Domino is a set of numbered, rectangular tiles used for a variety of games. The tiles are marked with an arrangement of spots, or “pips,” similar to those on a die, although some tiles have no pips. The value of a domino is determined by the sum total of its pips. A domino with more pips is “heavier” than one with fewer. Dominoes are traditionally made of bone, silver lip oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or a dark hardwood such as ebony. The pips are either painted or inlaid. Domino sets are also made of wood, marble, granite, soapstone, metal, and other materials.
A domino is typically twice as long as it is wide, making it easy to stack pieces when not in use. Dominoes are arranged in lines or other patterns and then topped with other objects, such as toy cars and plastic people. They are also used to make works of art, such as curved lines, grids that form pictures when stacked, and 3D structures such as towers and pyramids.
Dominoes are normally played with a set of rules defining the order in which players should play their tiles and the maximum number of turns. The first player to play a tile is the leader, and the game continues until all the tiles have been played or the dominoes reach a state in which no more plays can be made, called “chipping out.” Typically, when a chipper has finished playing his last domino, he knocks the table with the piece to signal that play has ended.
The winners of a game are the players whose combined total of all their surviving tiles is the lowest. Some games have a set score for the winning player, while others allow players to determine their own scores. One scoring method involves counting all of the pips on the remaining dominoes, and ignoring doubles.
In addition to blocking and scoring games, domino is used for strategy games such as “Chicago”, where the players try to build a chain that can cover more territory than their opponents. Other strategy games that require skill, such as “Ladybug”, involve placing dominoes in certain locations to gain control of a field.
While domino can be a great way to pass the time, it can also be used to promote problem-solving and team building. For example, a company employee could create a domino track that encourages employees to work together as a team to achieve a common goal. Or, a teacher could use a domino installation to teach students about fractions. Lily Hevesh, a domino artist who teaches workshops in her Los Angeles home, uses fractions to help determine how many dominoes she needs for a particular project and how they will be arranged. This allows her to avoid accidentally knocking over the entire installation with a single, small mistake. It also makes the task of completing her domino installations less stressful for herself and her customers, who might be more likely to forgive small mistakes than to complain about major ones.