Domino is a tile-based game of chance and skill that can be played by one to eight players. The most common set of dominoes features twenty-six tiles with two squares of 1-6 pips each. Players place these tiles on a flat surface to form a line of play that gradually extends across the table. Each player in turn places a domino on the line of play, positioning it so that it touches one end of another domino already on the table. The game ends when a player can no longer play a domino, or when the line of play is fully extended and there are no more pieces to add to it.
The earliest known mention of Domino comes from a Chinese poem by Zhou Mi in the 13th century. However, sets didn’t look the way they do today: instead of matching sides with a number, the ends on earlier dominoes were marked with a symbol or picture, such as a flower or star. Later, the pips were removed and the dominoes came to look as they do now.
There are a large variety of domino games, but the most common are layout games, in which players add their tiles to a tableau or “line of play” that gradually expands over time. The other most popular type of domino game are scoring games, in which players compete to score the highest total by adding up all the dots on their remaining dominoes. In many of these games, the highest total wins.
When playing a domino game, it’s important to know the rules of the game in order to play successfully. For example, each player must draw a certain amount of tiles before beginning the game and may only play a domino whose total number of pips is lower than the current total of the other players. Additionally, players must take turns laying dominoes, and the first player to lay all of their tiles wins.
In some layout domino games, players can win by creating specific configurations, called a trump or trick, and the first player to do this wins. The other players must then try to duplicate the trump or trick by laying tiles that match its number of pips. If they do, the other players must pay a sum of money to the winning player to make up for missing out on some of their earnings.
Since the release of the Festool Domino DF 500, domino cutters have revolutionized workshop joinery by combining the strength of a floating tenon with the ease and portability of a biscuit jointer. In addition to the DF 500, Festool also offers a larger Domino XL that can cut a wider range of tenon sizes. Choosing the right Domino size depends on your project and joining requirements, with larger furniture projects typically requiring a deeper mortise than smaller workpieces. The XL Domino comes with four different tenon sizes: 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 12mm.