Domino is an absorbing game that can be played by one or more players. It requires a lot of attention and strategy to set up long rows and then knock them over. Dominoes are also used for educational purposes to teach children basic math and counting.

A domino is a rectangular plastic or clay tile with an arrangement of numbers on one side and blank or patterned on the other. The numbers, which are called pips, are usually colored black or white, but may be any color. The word domino comes from a Latin phrase that means “flip over” and refers to the fact that when a single piece is laid, it affects all other pieces in the same row or column.

The most common games that use dominoes involve blocking and scoring. Some games, such as bergen and muggins, determine points by adding up all the pips on a losing player’s remaining tiles; other games, such as Mexican train, allow players to place a piece in any position along a line of already-played dominoes. In many countries, dominoes are sold in sets of 28 or more. When playing with larger sets, it can be difficult to re-stack the tiles after each use because they are normally twice as long as they are wide. In these cases, some games employ the use of a special “spinner” domino that is more easily re-stackable than others.

Dominoes were developed in China in the 1300s and are considered to be cousins of playing cards. The markings on a domino, known as pips, originally represented the results of throwing two six-sided dice. Later, the European dominoes that we know today were introduced. Unlike the Chinese dominoes, which were painted, these dominoes have a white background and black pips.

The popularity of domino grew rapidly in the United States when entrepreneur Dominic Monaghan opened the first Domino’s Pizza location in 1967 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He marketed his product heavily in college towns and placed his restaurants near campuses to reach young people who enjoyed eating pizza quickly. Monaghan’s strategy enabled Domino’s to become the largest pizza chain in the world by 1978.