Dominoes is a famous board game. It is a game in which the players successively lay out one side of the "pebbles", "tiles" on the playing table. Who invented the game, what are the types of dominoes, we will talk about all this later in this article.
The history of dominoes
The history of the game begins in India and China in the twelfth century. In Europe, the first mentions of the game appear in the 18th century thanks to the traveler Marco Polo, the game first appeared in Italy, from where it spread to France and England. Dominoes was an interesting and popular pastime among the monarchs, and it is believed that the name "dominoes" was named after the cloaks in which they were dressed, namely, a white cloth on the inside, black on the outside. This version is quite worthy of attention, because in translation from French "domino" means black and white combination. For European residents, this board game was relevant, because they believed that it develops memory, logic, while in India and China dice were used to predict fate, conduct magical rituals, it is in these countries that not only black and white are used, but and multi-colored dice, where each color has its own meaning, and there are no dice with empty fields, which is the difference between Eastern dominoes and European dominoes.
Rules of the game
This game is intended for two to four players. If there are two participants, each gets seven dice, three participants get five. The game can be started by the die with the highest number of points, and the player who won doubles 6-6, 0-0 can also start the game. The task is to lay out a die, which in terms of the number of points on one half will match the previous ones, it is allowed to use them from the "bazaar". The game is considered over when one of the game participants has laid out the last tile or no player has picked up the necessary bone for the "chain", then such a moment in the game is called a "fish". The player who is the last to make a move wins.
Before starting the game of dominoes, the participants discuss how many points they will play in one round.
Types of dominoes
There are about 40 types of dominoes in the world. The most famous variations are: goat, donkey, record domino, five-of-a-kind, checheve, sausage, general's goat, sea goat, sports domino. Let's consider some varieties of the game.
Goat
From 2 to 4 players participate in the game, each player is dealt 7 dice. The first move is made by the participant of the game with the smallest double, the next move is made by the winner of the previous game, or the one who declared "fish". The point is to put a bone that has a similar number on any side. In the absence of such tiles, players can use them from the stock, which is called the bazaar. The player who manages to lay out the tiles first wins. If none of the participants manage to lay out the necessary bone, it is called a "fish" in the game. The dice with the lowest number of points from one of the players will be the winners.
Ass
A type of domino game, the difference from the previous type is that
that when the dice are placed side by side from the four sides, a "cross" is formed, not a "chain" and when performing moves, you can turn the dice face down and thereby prohibit the continuation of one of the sides of the "cross". The first dice placed must be a double, otherwise the next participant of the game has the opportunity to close two doubles at the same time and the game ends. After which the points are counted, it is worth noting that in this type of dominoes the game lasts up to 101 points.
Sausage
A two-person version of dominoes in which each player receives 14 dominoes, laying them out in a line that each player has face down. Each of the participants in the game builds two lines that start from the first bone, laying out tiles according to the rules of classic dominoes. You can close such a line with a cross bone, and the round ends with a "fish" or when the player has no dominoes. Before the start of the game, the number of points up to which the round will last is discussed between the participants.
Sports dominoes
It is one of the variations of dominoes, suitable for playing with two players. The number of rounds in this variety must be a multiple of 4,8,12, this point is discussed by the participants before the start of the game. Dice are placed on stands, played until one of the participants scores more points.
General goat
A type of dominoes that would be a great game option for two teams of two players. Participants from two teams are placed as follows: 1-3 and 2-4 (9 i.e. diagonally), each of whom receives 7 dice, tiles are laid out in a "chain", and the game must start with a double 1-1. The game of this type of dominoes does not end with a "fish", but only when someone runs out of dominoes. The participant who must make a move after the player who placed the last die loses, he leaves all the dominoes for the next round and is declared the "general"
The history of the game of dominoes is long and spans more than one century. Despite these facts, the board game is popular among its fans and is in almost every home, and is also useful for brain activity, because it trains memory, logical, strategic thinking.
For more board game history, read “History of games“