Domino is a game in which players score points by placing dominoes end to end. The exposed ends of each domino must match, i.e., one’s touch one’s and two’s touch two’s. Each domino has a value expressed as a number of dots.
Each round presents a new set of tiles and an opportunity to create a strategy. The wise domino player plans ahead – but remains flexible enough to respond to the situation on the fly.
Origin
Domino escaped juvenile authorities and honed her skills as a mercenary. She is trained in various armed and unarmed combat techniques, covert operations, demolitions and has a mastery of numerous psionic abilities. She is fluent in several languages and wears body armor and contact lenses that magnify her vision and shoot lasers.
The domino word and game originated in Italy and France and were brought to England by French prisoners toward the end of the 1700s. Early domino tiles were functionally identical to playing cards and used in games like cribbage.
Domino was recruited by Storm to help safeguard mutant island Utopia, where she reunited with Cable and his clone Copycat. The emotion-manipulating Psycho-Man made her attack Copycat, whom Domino resented for her role in her year-long captivity.
Rules
There are many different domino games and rules vary from game to game. However, most domino games follow similar basic rules. For example, a player who wins a round scores one point for each multiple of five in the opponent’s hands.
The order of play is determined by the highest double in each player’s hand or a random draw. Any leftover tiles are returned to the stock and reshuffled. Players may also purchase a tile from the boneyard (again, depending on the specific game).
Each player draws one domino from the stock and places it down according to the rules of the particular game. A player must play a domino when it is his turn unless he cannot due to the blocking of an opponents’ turn.
Variations
Many variants of domino feature different rules. Some of these rules are based on the number of pips or how many sides a domino has. Others are based on the way players add tiles to a line of play. The configuration of these game tiles is called a layout, string or line of play.
In a block game, the players alternately add a domino to one of the free ends of an already-played tile. The goal is to build a continuous line of matching dominoes. The game ends when the players run out of tiles or reach a predetermined score.
The rules for the line of play differ from one variant to another. For example, in Matador and Bendomino, the doubles serve as spinners and can be played on all four sides, causing the line of play to branch.
Materials
Over the centuries domino pieces have been made from a wide range of materials. These include bone (often ox bone), wood, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (“mother of pearl”) and ivory. They are usually about half as long as they are thick and are marked with a ridge or line across the face that visually divides it into two square halves, each bearing from one to six dots, called “pips,” or a blank spot that represents zero.
Other materials used to make dominoes include metals (such as brass or pewter); other types of stone (e.g., marble, granite or soapstone); and woods including a variety of hardwoods such as hickory, oak and cedar; and even ceramic clay. In the early 20th century a manmade plastic invented called Parkesine or Xylonite was used to manufacture domino sets until this was discontinued around the mid-20th century.
Scoring
Domino is a scoring game in which players attempt to build chains of dominoes that add up to a multiple of five or three. A double is worth eight points while a single is worth two. A blank counts as zero. The first player to score the highest cumulative total for their hand wins.
A round in domino is over when all tiles have been played or no further moves are possible. Players then tally their scores and the winner of that round takes control of the boneyard, which contains all remaining tiles.
In the X-Men series, Domino was hired by Flag-Smasher to disrupt ULTIMATUM’s operations in Rumekistan and Providence. She later teamed up with Cable to free mutants sequestered by ONE. She also worked with Shatterstar to sabotage Rumekistan’s economy.