Domino is a game piece that can be used in the game of dominoes to create long lines of dominos. They are also stacked up to make interesting shapes, and they can be knocked down to create a pattern of overlapping circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares. Many children enjoy playing games with dominoes, and it’s not uncommon for them to line up the pieces and then try to knock them down. These uses of dominoes inspired the term “domino effect,” which describes a chain reaction that starts with one simple action but leads to much larger consequences.
A domino is a flat thumb-sized rectangular block that is marked on one side with a pattern of spots, or dots, like those on a die. Each domino has matching ends, and 28 such pieces make up a complete set of dominoes. Dominoes are commonly called bones, tiles, or cards, but they can be known by any name that the players agree upon. A domino is used to play one of a number of games, each with a different set of rules.
Most domino games fall into one of four categories: bidding games, blocking games, scoring games, and round games. In most games, the first player to play a tile takes the lead and may be referred to as the setter or the downer. Once that player plays a domino, the rest of the players take turns playing onto their doubles or into the open end of a double-six domino.
The order in which the players play is determined by drawing a domino from the stock and determining which of its matching ends is closest to an open end of a previously played tile. This is the starting point for seating arrangements at the table. The player holding the tile with the highest number of pips takes the first seat, the next seat goes to the person who holds the second-highest domino, and so on. If a player draws a domino with a value that cannot be used for the current game, it is returned to the stock and reshuffled before the players draw their hands again.
In most domino games, it is important to keep track of the number of pips on a particular end of a domino. This number is known as the count and is used to determine a player’s score for the current game. It is also used to determine the winner of a game.
The most common sets of dominoes have a maximum number of 28 total pips on each end of a domino. However, some games are played with extended sets, which increase the number of pips on each end by three. The most popular extended domino sets are double-nine, double-12, and double-18. Some gamers use more extensive extended sets to increase the potential for scoring. A larger number of pips can result in more complex, challenging, and interesting games than those using a standard set of 28 dominoes.