Dominos

A classic, an old, super game, which I can only very dimly remember playing, but when I was younger I played it a lot.

I still see old men playing it outside Greek Tavernas’ on the holiday show. But haven’t seen it in the UK in years. In fact the only time I even see a domino is on the side of moped of Domino’s Pizza delivery boys!

Dominoes are the pieces making up a domino set. It’s really a mathematical game, though in recent years it’s more famous for things like Domino rally where you have to line up the dominos carefully and then knock them over... great fun that was, though I walways knocked them over by accident too soon!!

Each domino is a rectangular tile – made of plastic or bone or ivory (if you are minted!) with a line dividing it into two square ends. Each end is marked with a number of spots or is blank. The number of spots go from 1 to 6 - like dice. (The backs of domino pieces are blank btw.

The idea of the game is to get rid of all your tiles / pieces. To be ale to put a piece on the table you need to wait your turn and be able to line up a “one spot” with a “one spot” or a two with a two etc...

I always liked the game and am surprised no-one plays it much anymore. It’s kind of like a card game in that it’s a bit generic. But it’s fun. Maybe I have to wait until I’m a pensioner and then I’ll get another chance to play it!

An interesting fact is that Dominoes is played at a professional level, similar to poker, and matches and tournaments are often televised in Latin America. There is even an International Federation of Dominos and the Fédération Internationale de Domino ( brilliant acronym coming up….) FIDO for short.

And here’s the fact you’ve all been waiting for - The 2008 and 2009 Double FIDO domino world champion is from the UK and is called Darren Elhindi. How did you NOT know that!?