Domino is a small rectangular block that is used for various games. Its nicknames include stones, cards, and bones. The word domino itself is a portmanteau of the Latin phrase domum, which means “masquerade,” and the Italian word dante, which means “six” or “sixteen.”
There are a number of different types of dominos. They are made of different materials, such as wood or plastic. Traditionally, European-style dominoes were made from ivory or bone. However, a variety of modern sets are made from plastic, and are available online.
Typically, a domino is made up of two squares, with a line down the middle. One side of the domino is marked with a group of spots or pips. Other sides of the domino are blank. These tiles are typically placed on the edge of the table in front of the players.
To play a game of dominos, the first player draws seven tiles from the stock. Each player then places them edge to edge against each other. Once the first domino is tipped over, the next domino will fall down, and the game continues until all of the dominos have been tipped over. Some games require that the first tile in the line be a double.
In the beginning, each domino was a unique piece, and a set of dominoes had 21 possible outcomes when the two dice were thrown. As the set of dominoes grew, it became more difficult to identify a domino’s pips. Eventually, some large domino sets were manufactured with Arabic numerals instead of pips. Various variations of the game have also been developed.
One of the most common forms of domino game is solitaire. Players use the same domino set to make a course and try to score points. Another variant is Five-Up, in which players are given a set of multicolored tiles and must arrange them in a certain order. Sometimes, a curved tile, called a bendomino, may block one side of the line of play.
A variant of dominoes, called the Matador, has an unusual set of rules. This is because the tiles can be flipped. When a player places a new tile in the middle of a line, they must remove an existing tile.
In the late 1700s, the domino game spread to England. French prisoners of war brought dominoes to the British Isles. Soon after, the game gained popularity, spreading throughout the world. By the end of the century, dominoes were even mentioned in American literature.
The Western variants of the game were first recorded in Italy and France in the mid-18th century. Later in the 1860s, the domino became popular in America. At that time, it was a fad to use the game to avoid religious prohibitions against playing cards.
Today, most games of dominoes are adaptations of card games. There are also several versions of the game, including trick-taking, solitaire, and domino-style gaming. Several games, such as Che Deng, Tien Gow, and Pai Gow, have their origins in traditional Chinese dominoes.