Domino is a game that requires skill, concentration and strategy. It can also develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, as children build up long lines of dominoes. One mistake or miscalculation, however, can lead to disaster for a whole line and even the entire domino empire. The word “domino” itself is derived from the Latin term for “falling over,” an idea that has come to express the way in which one small event can cause many others to tumble down, as with the phrase the domino effect.
A typical set of dominoes contains 28 tiles: seven doubles (two matching numbers on both ends from double blank to double six) and 19 singles (one number on each end from single to double nine). The heaviest tile, usually called the ace, is placed on the center of the table. Once the dominoes have been shuffled, each player draws a hand according to the rules of the particular game being played.
The player who draws the highest double makes the first play. If there is a tie, it may be broken by drawing new hands, or, in some games, the player who holds the heaviest single begins play. The players then place their tiles in a line, called the layout, string or line of play, with each adding a domino to one open end of the chain as they make their plays.
As the line of play extends, it can become difficult for a player to know which dominoes are open and which are closed. To assist in this, the rules of some games allow players to mark their tiles with a symbol that indicates whether they are closed or open. This helps in identifying the open dominoes and allows players to keep track of the length of the domino chain, which is often used as part of the scoring mechanism in the game.
Sometimes, a player can make a play and cause a domino chain to develop in a very different direction than intended. The result is that the chains no longer fit together neatly and can be dangerous to play. This is known as a blocked game and, if no one can make another play, the game ends.
When a player makes a mistake while playing, the error must be corrected before the next turn is made. This is often done by counting the pips on the dominoes left in the losing player’s hand at the end of a hand or game. This method of scoring, however, can be skewed by the use of doubles, which count only one end, and do not count the other side of the pair.
Some games require that a certain number of the losers’ pips be added to the winner’s score. Rather than counting the pips on the remaining dominoes, some players prefer to count only the number of pips on the open ends of the dominoes in their losing hands at the end of a game or hand.