The domino is a game in which players place dominoes edge to edge to form a line of play. Each domino has a side that identifies it as one of several different numbers, and a blank or identically patterned opposite face.
The players draw a hand of seven dominoes. The player who draws the highest double goes first.
Origin
Domino’s mutant powers allow her to generate a psionic aura that influences the laws of probability, shifting odds in her favor. This ability manifests itself as an instinct for the right buttons to press, from shutting down a technology-disrupting device to winning a game of dominoes.
Domino was a survivor of the government’s Project Armageddon, a genetic engineering program that turned her into a precognitive weapons designer. She joined X-Force and helped found its Wild Pack (later renamed Six Pack) division.
The word “domino” appears to be derived from the Latin dominus, or master of the house. It may also be linked to the hooded masks worn in carnivals that resembled the traditional white and black appearance of domino tiles. The name may also refer to the way the tiles were traditionally used to settle disputes over traditional grazing boundaries in rural England.
Rules
In most domino games players place their dominoes in a line touching each other and joining on their ends. Then they score based on the exposed dots of the end dominoes, unless it is a double (known as a spinner) which can be joined on two sides.
When a player has played all his or her dominoes, the player calls “out” and scores. The winning player then receives the total number of opponents’ unplayed dominoes.
The game begins with a shuffle and each player draws seven dominoes, then turns over those he or she doesn’t want to play. Some rules specify the player with the highest double makes the first play, while others require that a player draw from the boneyard to break a tie.
Variations
There are a wide variety of domino games. The most popular in the West are the Block game and the Draw game. Both are played with a standard double-six set, but can be expanded to larger sets such as a double-nine or even a double-twelve.
Most domino connection games are shedding games in which the goal is to be the first player to play all of your tiles. However, there are some games that require particular configurations of dominoes on the layout to score. These include matador, where you must play a number that adds up to seven, and muggins, in which the goal is to make the open-end pips on the layout a multiple of five.
In the Draw game, players draw fewer dominoes initially and can pass their turn if they are not able to place a domino. Moreover, the doubles serve as spinners, allowing the line of play to branch.
Materials
In modern times, dominoes are made out of a variety of materials. These materials include plastics, metals, stone and wood. They are also available in different shapes and colors. They can be used to build a number of different types of lines, fields and structures.
Domino sets are usually packaged in cardboard boxes or hard plastic cases. They come in various sizes and colors, and are suitable for all kinds of games. Many of them feature a debossed logo for identification. For example, the standard plastic dominoes from Maria Lamping are 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) and weigh around 8 grams (0.28 oz) each.
In Europe, dominoes are traditionally made of bone or silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory and a dark hardwood such as ebony with contrasting black or white pips (inlaid or painted). These are called vegetable ivory because they use tagua nut.
Scoring
In scoring games, such as bergen and muggins, players count the total number of domino spots (or pips) in their opponent’s hand. This is an effective way to determine the winner of a hand. However, a player with a bloated hand may require some strategizing.
In British public houses and social clubs, a scoring version of fives-and-threes is often played. The objective is to attach a domino from a player’s hand to one end of those already played so that the sum of the end dominoes is divisible by five or three. One point is scored for each time this occurs.
Before starting to play, decide on a score goal. Most variations are played to 100, 150 or 200 points. The winning player is the one who has the fewest dominoes in their hand at the end of the game.