of a hand or a game, whoever has the smallest combined total of spots on their remaining dominoes wins.
The first player begins the game by placing one of his or her dominoes face up on the table. He or she is then referred to as the setter, downer or leader.
Depending on the rules of the particular domino game being played, the first player may either place a single tile or a double.
Once the first player has made his or her play, each other player takes a turn laying a tile on the table. Usually, players form a line of tiles on the table by matching pips on the open ends of their dominoes.
The second player then chooses a domino from the boneyard, which is a pool of shuffled dominoes used in the game. When the second player cannot find a matching domino, they draw another domino from the boneyard and continue to do so until there are no more dominoes in the boneyard.
Variations
Dominoes can be made of various materials. Some are made from wood or bone (such as ivory or ebony), while others are made from plastic or cardboard. They are often painted or inlaid with contrasting black or white pips.
They are usually twice as long as they are wide and have a line in the middle that divides them into two squares. The value of either side of the tile is a number that ranges from blank to 6.
Some variants of domino include double tiles that serve as spinners, causing the line of play to branch in different directions. In some games, all sides of a spinner must be occupied before anyone can play elsewhere.
Players take turns to play dominoes, moving to the left in an attempt to string together their own trains or the trains of the other players under special circumstances. Points are awarded to players based on the pips remaining in their hands after each train is completed.
Materials
Dominoes are small, rectangular-shaped tiles with one or more dots on each side. They are sometimes marked with numbers and colors to make it easier for players to make matches.
Most modern dominoes are made of plastics such as Bakelite and polystyrene, though some are made from metals or other materials. Early dominoes were carved from animal bones and ivory.
The game originated in China and was adopted by the Europeans around the 18th century. Today, Chinese dominoes are still popular and are found in many shops.
A player’s hand typically holds between six and nine dominoes, which are placed in a semicircle on the table top in front of them. A more neatly organized method is to use a tile rack, which is a bar of wood with a ridge and backstop cut into it that supports a row of seven to nine tiles standing on end.
Scoring
The scoring system in domino is quite simple: the winner is the first player to run out of dominoes. If this doesn’t happen in a round, then the person who has the lowest number of dominoes wins.
Some play that at the end of each hand players subtract the total pip value of the tiles remaining in their hands, rounded to the nearest five, from their running total. This method is not good for cribbage boards or Holsey and Tidwell’s X’s, but it works well for most domino games.
Another scoring method is to count the number of pips on the tiles left in the losing players’ hands at the end of a hand or game and add that number to the winner’s score. This variation is often used in games where there are multiple players.
Alternatively, the leader may decide to draw new hands if he doesn’t hold a double tile. Depending on the rules of the particular domino game being played, this may be done before the game begins.