Domino is a small rectangular game piece that has anywhere from 0 to 6 dots. It is played by matching one end to another, creating a domino chain that grows in length as each tile is added.
Before play begins, the tiles are shuffled and the players draw hands according to the rules of the game being played. The player who draws the heaviest double goes first.
Rules
There are many different rules that apply to domino. Some games may be played with a fixed number of players while others require two or more. Some of the most common rules include: determining who will make the first play, seating arrangements, and scoring.
After the tiles are shuffled, each player draws a domino from the stock to determine who will make the first play. Usually, the player who draws the heaviest double takes the first turn. If there is a tie, it is broken by drawing new dominoes from the stock.
When a player plays the first tile in his hand, it is known as setting, leading, downing, or posing. It is important that the player knows how to play his domino, as it will determine his strategy for the rest of the game. Once a player has made his first play, he must mark his train with a marker. This will stop other players from adding to his train until he is able to play it.
Materials
Dominoes are a versatile game that can be played with many different materials. Some of the most common domino materials include plastic, wood, and bone. Traditionally, some dominoes were made from ivory inlaid with ebony pips. However, harvesting this material led to the slaughter and near-extinction of elephants and other large mammals, and ivory is now banned by CITES.
The majority of domino sets on the market are mass-produced, and therefore have limited quality. There are, however, higher-end wood dominoes that have been made by true craftsman, and are layered in multiple woods for an exquisite appearance. These may have hefty price tags.
Advantages of this type of set are that they are smoother and more consistent than those from Maria Lamping and that they are well-suited for building all types of lines, fields, and structures. The disadvantage is that they are visually less professional with debossed logos for identification, which can cause unexpected light reflections and can be distracting.
Variations
Dominoes are flat, thumb-sized rectangular blocks of varying color with one face bearing an arrangement of dots or pips. The most common set of dominoes contains 28 tiles, and there are various ways in which they can be used to play games.
Some domino games require players to place their tiles in a line or an angular pattern on the table as they make their plays. The number of dots on a tile determines its suit and the value of that suit in the game.
Students working on addition and subtraction can use dominoes to practice these skills. Students can also work on rounding to the tens, hundreds, or thousands place with this game by counting the pips on the losers’ dominoes left in their hands at the end of a hand or game and then adding that number to their running total. The first player to reach 100 wins.
Scoring
A domino is a small rectangular block with a line dividing it visually into two square ends each having a different number of dots (known as pips) from one to six. The difference between these pips is the domino’s value, and each non-double domino has a different one on each end (eg 3-6 and 2-4).
Most domino games are bidding games, blocking games or scoring games. In scoring games, the player with a lower domino value scores the total count of his or her opponent’s remaining dominoes.
In bidding games, the winner is awarded a specific amount of points depending on the rules of the game-type and setting. Regardless of the domino game-type, maintaining the initiative by scoring points is a key strategy. To do this, players must make chains of tiles with matching ends touching (1s touch 1s, 2s touch 2s etc). This ensures that there are few if any tiles in an opponents hand that can be used to rescore immediately following a scoring play by a player.