The Basics of Dominos

A domino is a small tile with an arrangement of dots or markings, similar to those on a die, on one side. The other side is blank or identically patterned. When a player places a domino in this way, it becomes a “lead” and can be used to match or add to other tiles that are already on the table. The goal of a player is to build the largest possible line of tiles before the other players can add to it. The rules of domino vary greatly from place to place, but the basics are generally the same.

Dominos are used in many games, most of which involve a set of rules to determine how the pieces fall when played together. In general, each domino has a specific number of sides and a value associated with each. Each side of a domino is either a color or a number, and each side can be used in different ways in a game. Some games use only the numbers while others use the colors to indicate the value of each piece.

Some domino sets are made from a variety of natural materials, including bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, and dark hardwoods like ebony. These more expensive sets have a more elegant appearance and are often more sturdy than plastic dominoes.

In some types of domino, each player draws seven tiles for his hand before beginning to play. If he is unable to make another play, he passes and the next player takes his turn. Other games start each player with a smaller number of tiles, such as two players starting with 7 tiles or three players starting with 5 tiles.

The most basic domino game is called Block, and it requires a double-six set of dominoes. These 28 tiles are shuffled and form the stock, or boneyard. Each player draws a number of tiles, based on the number of players. When a player cannot go, he passes and the next player draws his tile from the stock. The players continue this process until all the tiles are drawn.

If a player makes an error, such as placing a domino on top of another with the same color or number, it is considered a block and the other players must remove their tiles from the board until there are no more errors. If a player draws more than the number of tiles for his hand, these extra dominoes are taken by the player to his right without looking at them and then returned to the stock before any other player starts his turn.

Dominoes have inertia, which means they resist motion until they are pushed or nudged in the right direction. The first domino that falls initiates the domino effect, which allows the rest of the dominoes to cascade in rhythm. When writing a story, each scene serves as a domino that influences the scene that follows it. The key is to make sure that all of the dominoes in a scene are logically connected, and that they will fall in a way that will actually help advance your story’s plot.