Dominoes are a great way to teach basic addition. It also encourages logical thinking skills and strategic play.
Each player draws seven dominoes from the pool to begin a round. The person with the highest double usually starts.
Players take turns placing dominoes in a line on the table, matching the pips on one side to those on the other. This line is called the line of play.
Origins
A domino is a tile game with dots that can be stacked on end to form long lines. When a domino is tipped, it causes the next domino in line to tip and so on, creating an ever-growing chain that can lead to complex patterns.
The earliest known domino games were probably developed in China, where early “domino” tiles appear to have been functionally similar to playing cards. In the 14th or 15th century a stateman presented dominoes to the Emperor of China.
The game spread to Europe, where it was introduced in the 18th century, purportedly brought by French prisoners of war. Early European domino games were blocking games, while scoring games arose later. The basic domino set is traditionally made from bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory or dark hardwood such as ebony, with black and white pips inlaid or painted.
Rules
Almost all domino games have similar basic rules. Players place dominoes on the table, joining them together by matching the pips on open ends. Often, the players start with the highest double. The game is won when one player runs out of pieces and the remaining dominoes are closed. When this happens, the winning player scores the difference between his own and his opponent’s points in unplaced dominoes.
A player can only play a piece when the number on its end matches another domino in his hand – for example, a 6 touching a 6. The game is blocked if no player can make a play. In this case, the player must draw from the boneyard until he can play again. The round ends when a player’s score passes 101.
Variations
The majority of domino games fall into two categories, blocking and scoring. In blocking games, the goal is to prevent your opponents from playing any more tiles. You score points each time the open ends of dominoes on the table add up to a multiple of five.
In a variant called swan drive Mexican train, each player plays on their own private train, but may also play a tile on any open public trains moving clockwise around the table. The round ends when the player on the right has played all of their dominoes or no one can play more tiles.
Another popular variation is bendomino, which uses curved tiles. Matching tiles must touch on both sides, unlike in a standard set with flat faces. This allows for branching doubles like the 4|8.
Materials
Dominoes are small, flat rectangular-shaped game pieces that have been made from many different materials over the centuries. In general, they are twice as long as they are wide so that they can stand upright without falling over. They also usually have a ridge down the center that separates the identity-bearing face into two square halves, with either black or white spots (sometimes called “pips”) on each half.
Modern mass-produced dominoes are generally made of plastic, metal or stone. However, some makers use specialty materials like foam for giant yard dominoes or a variety of wood.
Mastering strategic domino play requires a combination of analyzing your opponent’s moves, blocking them, building scoring chains, and timing your own turns. Some game accessories can help you achieve this, such as a domino rack or a set of dominoes that comes with a carrying case.
Scoring
Dominoes are stacked and scored in a variety of ways. Typically a domino is twice as long as it is wide and each end has a value of spots or pips. These pips may be numbered from one to six or blank.
Domino games usually involve a blocking strategy where players play their tiles to block opponents. In scoring variants like bergen and muggins, points are determined by counting the pips in an opponent’s hands.
When a player can’t play they must knock and the turn passes to the next player. The winner of the round is the player who has a lower value total on their dominoes still held. Players often play rounds until one player chips out – has no more tiles to lay – and is declared the overall winner.