Dominoes is an increasingly popular family of game-based tiles, most notably played by children. Each domino is usually a regular rectangular tile with only a square line dividing it into two triangular ends. Each side is either marked with numbers or is otherwise blank.
Dominoes are made from a number of different materials, including plastic, wood, ivory and porcelain. Plastic dominoes are inexpensive and disposable, while wood and ivory dominoes are more durable. Porcelain dominoes can be personalized with names or initials, but they may also be less attractive to play with than some of the other available types. The larger sets of wooden dominoes are usually wooden with raised ridges, giving them a feel similar to marble. Porcelain makes these sets look much like ceramic.
Domino tiles are generally played by two or more people, with one person at each end of a long row of domino tiles. A person at the end of the row is called a “queen”, and her job is to choose which tile she wants to move from her original position to the adjacent position on the row. If a queen makes the move successfully, her tile will be moved to the adjacent position, and the player who moved the queen gets to take her place at the end of that particular row. If no queen makes the move, then it is up to the last remaining queen in the circle to move. If the last remaining queen makes the move successfully, then she becomes the new “queen”.
Dominoes are divided into two main categories based on their size. Smaller domino sets have fewer pieces per domino, while larger sets have more pieces per domino. Smaller sets are lighter and more fragile than large sets, and they are not as strong. Dominoes are available in a wide range of colors. Some popular colors include pink, green, purple, blue, white, yellow, and orange.
Dominoes also have different scoring rules as compared to other domino games. The first domino is always worth two points. Domino tiles with the symbol “P” on them earn double-6 marks. The second domino, in which all of the domino pieces have the symbol “Q” in them, earns triple-6 marks. The third domino, which has all of the symbols except for the “P” ones, earns triple-5 marks.
Domino tiles are played using a standard game board. The orientation of play is the same as that of regular dominoes, with one exception – when a player rolls a domino, each piece must either land on an open square or a closed square, but never on a wall or a space. Additionally, dominoes are played using a rectangular grid called the playing area, which is four times as long as the rectangular board itself.