Originally called “dominus” or “stones” in Greek, dominoes are a kind of game used for various purposes. They are similar to cards, but with two squares instead of two suits. They are made of a rigid material, such as wood or plastic. They are also marked with an arrangement of pips, which are small identifying marks on one side.

The traditional European style of dominoes were traditionally made from ivory, bone or mother of pearl oyster shell. Their faces were carved in a way that resembled a priest’s cape. The tiles are marked with numbers, which belong to the suit of that number. Some large domino sets use Arabic numerals instead of pips.

Dominoes can be played for a variety of games, but the most common are trick-taking games. This type of domino game involves drawing seven pieces and placing them edge to edge against each other. The player with the least number of pips wins. The game can be played with two players or a team of four. In the most basic version, each player draws seven tiles from the stock.

Another type of domino game is called a concentration game. This is played with a double six set. The first player draws the lead piece and draws the second piece to match it. The total of all the pips on the lead piece is the same as the total of the pips on the second piece. Each player plays their best domino to get the most points. Then, the other players try to draw the same number of pips from the lead piece to make their own best hand.

Dominoes are usually made up of 28 pieces. They are usually twice as long as they are wide. They have a line down the middle and two squares at the end. When they are laid out in a row, the ends are separated by a line. If the first domino in the row is tipped, the rest of the dominoes will topple.

Other types of dominoes are called spinners. These are the same as dice, but the players don’t throw them. The object is to get as many of the tiles in the line to fall down as possible. The earliest recorded instance of the word “domino” was in 1771, in the Dictionnaire de Trevoux.

Other names for dominoes include: bones, tickets, stones and tiles. The word domino was also applied to crude woodcuts on paper that were popular among peasants in France. In the 1860s, the word spread to England. The name became associated with the game, and by the 1890s, it was seen in American literature.

The Chinese have a tradition of playing dominoes. Unlike European dominoes, Chinese dominoes don’t have blank faces. They are designed to represent all the possible combinations of throws from two thrown dice. A 32-piece Chinese domino set represents each face of a pair of thrown dice.

There are several variations of dominoes, such as double six, double nine and double twelve. The double-18 domino set has 190 tiles, while the double-21 domino set has 253 tiles.