Often known as cards, dominoes are a small, rectangular block made of either wood or bone. Each is marked with an arrangement of spots or pips. Dominoes are commonly used for various games, including solitaire and trick-taking games. They can also be played online.
There are many variations of domino games, and the most popular of these are scoring games. Players must make their hand of tiles count towards a total score. A single tile in a set can be a member of two suits, but not three. The sum of the number of pips on a tile is called the weight of that domino. Any domino that has five or more pips in a row is worth more than a tile with fewer pips.
Traditionally, European-style dominoes were made of dark hardwood such as ebony. The pips on some of these sets were ivory. Others were made of mother of pearl oyster shell. In addition, certain larger domino sets use Arabic numerals instead of pips.
The most common domino set is a double-six set, which includes 28 tiles. However, there are many other different types of dominoes, and the size of a domino depends on the limitations of the playing surface. For example, a double-18 set has 190 tiles, while a double-12 set has 91.
In most domino games, the player places a domino edge-to-edge against a line of other dominoes. If the first domino in a row tips over, the next domino in the line will tip over as well. In some cases, the chain will topple until all of the dominoes have fallen. Normally, each domino is twice as long as it is wide. This allows the chain to form interesting shapes.
The game of domino first came to Europe in the mid-18th century. By the end of the 18th century, it was being played in Italy, France, Austria, and southern Germany. In the late 1700s, it was introduced to England by French prisoners of war. By the 1860s, dominoes were appearing in American literature.
There are two basic variations of dominoes, each involving a different number of players. The most basic version requires the player to draw seven tiles. They are then placed on a table and the player must knock them down before they can be rapped.
Another variation is the Concentration variant. The goal is to make a total of 12 tiles. The player must then play them in order to achieve this total. The player may only play a single tile with a number at one end of the chain, or may play a number at both ends. Alternatively, if the player has the same number at both ends, he or she is said to have “stitched up” the ends.
Other variations of dominoes include the Draw Game, where the players pick twelve tiles and play each tile into a trick. In the same way as with a card game, each trick counts as a point.