Domino is a classic board game played using tiles with dots at one end to indicate value. A domino can take the shape of either square or round shapes; square dominoes tend to be thicker and are most commonly used for positional games in which each player attempts to place one edge-to-edge against another so that two adjacent sides form numbers (or some other value, such as 1) that complete an equation or add up to some value such as one. Round dominoes tend to be thinner and are commonly used on linear or curved domino tracks. Today’s modern domino sets are often made from polymeric materials like plastic; however, historically many different natural and man-made materials were employed, including bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, dark hardwoods like ebony and their respective hardwood pips that may be painted or inlaid into dominoes; European-style dominoes may feature woods like ebony to give more substantial feel than polymer variants.
If a domino falls, it causes a chain reaction which travels down its line like nerve impulses through your body’s axons. Like neuron firing, dominoes pulse at constant speed without losing energy until reaching their endpoint and reaching full circle again.
Every time a domino is pushed, its potential energy is released in the form of a domino “flip” or “spike.” While these flips may only seem minor when played for fun, their effect can often be far-reaching; University of Toronto physics professor Stephen Morris provides proof in his video that one domino can actually knock over objects twice its size!
Starting out a dominoes game requires drawing dominoes from a stock, placing them on a table in an orderly fashion and creating what is known as a layout, string or line of play. Sometimes no player is able to make further moves – this situation is known as blocked game – in which case those whose total of all remaining domino pips is lowest are victorious.
To start the game off right, the initial tile in a line must match those already laid. Subsequent tiles must also match, with their matching ends touching one another – in most games this means either squares or crossways; doubles should always be placed perpendicular to each other.
While domino can be an enjoyable game, it can sometimes be challenging to know when play has reached an end or when a winner has been determined. When this occurs, players should “chip out”, or play their last domino, to prevent play from stalling and giving an unfair advantage to another player(s). Furthermore, some rules of domino require any tiles left in a losing player’s hand to be counted and added onto their score by the winning side.
