This is similar to card games like rummy or cribbage. Matching games – the object of such games is to acquire groups of matching tiles or special tiles configurations.Points are earned for special tiles configurations and/or when a player is out (has played all of his dominoes). Typical domino games – in which players are building the line of play.You can even play some card games with a set of domino tiles.īecause of the way the game is played, we can distinguish four types of domino games. As already mentioned, in some countries dominoes replaced playing cards and some domine games resemble card games. In many games tiles (bones) are laid on the table and they form a line, but that’s not a rule.

This creates a lot of possibilities! Types of domino gamesĭominoes sets may be different, and they can be used in different ways. Additionally, you can use doubled sets in some games. There is also a double-seven domino (known in Russia), double-eight (known in the UK and Germany), even double-twelve, double-fifteen and double-eighteen (sometimes used in a fairly popular game of Mexican Train). It’s relatively easy to buy double-nine domino (from 0-0 to 9-9). Dominoes in Europeĭouble-six domino (with 28 tiles from 0-0 to 6-6) is most popular today. It appeared in Italy first, and Of course, European dominoes has been transformed to better fit our culture. Domino probably was known in Europe later, in the 18th century. First mentions about Chinese domino comes from 12th century. But Marco Polo lived in 13th and 14th century. Some sources say that famous traveler “spread knowledge about the game” in Europe. Some say domino was imported to the west by Marco Polo. There are also tile sets with characters similar to Chinese Chess (Xiangqi). For example, set for a game called 挖花 resembles mahjong tiles. There are also special sets of tiles for special games. Some of the bones have their specific names, and besides some of the spots (pips) are red. CC)Ĭhinese dominoes are very interesting. The first of these games can be played also with dice. It was used for various games like “tien gow” or “pai gow”. Chinese domino is a bit different than European, but it still inspired by six-sided dice. Maybe it was known earlier, but first mentions about the game can be found in the written documents from the 13th century. In China, Domino is known at least since XIII century as “gwat pai” or “tim pai” or “nga pai”. Today you can see in the museum in Cairo. A set of domino tiles considered as the oldest was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun in the ruins of Thebes in Egypt. Surely this is just a legend because a history of domino games is longer.Įnglish mathematician Rouse Ball claimed that dominoes were already known by ancient Greeks, the Hebrews and the Chinese. One legend attributes the invention of the dominoes to monks from the Montecassino Abbey. Card games were considered as “immoral” and so they were replaced by dominoes. Domino games were also popular in places where puritanical tendencies prevailed. Probably due to the fact that the dominoes were popular among the clergy. Word “domino” probably comes from the Latin word “dominus” meaning “lord”. You can play many games with one set of domino tiles, just like you can play many games with one deck of cards.

What a pity! This game is more addictive than you think, and besides, it has a fascinating history. In my country (Poland) it’s rather unusual to see adults playing dominoes. Sometimes we play with kids because this game seems simple. Often we treat dominoes as blocks for children, a simple toy used to learning to count.

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