DOMINO'S RULE
THE ORIGIN
The domino is one of those table games, which doesn’t have its origin
perfectly clarified. It’s known by many peoples and, therefore, has
numerous variations.
It’s played by children, young people, adults and old people, in short,
all people of all ages can have fun with this millennial game.
The first mention of the domino game comes from China. According to
legends of that country, the game would’ve been invented by an
employee of the emperor Hui Tsung. Another refers to the invention of
the game to the years of 234-181 B.C.E, when Huang Ming, a soldier-
hero, would’ve lived.
The game is known in China as "kwat p'ai," meaning "bone tablets",
thus they’re dominoes longer than dominoes currently used in the
west.
The name "Domino" probably derives from the latin expression
"domino gratias" ("thank God"), said by european priests to mark
victory in a match.
In the west, there are indications of the existence of the game in the
18th century, when it would’ve been introduced in England and Italy.
The game may even have been introduced in Italy by Marco Polo, or
others travelers of the time.
But not everyone agrees, thus some scholars claims that the game
has appeared spontaneously in many parts of the globe.
The traditional pieces are of ivory and wood, artistically produced.
Nowadays, however, they're replaced by plastic pieces.
The game consists of 28 pieces (stones) flat, rectangular, wood, bone,
ivory or plastic matter, with points marked from zero (empty) to six,
forming many combinations.
RULES OF THE GAME.
Playing in Duo:
(4 players 2x2),
Each player receives 7 pieces.
Playing individually;
2 players
Each player receives 7 stones.
14 stones to buy in case the opponent doesn’t have the stone.
The first to play can be by two rules:
a) Who have the 6x6 stone (cockroach, cart, carillon, bushing, big
twelve, big car) always starts the match.
b) Whoever draws the highest piece before starting the first match
shall start, the other matches
start counterclockwise from this player.
THE OBJECTIVE
The objective is to download all the pieces first, or close the game
(less usual).
Playing for the "close" isn’t a commonly accepted practice, being
allowed only the "close." natural.
The game is closed when it’s no longer possible to lower pieces,
usually when the two ends of the game has the same number and
there are no more pieces with this number in the hands of the
players.
When the game is closed, whoever has fewer points on pieces in the
hand wins and takes the score in pieces in the opponent's hand, in the
case of play by points.
THE PUNCTUATION
Usually a domino is played in several consecutive matches.
Points are usually calculated in two ways:
a) Whoever lowers all the pieces wins the points of the sum of all the
pieces left in the hand of the opponent. Wins the duo or player who
first reaches a certain number of points, usually 100 points.
b) The duo that accumulates 06 points first is the winner. Where:
- A normal beat (in a single "head") is worth 01 point, the same score
when the game lock and the counting happens,
- "wagon" beat is worth 02 points
- The famous "there and there" which means to hit with a simple
stone at both ends, is worth 03 points
- The "there and there" of wagon, also called "square" or "crusade" is
worth 06 points.
If any player starts the game with 4 wagons, the stones are replaced
on the table.
