Dominoes are round, rectangular-shaped tiles bearing identifying marks on one side and blank or identically patterned on the other. These are then arranged in a line. They can be played in several different games.
Players earn points both during play and at the end of a game. The winning player also gets to choose which of their dominoes are opened up.
Origin
Domino is a mutant who has the ability to manipulate probability in her favor. She is part of X-Force and uses her powers to uncover shell companies with ties to anti-mutant politicians and businesses.
The origin of domino is obscure but it appears to have originated in Europe around the 18th century. The name may have been inspired by a black domino half-mask worn by priests or from the Latin ‘dominus’ meaning master of the house.
The game spread throughout the world, and it is still a popular pastime today. It is particularly popular in Latin America and among the Inuits who use bones as their domino tiles. It is possible that the Inuits adopted Western domino from European traders. It is likely that the first set of dominoes was a French invention, although there are competing theories.
Rules
There are many rules to domino, but most involve drawing lots or having the winner of the last game make the first play. Alternatively, the heaviest domino can be set as the lead, and the order of play is determined by seating arrangement or the winner of previous rounds.
Players score by completing a chain of dominoes that touch each other (the exposed ends must match, i.e. one’s touching two’s, etc). When a double is played the points are counted on both ends, even though the exposed side of the double is blank. If a player can’t make a play they “knock” or bang the edge of their tile on the table to indicate that they can’t move and their turn passes to the next player.
Variations
Players start the game with a number of dominoes equal to the player count: two players would pick seven, three players five and four players three. If a player has a double in hand, they mark it as public (making it available to other players) or private (making it unavailable to other players).
A line of dominoes is formed by laying matching domino halves end to end. Depending on the variant, one or both ends may be used as spinners. The heaviest tile begins play and the player who has the highest double leads.
Some variations, like matador and muggins, use different rules for matching and scoring. These rules are not described here but can be found under the Line of Play section. Blocked dominoes are still scored the same way.
Materials
Over the centuries, dominoes have been made from a variety of materials. Some of the more common ones include bone (especially from domestic animals), silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell, mother-of-pearl and ivory, and a dark hardwood such as ebony. Most modern commercial domino sets are made from synthetic materials, such as ABS or polystyrene plastics, or Bakelite and other phenolic resins that approximate the appearance and feel of ivory.
A complete set of dominoes consists of 28 tiles, each bearing one to six dots or pips on its face. Most people are not physically large enough to hold this number of tiles in their hand, so they use a tile rack or, for larger games, a domino table. The rack is usually a bar of wood with a ridge and backstop cut into it to support the tiles in a row.
Scoring
In scoring domino, a player’s score is the sum of the exposed ends of their dominoes. Typically, this is rounded to the nearest multiple of five. The first player to reach 250 points wins the game.
The most common set of dominoes contains 28 tiles, known as a double-six set. This is the smallest set that can be played in any two-player game. Larger sets are available for players wanting to play longer games.
Each of these sets has a different number of pips on each end. Depending on the type of game, each end may be valued differently. Some end values are considered heavies, while others are lighter. Some even have a blank or zero suit. This makes it possible to make a line of dominoes that branch from the first exposed double.