Dominoes are a family of tile-based games. Also known as gaming pieces, dominoes are rectangular tiles with square ends marked with spots. Players take turns placing the tiles in groups of three. The player who is ahead at the end of the game wins. It can be a competitive or a casual game.
The rules of dominoes are simple: players must place dominoes in such a way that they match with each other. If they are played in a certain direction, they are said to be in a “chain”. Doubles always appear cross-ways across the end of the chain. The other partner must place their tile perpendicular to the double that touches it in the middle. The chain of dominoes can take many different shapes and patterns, some of which are random and dependent on the player’s whims.
The most popular set of dominoes is the Double Six. It consists of 28 tiles. Larger sets are more popular for games with multiple players. The main two types of domino games are blocking and layout games. In a block game, the number of tiles that a player can pick up depends on the number of players in a game. The player with the highest number of pips at the end of the game wins the game.
When a small change is made to a domino, a similar change will occur nearby. This chain reaction is called the domino effect. This happens when one person replaces one piece and then a change occurs elsewhere. This change may affect all of the dominoes in the system. Domino is a great tool for analyzing the impact of change on an organization.
The domino game has a long history. It originated in Italy in the early eighteenth century. It soon spread to southern Germany and Austria, and eventually became a popular game in France. The French word domino was first recorded in a 1771 dictionary called the Dictionnaire de Trevoux. The word domino originally has two meanings. Initially, the domino could mean either a crude wooden cut or a paper game popular among peasants in France.
A traditional set of dominoes has a unique piece for every possible combination of two numbers and a double of the same number of spots. This arrangement allows for a total of 28 unique pieces. Generally, the highest value piece is the highest, with six pips on each end. The other two pieces are blank.
The earliest written manual on dominoes dates back to the thirteenth century. It is thought that the Chinese game was influenced by Italian missionaries, who brought the game to Europe.