Domino is a game of strategy, skill and chance played with a set of 28 tiles called dominoes. These are rectangular in shape and have a line down the center. Each end of the tile has a number from 0 (or blank) to 6. This means that each domino set will contain a unique combination of tiles.
Dominoes are made from various materials including bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (MOP), ivory, or a dark hardwood such as ebony. They are usually hand-crafted using a variety of traditional woodworking tools, but they can also be made from plastic and metal.
The game originated in Italy and spread rapidly throughout Europe in the 18th century. The name domino does not appear before that time, but it was used to describe a series of masquerades originating in France.
When playing a multi-round game, the player who achieves the highest score wins the game. The score is usually based on the total number of pips on each of the opponent’s tiles. However, this system can be changed in order to make the game more exciting.
In the standard domino game, players draw seven tiles from a boneyard or stock and place them on-edge in front of themselves. This allows them to see the value of their own tiles but not the tiles they have drawn from their opponents.
If a player draws a double, they must play the first four tiles against that double to form a cross. Then they must play the rest of the tiles against that double to form a full set.
These sets can range in size from a small set of 28 dominoes to a large set of 190 tiles. These larger sets have a much greater variety of combinations of ends.
The most common two-player games are the standard or Block game and the Draw game. The most basic sets are the double-six or a double-nine set of 28 tiles.
A larger set is typically called an extended domino set and is used for games with more than two players. These sets are generally much larger than the standard set and increase the maximum number of pips on each of the ends by three, which means that a much greater variety of combinations of dominoes are possible.
Some larger sets also feature a “double-blank” or “double-spot” at the opposite end, which is not used in the standard game but is sometimes used to make the game more exciting and add new strategy elements. These are commonly used in games such as Five-Up, which is a variant of the standard game that uses multicolored dominoes.
Creating a domino effect is easy when you know the rules of the game. It can be a lot of fun to try to set up a course of dominoes so that when they all fall down, the result will be interesting and unique.
In a domino show, builders compete to create the most imaginative and complex domino effect or reaction. These shows are often performed in bars, pubs and other public spaces where there is a lot of traffic.