Dominoes are small, black rectangular blocks with white dots, and are used in a wide variety of games. They are also frequently stand-up to create elaborate patterns that look very impressive when they’re knocked down.
The domino game has its roots in Italy and France. They were first recorded in the mid-18th century, but it was not until the end of the 18th century that they started to be introduced into England.
A domino is a type of tile or boardgame, which has been played for hundreds of years throughout Europe and Asia. It is a block-and-draw game for two to four players, and typically requires a double-six set, consisting of 28 tiles that are shuffled facedown. The tiles are then numbered from one to seven and the players draw at random from the stock.
Typical rules vary widely, but the object of the game is to make a “line of play” that is a continuous string of dominoes, with a single point awarded for each line that includes five or more tiles. The line may be blocked for geometrical reasons, or it may branch and connect with other lines of play, depending on the variant.
Some variations of the standard draw game feature a small number of curved tiles; this allows the line of play to branch or connect in certain directions. It is also possible for the line to be blocked by a player’s own tiles, or by other curved pieces.
Other variants, such as Bendomino and Matador, have unusual rules for matching. For example, in Bendomino, the doubles serve as spinners, allowing the line of play to branch or connect, and in Matador, all sides of the spinner must be occupied before a player can play elsewhere.
Another variation of the standard draw game, called Five-Up, uses multicolored tiles. It is played with a double-six set, but the tiles are arranged in such a way that they form a continuous line of play (i.e., a chain of dominoes) with a single point awarded for each row that includes five or more tiles.
In a variation of the 5s-and-3s game, which is popular in Britain, two tiles are attached to each other so that the sum of the number of points they’ve produced is divisible by five or three. The resulting score is then added to the player’s score, and the player who has the highest score wins.
This game has a similar scoring system to Five-Up, and is usually played in pairs. It is played with a double-six domino set; the tiles are arranged in such a manner that they form a continuous line of play with a single point awarded for each row (i.e., a chain) of dominoes that contains a single tile.
Similarly, in the American version of the game, a set of six tiles is arranged in such a manner that they are divisible by two. The resulting score is then added to that of the player who has the highest score.