Dominoes are usually made with bone or ivory faces and ebony backs. They are shuffled, or “made,” as it is technically termed, by being turned downwards on the table, and mixed quickly by a light pressure and rapid movement with the hands.
On the Continent, where the game is usually played on a marble or hardwood table, the dominoes have frequently a projecting metal stud in the middle of the face; this enables them to be mixed with greater facility on smooth surfaces, but prevents their being effectually shuffled on one covered with a cloth, unless a large sheet of cardboard is interposed. Care should be taken that the back of the dominoes should not be stained or marked, as, if only one is thus capable of being distinguished, it lessens in the highest degree the interest of the game. They should be of good size, as small sets are very inconvenient to play with, and of sufficient thickness to stand firmly on their edges, with their faces turned towards the player and their backs towards his opponent.
As the game usually played is 100, a marker is convenient to score the successive additions made by each player. On the Continent very convenient markers are used; but there is a simple plan of making them extemporaneously with a visiting card. This is to be cut as shown in Fig. 106.
106. Domino Marker.
By turning back the nicks along the dotted lines the number marked on each is scored; a card so notched will score up to 99, and will answer for a large number of games before it becomes useless by the nicks breaking off.
The dominoes having been shuffled face downwards on the table, one of the two players pushes 2 towards the other, who selects one of the two, leaving the other for his opponent. Both are then turned up, and the player who has the highest number has the lead, or “pose,” as it is called. In England it is frequent for the holder of the 6-6 (double six) to pose first—a stupid plan, as it quite spoils the first hand, inasmuch as 6-6 may be a very bad domino to play from the dominoes held.
The 2 dominoes drawn and exposed are again mixed with the others, the non-leader mixing for them last. Each player then selects 7 dominoes; the leader plays one, placing it face upwards on the table, and the opponent matches it from his own hand, playing at either end as he thinks fit.
Thus, if the first player plays 4-5, the second may play either a 5 to his 5, or, should he think it more advantageous, a 4 to the 4, thus:
If a double is played first, which gives the second player only one number to play to, it is usual to place the double in a cross.