What Is Dominoes?
Dominoes are black and white rectangles that some people like to line up in long rows to knock down one by one. Other people like to use them in creative ways. For example, they can be arranged to create shapes or used in puzzles. They can also be carved or painted to make unique pieces of art.
Lily Hevesh started collecting dominoes when she was 9 years old. She loved setting them up in straight and curved lines and flicking the first one to watch the whole line fall. Today, Hevesh is a professional domino artist who has created elaborate sets for movies, TV shows and events—and she has more than 2 million YouTube followers. She also teaches workshops and has her own line of dominoes.
Dominoes can be found in many different forms and sizes, but they all have the same basic structure: a rectangular tile with markings that indicate its number of pips. A set of dominoes usually includes 28 tiles, but some have more or fewer. They are made of a material such as wood, bone, marble or resin and come in various colors. The word domino comes from the Latin dominica, which means “little ruler.” The first use of the term in English was in a 1670 play by William Shakespeare.
Traditionally, domino is played between two players. Each player must place his or her domino so that its matching end is touching another domino in the chain, which can either be a double or a simple piece. A double may be played on all four sides or, depending on the rules of the game, only on two sides. If the matching end of a domino is touching another piece with its other two matching ends, it is called a spinner.
A player may also buy a tile from the stock by placing his or her hand on it and declaring that he or she can play it. Buying a tile this way allows the player to skip over a domino that is not required to be played in the current turn and continue playing the rest of his or her dominoes. If a player cannot purchase a particular tile, the player must wait until his or her next turn to try again.
In addition to blocking and scoring games, there are also domino games that involve skill, such as trick-taking and solitaire games. These games are often adaptations of card games and were once popular in areas where religious proscriptions against cards prevented their play.
There are a wide variety of domino games and the rules for each vary from one region to another. However, most of the games share similar, if not identical, general rules. A player should always review the specific rules of a game before playing. These rules can be printed on the back of the domino pieces or in a booklet that comes with the game.