Domino is a family of board games that combine strategy and chance to create a fun and engaging game experience. The rules of domino differ slightly from one game to another, and even within a single domino set there are a variety of ways that the game may be played.
The game is played with a set of small rectangular wood or plastic blocks, each with a face that is blank or marked by an arrangement of dots resembling those on dice. A domino, also known as a bone, a card, or a men, is normally twice as long as it is wide, and the identifying marks on its face are usually an arrangement of pips (also called spots). A domino has two ends, each bearing a number of dots that determines its value in a particular game. A domino with more pips is valued higher than one with fewer pips.
Most domino games are played in pairs or teams and begin with the players drawing and establishing their hands. The person holding the highest double, or sometimes the player with the heaviest hand, begins play. Depending on the game, some dominoes are able to be bought and used by players in their hands, while others must remain in the stock, and the number of those tiles that were not bought is added to the winner’s score.
Once the hands are established the players draw and place their tiles on the table in a line, facing away from each other. This configuration of tiles is often referred to as the layout, string, or line of play. Depending on the rules of a particular game, one or more of the dominoes may be designated as spinners, meaning that they can be played on all four sides. This first double is often the lead, and if it is a spinner, its end points are counted as part of the line of play, while other doubles are played at right angles to it.
As players draw and play their tiles, the line of play grows longer. When the last domino is played, it must touch all of its exposed ends in a matching fashion, such as an one’s touching an eight’s, or two’s touching a five. The number of exposed ends that match a multiple of five is the player’s total score for the hand or the entire game.
When a player wins a hand or the game, they add to their score the number of pips remaining in the opponents’ hands. This process is sometimes shortened to counting only those pips that are a multiple of five. There are many different ways to win a domino game, and the best way to learn the rules of a particular game is by playing it with friends or with a book of rules for various domino games. Several books on the subject exist, but the most extensive is The Great Book of Domino Games by Jennifer A Kelley.