When playing domino, it’s important to decide on a score goal before you start. Once the tiles have been shuffled, each player draws a domino from the stock. The player who draws the heaviest tile makes the first play.
Dominoes are a type of tiles that are stacked on end to form long lines. They’re usually made of bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother-of-pearl), ivory, or ebony with contrasting pips.
Rules
The rules of domino differ for different types of the game. In most cases, a player must play a domino so that it matches the end of another domino played earlier in the same line. However, there are some exceptions. For example, a double can be joined on either side but not both.
After the dominoes are shuffled, each player draws a tile from the stock. The player with the highest double makes the first play, but there are some variations to this rule. For example, some people draw lots for the start of the game and begin with any domino they choose.
After a player plays a double, they must look for other dominoes with matching numbers on their ends to join them. This is especially important when playing with a pair of two/one dominoes. If they see one in the top right corner, for instance, they can split that pair and several other two/one pairs.
Variations
A variety of different domino games exist. Some of them are positional games in which players place domino halves end to end on the board, and scoring occurs when the exposed ends add up to a multiple of five. Others, such as matador and muggins, require more than just matching adjacent dominos.
Many games are played with a block domino set. The objective is to empty your own hand while blocking your opponents from emptying theirs. The first player to do so wins.
Another variation, called Chickenfoot or Mexican Train Dominoes, makes use of a long double. This allows players to begin their personal trains more quickly by extending their line of play as the game progresses. Other variations include a delayed first turn and branching doubles, in which a player who passes their turn leaves an open train that other players can join. This speeds up the game. The game ends when one player has no tiles left or no one can lay more tiles.
Materials
Dominoes have been manufactured from a variety of materials over the course of history. Today, sets are made from cheap, shiny black plastic but they have been made from many different materials over the centuries.
The first dominoes were hand carved from animal bone, usually ox bones and sometimes ivory for wealthier players. They were often inlaid with ebony wood. The European dominoes that appeared in the 18th century were typically a bit thinner than their animal bone predecessors and featured an ebony back glued to the top of the ox bone base.
Like playing cards, of which they are a variant, dominoes have one side that bears the identity of the piece and a square opposite that that is blank or identically patterned. The identity-bearing face is marked with an arrangement of spots, commonly called pips, that are similar to those on the number six-sided die except that some of the squares are blank (indicated by a zero).
More recently, modern manmade plastic, originally known as Bakelite but now usually called phenolic or Xylonite, has been used for dominoes. Some modern wood dominoes are quite elaborately layered and finished but they tend to be very expensive.
Scoring
Domino is a game of skill, and champion domino players learn to read their opponent’s moves. They also know how to count revealed and in-hand dominoes, allowing them to make informed decisions throughout the hand.
The game is played until one player “dominoes out” or plays their last tile. If a player cannot play they must knock, and the turn passes to the next player. The first player to do so wins the round. The winning player then scores the total value of their opponents’ dominoes remaining in their hands.
The domino game Fives and Threes is a popular pub game in Britain, and it is also played in many competitive leagues. The rules are slightly different from those of other domino games, because the ends of the line must add up to specific totals, in this case multiples of 3 and 5. Odd primes may be included as well.
