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| As it is suggested by the title, in this article I will present the well-known skill game, domino. It is hard to say something new about the game, so I will make a presentation starting with its history, the basic rules and to the variants of the game. Before I start my presentation it is important to mention, that although domino was designed to be a game for two players, more than two can play it, and nowadays an online variant is available too. In this last case you can choose to play against other people or you can just play against the computer. |
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Now let us start with the history of the game. The oldest domino sets date back to around 1100, but the game arrived to Europe around 1800. The game appears to be a Chinese invention, some say that Mah-Jong emerged from this game. As it is predictable, the rules of the game have changed in time, but the most important change took place when the game was translated from Chinese. As you can see domino is a very old game, but it arrived in Europe quite late, only in the 19th century. From that time on it became a well-known family game, and it did not stop there. Nowadays still many people play it with family and friends, or some of them might choose the modern, online version. Let us now see the tiles of domino.
The tiles of domino are usually called bones, but one may refer to them with some other words too: tickets or stones. The tiles are twice as long as they are wide, and a line drawn in the middle suggests that the tile is divided into to separate squares. The values of the tiles are the number of spots found on each and every tile. The values of the spots go from zero to six in most cases, but in the extended sets the values might go as high as eighteen. The tiles are named after their two values, so a tile with 3 and 5 spots is named a 3-5 or a 5-3. Several tiles have the same value on each part, these are called doubles, the ones on which the values are different are called singles. The tiles form domino sets. The most common domino set is called the double 6, and it has 28 tiles. There are sets consisting of 55, 91, 136, 190 tiles too. Now that you know the tile values, we should proceed to the rules.
In most of the games the objective is to empty your hand, while you block your opponent; this kind of game is called a blocking game. Besides the blocking game, there are several other variants of domino. Let us start with the simplest one, the blocking game. The tiles are shuffled, and the players will stack them. Each player draws seven tiles, and the rest is put away, it will not be used. The first player begins by putting one tile on the table; the other player will put a matching tile the one end of the first tile. By matching tile I mean that both tiles have equal numbers of spots on one side. The players alternatively extend the line; the game will end when one player finishes its tiles or when none of the players can make anymore moves. In another version of domino each player draws seven tiles, but they are allowed to draw more tiles when they can not make a move. In this case the score will be calculated after the game ended. The score will be equal to the spots on the remaining tiles. In this case two variations exist: only the tiles from the players hand are calculated, or all the remaining tiles are taken into account when the score is calculated.
In some of the variations the line of play won’t be a simple line. In some cases the double tiles will have to form a corner, or they are sometimes called spinners. This means that double tiles can be played on all four sides. In the variation called Chicken Foot, all sides of a spinner must be occupied before someone is allowed to put a tile elsewhere. As you can see, many things depend on the variation you play. Let us now talk a little bit about the scoring. In case of blocking games, the scoring is done only at the end of the game. I have already written about this type of scoring a few lines above. There are scoring games also. In this case each move might add points to the score. We are not talking about each and every move, so here are a few examples: when each sides of the line end in the same number, if the end of the line is formed by a double or if the total number of spots in the line is the multiple of certain predefined number. As you see, before the play you will have to agree on the rules, because the basic rules are usually the same, but there might be some different combinations.
All in all, domino is a very interesting skill game, good for people of all ages. You will need concentration and a little bit of luck, if you want to be a winner. If you will exercise and play as more as you can, you will quickly develop the necessary skills and you will be a good domino player. By now you should understand why domino is such a popular game: its rules are simple, the game is fun. What else could you need? Good luck playing! |
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