Dominoes can be a challenging game, but it’s a fun way to spend time with friends.
Editor’s note: This is one in an occasional series on games adults enjoying playing. We have previously featured Bunco, Trvial Pursuit, poker, video games, role-playing games and Scrabble.
Eight pairs of hands reach out over an extended kitchen table in Rick and Shirley Hood’s Brunswick home. All of them work together to shuffle the 91 tiles lying there. Then, with determination and a knowledge that seems contrary to the turned-over dominoes (known to true domino players as “bones”), players draw their tiles and start to organize them on their own trays. It looks as though the group is settling in for a nice evening of play.
“It can get pretty cutthroat,” jokes Ginette Vaillancourt as she prepares for the first round of play.
“Not cutthroat!” Jackie Kelly protests with a laugh. “We’re competitive, that’s all. Sometimes it just gets a bit intense.”
The rest of the group laughs along with the ladies. It is the mixture of fun and competitive spirit that has brought these four couples together every month for the past two years; not exactly an easy feat since the couples don’t live close by. In addition to the Hoods, the players are Jackie and Tony Kelly and Helen and Tony Spugnardi who live in Poland Springs, and Ginette and Don Vaillancourt who spend their time between Lewiston and Litchfield. But long-standing friendships and their love of dominoes keep them connected despite the distance. Meeting every month requires a little planning, but the group has found the perfect solution.
“It’s simple, really,” says Vaillancourt. “We rotate who hosts each month. Everyone takes a turn hosting at their house, so we all have to travel at some point. It makes it fair for everyone. That’s also why we meet at a restaurant of the hosts’ choice before we come over to play. They don’t have to cook a meal for everyone.”
The hosts simply provide a place to play, a set of dominoes (although each couple can bring its own, depending on the game being played), dessert and drinks: the perfect ingredients for an evening spent with friends.
The premise of dominoes is quite simple. It’s all about matching numbers on the tiles. Tiles are split in half – with a number of dots on each side. The highest number varies, depending on the set: six, nine, 12 and 15 are the most common sets today.
Play begins by placing all the dominoes face down on the table so they can be shuffled. Then, players take the appropriate number of tiles, depending on the version of the game being played. The minimum is typically six tiles.
The game usually starts with the tile that has the double of the highest tile number in the set; so the player with that tile plays first. If no player has that tile, then the next lowest double tile can start the play.
From there, players can only place a domino if at least one side of their tile matches the tile on the table. Rows of dominoes, going both horizontally and vertically are created as players work to be the first to get rid of all their pieces. Once a player goes out, points from the remaining players’ remaining tiles are added up.
Scoring varies. Some games have the winner receive the combined points of the remaining players’ tiles, thus the highest score wins. However, other games require players to keep their own points from their hand, and, therefore, the lowest score wins.
Strategy matters
The simplicity of dominoes is a major reason why there are so many variations of the game. With a variety of sets available and game play being based solely on matching numbers, players have adapted this game into dozens of varieties for people to enjoy.
One variation called Mexican Train, which is played most often by the featured couples in this story, is a circular game that uses the Double-15 domino set, and players can create horizontal rows (known as trains) as another strategy to get rid of their hand. Game variations and their rules are typically included in the instructions that come with domino sets, are available online at dozens of sites – simply enter dominoes in an Internet search – and in books about games.
Don’t be fooled by the ease of game play, though. Dominoes requires strategy and a good memory.
For example, if a player is unable to lay a tile down because he doesn’t have a matching number, the other players should remember this because they can use this knowledge to block the player from “going out” in future plays. Also, players can plan out their plays based on the patterns on the board – as long as a fellow player doesn’t block or disrupt that strategy somehow as play moves around the table. Dominoes is certainly a thinking person’s game, and can get very competitive with the right mix of players.
Digging in the boneyard
Dominoes is a game that’s been around for thousands of years.
“The oldest known domino set was found in Tutankhamen’s tomb, among the ruins of Thebes,” Dominic C. Armanino states in his book “Dominoes: Popular Games, Rules and Strategies.”
“Tutankhamen was king of ancient Egypt in the 18th dynasty, 1355 B.C. The set is now in King Tutankhamen’s Museum, Cairo, Egypt,” according to Armanino.
Other than this physical evidence of the game, little information is available about dominoes. There are few examples of written histories or other pieces of evidence about the game (rules, descriptions, etc.). The game was primarily an Eastern pastime until the mid-18th century, when the game popped up in Europe and then spread to America. Martin Gardner, author of “Mathematical Games” writes that the name domino may have come from the Europeans, based on the tiles’ original black-and-white appearance, which bore a striking similarity to the “black domino half-mask” worn at that time during costume parties. It’s not known for sure if dominoes moved from East to West, or if European countries developed their own form of the game.
What is certain is the origin of the word “bones.” Those who play the game seriously, whether at home or in tournaments, call the tiles bones. This is because the original tiles were either carved from ivory or actual bone pieces infused with bits of ebony. Thus, the pieces got their name, and the group of pieces that players draw from was dubbed “the boneyard”.
Color added now
Today, there are many varieties of the game, with sets consisting of 28, 55 and 91 bones each.
Dominoes are not just in black and white anymore. As times have changed, so have the styles of the tiles – from colored dots to character-inspired versions for young children, such as the Care Bears. Online and computer versions are available for those who want to play with people across the country or even around the world. Of course, there are also small and large-scale tournaments, including a World Championship Tournament held annually in Alabama.
For the four couples in Maine, dominoes remains an international game of sorts. Last month, two of the couples traveled to the Caribbean, with the dominoes tucked in a carry-on bag.
“We’ve pulled them out during long layovers,” said Shirley Hood. “I can’t tell you what a great way it is to pass the time during those hours in the airports. And every time someone will stop and either ask us what we’re doing or will want to chat about how they play. It’s a great travel game.”
Comments are no longer available on this story