The Basics of Domino
Domino, also called dominoes or bones, is a game of skill and chance involving small rectangular blocks with a number of dots on one face. They are normally twice as long as they are wide. Each side of a domino is marked with a value, sometimes referred to as pips, ranging from six pips to blank or a special symbol. The domino is placed on a table or other flat surface, and the player places a tile on its edge against an adjacent one so that its two matching ends touch. This develops a line of dominoes which grows in length as more tiles are played. The object of the game is to build a chain which has all exposed ends showing a particular number, such as five, for instance. When a player has achieved this, that player is declared the winner of the hand.
There are many different games which can be played with dominoes, and the rules of each vary. However, the basic idea is that the first player to place a tile on its end against an adjacent domino and have all of its sides match (ones touching one another or twos touching three’s) wins. The dominoes are then counted. There are also positional games in which the players alternately place a domino edge to edge against an adjacent one with their numbers showing and form chains according to specific rules.
The most common set of dominoes is called a double-6, though other sets exist such as the double-9 and the double-12. These larger sets are used in many of the more complex domino games.
Most dominoes have a number of pips on the two half-faces and are recognizable by their shape and color. A set may be made from different materials, such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory or dark hardwoods like ebony with contrasting black pips. Many people also create their own unique domino sets by combining the pieces in their collection. Some of these artistic dominoes include curved lines, grids that form pictures when they fall and 3D structures such as towers and pyramids.
When a domino is pushed, the potential energy in its structure converts to kinetic energy, and some of this energy is transmitted to the next domino which pushes it further, and so on. This process continues until all of the dominoes are knocked over.
Dominoes can be used to create artistic designs which are either straight or curved, and can be as simple or complex as the designer wishes. These designs can be based on themes or ideas, such as flowers, hearts, a map, or even words. A person can also create a domino art track, which is a line that the dominoes will follow. Many of these designs are created using the same principles as an engineering-design layout.