The game of dominoes began in China around the 12th century. Western dominoes probably developed later, independently from the Chinese version, in Italy or France in the 18th century. Dominoes is now played, in a variety of ways, in most countries of the world. The usual set consists of 28 dominoes—flat, rectangular blocks made of bone, wood, or plastic. The faces of 27 of the divided pieces (sometimes called bones) have varied combinations of dots (also called pips) or dots and blanks. The 28th piece is the double blank.
Two basic forms of the game are block and draw. In block, the simplest form of the game, the dominoes are laid face down and mixed. The person who is to lead, or set, is chosen by drawing to see who gets the domino with the most spots. The pieces used in the draw are returned to the pack. Each player then draws seven dominoes and sets them so that opponents cannot see the dots, or spots. Beginning with the set, each person plays one domino in turn. The player must match the open end of a domino already played. If one player is blocked, the opponent goes on until a domino is placed that the blocked player can match. The game ends when one player dominoes (goes out) or when all players are blocked. The winner is the one who dominoes or who has the fewest spots on the player’s remaining pieces. One player’s score is the number of spots on the opponent’s unplayed dominoes. A game may be 50 or 100 points.
Draw is similar to block except that when a player is blocked the player draws from the reserve until a play can be made. The last two pieces in the stock, or boneyard, may not be drawn.
There are a number of variations on the game. These include matador, which involves presenting a number that will total seven when added to an end, and muggins, in which the goal is to make the total of the open-ended pieces in the layout a multiple of five.