"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
~ Zapp Brannigan, "Futurama"
I've played with dominoes before. I've done some fun setups for domino falls with my brother, tried to make them elaborate, and set them to go off … I've played "domino-type" matching games, back in elementary school, where it was loosely based on dominoes and you are just able to put your double-ended flashcard down when there's a match in the line … but I realized recently I had never actually played dominoes before. I thought this was ridiculous, especially since we had a set in the house (it was Nick's). So Nick taught me how to play dominoes tonight!
When I say he taught me how to play, I'm kind of using that term loosely - he taught me how to play and we were able to play a game, but the rules are still confusing to me. We started out by shuffling the tiles, and then we each got seven:
The first tile was played, which was a tile with a "one" on each side. The way you score points in the game we were playing is to make the "open ends" equal in a multiple of five, but you also need to put a tile down that matches one of the "open" sides. I put down a tile that had a "one" and a "three"; the interesting thing about the "double" tiles is that when you match them, you put can put the match at either end, or in the middle of the tile, keeping either end "open." In this placement, I scored five points because the 3 is open, and the two 1's from the "double" tile are still open. Confusing! To me at least. But hey, it was my first time playing.
Nick's move was to put a 1/2 tile on the opposite side of the 1/1 tile we started with. This gave him a score of 5, because at this point the 1/1 tile's ends didn't count for anything. Why, I'm not sure. Then, Nick told me I could still build off that 1/1 tile, so I put my 1/4 tile on the end, and then *all* the end points counted, so I got 10 points. I think? Ha ha ha!
This game is crazy! And like I said, it was pretty confusing the first time I played. You have to remember to take into account all the "open" values, and if you use a tile that has the same number on both sides, you actually have to play it perpendicular (note the double tiles below). It's a great game though - and it doesn't take long to play. I'm glad I learned how to! Now to keep playing so I actually understand it … !
Related Links:
Double Six Standard Dominoes with Brass Spinner in Wooden Case 28 Piece
Eeboo Pre-School Picture Dominoes
Haba Domino race
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