A domino is a small rectangular block, thumb-sized, with a single side either blank or bearing from one to six pips, dots, or spots. There are many different types of domino sets, and a large number of games that can be played with them. The most common game in the West uses the standard double-six set of 28 dominoes. Some sets are larger, and some are designed for play with multiple players or for creating long domino chains.
The word “domino” is also used to refer to the business empire of Domino’s Pizza, whose corporate headquarters are in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company’s success is largely due to its focus on technology and innovation, including developing new ways for customers to order their pizzas.
In the late 19th and 20th centuries, dominoes became popular in America, where they are often played with a pencil and paper. However, the game really gained traction in the United States after World War II when it was introduced to soldiers returning home from Italy and France. During this period, dominoes were very popular in schools, and the first standardized sets were developed.
When you are playing a domino game, each player takes a turn and then places one tile on the table. The goal is to make a line of dominoes that are all matched together. The player who is able to do this the quickest wins the hand. The other players will try to prevent you from making a match by blocking you and placing their own tiles so that you cannot complete your line.
You can make the rules for your domino game as complicated or simple as you want, but most games are based on the principle that each domino has a certain value and that the numbers (or blanks) on adjacent dominoes must match each other. You can also ascribe different values to the spaces on each domino, and some people like to use them as wild cards.
In the simplest domino game, you are only allowed to play off the ends of the dominoes that were previously laid down. You may not, for example, play off of the first two doubles that are laid down in a row, but you can do so with the third and fourth tiles in a line.
There are also positional games in which you place dominoes edge to edge against each other so that their ends match or form a specific total. These games were particularly popular in the early and mid-18th century in both Italy and France, where they became a fad.
Dominoes are also popular in a variety of decorative applications, including wall hangings, jewelry, and even furniture. Traditionally, dominoes were made of materials such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother-of-pearl), ivory, or dark hardwoods such as ebony. More recently, they have been produced from synthetic and plastic materials such as polymer clay and polyester resin. These modern dominoes have the look and feel of real bone, and they can be a less expensive alternative to traditional wood or metal sets.