The Basics of Dominoes
A domino is a small rectangular block with two groups of spots, or pips, on one side. Dominoes are used for playing a variety of games. When a domino is struck, it will cause other dominoes to fall over, sometimes creating long chains of dominoes that form artwork or giant portraits on the floor.
In a physics experiment, University of Toronto physicist Stephen Morris showed that a domino is more powerful than we might think. When a domino is pushed past its tipping point, it has the potential to knock over things up to a third of its size. When Hevesh sets up a massive domino installation, she often creates test versions of the entire piece and films them in slow motion. This allows her to see where the pieces need to be moved so they can work correctly together.
There are many different types of domino, ranging from simple two-player games using a double-six set to complex multi-player games that require a double-nine or even a double-twelve set. Each game has its own rules, and the rules vary between regions of the world.
Some of the most popular domino games involve strategy and luck. For example, a player can win the game by removing all of his opponents tiles from the board before he does. The player who does so receives the highest score and is the winner of that hand. Other games are based on skill. For example, the heaviest tile determines which player starts the next game.
While many domino games have the same basic rule, there are also numerous variations in scoring and other aspects of the game. For instance, some players may agree to count only the pips on one end of a double (i.e., a 4-4 counts as only four points). Another common variation involves counting all of the remaining pips in a losing player’s hand at the end of a hand or game and adding them to the winning players’ scores.
Each domino has an open end and a closed end. A player must place a tile on the table by positioning it so that it touches one of these ends. If the tile is a double, it must be placed perpendicular to the open end of the previous tile in order to create a chain that develops a snake-like shape. Depending on the rules of the game, a double can be played as either a spinner or non-spinner. A spinner can be played on all four sides, while a non-spinner can only be played on the opposite side of the other dominoes in the line of play.