You’ve probably heard of the game domino before. If you don’t, it’s a tile-based game that has two sides marked with spots. Players take turns placing dominoes at their sides. Each end is marked with a number, which determines the number of spots on the side of the domino. The goal of the game is to place as many squares as possible in your opponent’s court. When your opponent has six tiles and wins the game, he wins.
The game of dominoes is played in one of two ways. The first player plays his or her chosen tile face-up in the center of the table. The next player matches a tile to a part of the first. Some versions of dominoes allow players to connect a tile to all four sides. When you win a game, you must add all of the same tile to the end of your chain. Doubles count as two. Doubles are also counted as two if the pips on each end match. Players who do not have any dominoes at the end of a row must draw from the unused tiles.
The name domino originates from the Latin word dominus. Later, the word became French, where it became a popular game. In the late eighteenth century, French manufacturers started making domino puzzles. The French versions included puzzles that required players to place tiles so that their ends matched, while the English ones used the arithmetic properties of the pips to determine the order of the tiles. Regardless of where the dominoes were manufactured, they have a rich history.
Western dominoes have been played for centuries in different parts of the world. The Chinese set was thought to be the first to be invented, but there is debate as to whether it was developed independently in Europe or was brought back from China by French prisoners. In any case, it was not until the eighteenth century that the game made its way to Europe. It would not have escaped record if it was invented in Europe in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries.
The two most basic variations of domino involve two players. In the Double Six variation, each player draws seven tiles from a double-six set and plays alternately with the other player. If they make a full house, their score will equal the amount of pip counts left on the losing player’s hand. The simplest variant of the game is the Block game, in which players are competing against each other. They play until one loser runs out of pip count.
In a similar way, falling dominoes mimic the signal transmission in neurons. When a domino is knocked off, an electrical impulse propagates through the long body of an individual nerve cell. The falling dominos simulate many aspects of this process. To make a domino fall, measure the length of a Domino by holding it under a ruler. Tape is used to reinforce the hinge. Once this is complete, affix the Domino to the ruler with tape.