Domino is the name of a family of games that use a line of dominoes to form layouts and string patterns. The word domino is also used to describe the set of rules that govern each game, and how a player or team must comply with these rules in order to win. The word is also sometimes used to refer to the laying down of a single domino.
Dominoes are flat thumb-sized blocks of wood or other material, normally twice as long as they are wide. One face of a domino is marked with an arrangement of spots, or pips, as on a die; the other face is blank or identically patterned. A domino’s value is determined by its number of pips; the more pips, the higher the value. Most domino sets have a total of 28 tiles; this number is called the “stock” or “boneyard.”
A game of domino involves placing dominoes on a table in a rectangular configuration that is called a “string,” or “line of play.” As each tile is played, it creates a new row of dominoes below it. Eventually, the entire string of dominoes is complete. Usually, only the open end of each domino can be played; the closed end is reserved for completing the string. The game ends when all of the tiles have been played, and the winning player has scored enough points to earn a prize.
Several different types of games can be played with dominoes, including blocking and scoring games. Some of these are adaptations of card games, and may have been popular in some areas to circumvent religious proscriptions against playing cards. Other games, such as solitaire or trick-taking, are simpler and may be more appropriate for children.
Many modern dominoes are made of plastic or other polymers, but traditionally they were crafted from materials such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or a dark hardwood such as ebony. More recently, a variety of novel materials have been used to produce domino sets, such as marble, granite, and soapstone; metals such as brass and pewter; ceramic clay; and even glass or crystal. These sets often have a heavier weight than those made of polymers, and can feel more substantial in the hand.
Hevesh, a domino artist, has created massive arrangements of hundreds of thousands of dominoes. Her videos of her work have attracted millions of YouTube subscribers, and she has worked on projects for movies, TV shows, and events, including a music video for Katy Perry. Her largest setups take hours to set up and can take up to five nail-biting minutes to fall, depending on the size of the arrangement.
In some domino games, the pips on the tiles are arranged in an ordered sequence, and players draw the highest-valued tile for their hand at the beginning of the round. If a player draws more dominoes than they are entitled to, these must be returned to the stock and reshuffled before another player draws for their hand.