Fun Facts About Dominoes

 Dating back to the 12^th century, and perhaps even earlier than that, dominoes has been around for hundreds of years. With such a long history behind it, including many colorful stories over the years, there are likely several fun facts about dominoes that you may not know. So, here’s a small compilation of those fun facts that we found to be the most interesting.

Our first event has to do with dominoes history. Despite the common belief that it wasn’t until the 18^th century that this game appeared in the West, a domino piece — along with a backgammon board, pipes, and drumsticks — was found among the remains of the Mary Rose ship. The ship sunk in Solent — a strait that separates the mainland of England from the Isle of Wight — in 1545 and was raised in 1982. So, based on this evidence, it looks like dominos might have been in Western waters long before what we thought. However, they actually did spread across Europe through Venice and Naples some centuries after the shipwreck.

When it comes to setting the bar high, dominoes fans take it quite seriously. On Domino Day in 2009, 4,491,863 pieces were toppled to break the record, but only 4,345,028 fell. That same day, ten other records were broken including the largest dominoes structure, which rose to 25,000, and the longest domino wall, which was 16 meters long. Domino Day has been paused since 2010 due to an internal organization and financial issue, but it should be noted that it was the Netherland’s biggest TV production.

Dominoes have also been present in literary history. Famous English writer Edmond Hoyle, who many may remember from the phrase “according to Hoyle” was a highly respected authority when it came to rules and practice of a series of games included dominoes among his famous collections of game rule writings.

It is known that dominoes is a popular game in certain areas of the world, especially in the Caribbean. Domino sets were taken to this part of the world when some territories were still under British and French rule, and although the most recent World Championship Domino Tournament was celebrated in Alabama, 500 of the world’s top players met in Jamaica for the 2003 edition of this championship.

Finally, looking at metaphorical uses that have been given to the domino, in 2009, for the 20^th commemorative anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a series of giant dominoes were toppled. The now retired Polish politician Lech Wałęsa (1983 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) was in charge of setting the toppling in motion. One thousand pieces were spread over Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz during this symbolic act, which lasted half an hour.

There are many other stories connected to this enjoyable game and of all kinds. Whether you want to break different records, celebrate change, or you are just want to look for an excuse to meet other aficionados at a paradisiac location, it can be said that dominoes has been quite the popular pastime for centuries now. It has also been in the lives — and words — of notable characters like Oscar Wilde, who once said that he had, of course, played this game outdoors: “I once played dominoes in an open-air cafe in Paris”.

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