During the mid-18th century, the Western domino game was first recorded in Italy and France. It may have been introduced to Britain by French prisoners of war. By the 1860s, the domino game appeared in American literature. Its popularity spread to Latin America, where it is still popular today.
In most games of domino, players alternately extend a line of play. The line of play is defined by the number of pips on the open ends of the tiles. The total number of pips is used to determine if the player scores. Normally, the player scores a point for each divisible number of pips on open ends. In some games, all four sides of a double are open, though other games count only one side as open.
The first domino played is typically a double-six. The next tile played is a 6-6, and so on. The fifth tile played is a 5-5. The fifth and sixth tiles are usually placed vertically, though they can also be played to the left or right of the 6-6.
The game is played in pairs, with the goal of reaching a set number of points. The players take turns picking seven tiles from the set. If all the tiles add up to the number of points set by the players, the players keep the tiles. If the tiles don’t add up, they’re turned back and the players draw from the empty set. Normally, the set includes twelve tiles. If the players are playing a concentration variant, they’re required to have a total of twelve pips.
In the game of skillful domino, the players try to reach a set number of points by playing dominoes in pairs. The players are required to make a target score before the game begins. If one player reaches that goal, they win the game. If two players reach the same goal, they’re tied. Usually, players are given a number of points, based on the number of pips on the open sides of their dominoes. They then take turns chipping out any tile that doesn’t add up to the target score.
If two players can’t reach the target number of points, the game ends. The winner’s score is the sum of the pip counts left in the loser’s hand. If the loser has no dominoes, they must draw from the empty set. If the winner has any dominoes left, they can play any of the dominoes they have.
The game is played in pairs, and the number of points is usually 61. If the players are playing a concentration variation, they’re required to have a number of pips on the open sides. They can also add tiles to any line. For example, if the players have a total of five pips on the open ends of their dominoes, they can add one tile to each line. If they have a total of seven pips on the open ends of their tiles, they can add three tiles to each line.