The History of Dominoes
The game of dominoes was designed by a statesman around 1120 CE. It was presented to Hui Tsung who was the Emperor during that time. The dominoes were circulated to other countries by imperial order during the reign of Kao-Tsung, son of Hui Tsung, somewhere between 1127-1163 CE. But there is a belief that this document talks about the regularization and not the introduction of the game itself.
Dominoes were introduced in Italy, possibly in Venice during the 18th Century. Despite their Chinese origin, there is a dispute on whether or not the European tile set of dominoes originated from China to Europe during the fourteenth century or was designed independently.
Domino could have been derived from the Latin word "dominus" meaning "master of the house." The word initially appeared in a type of monastic cover, then to a masked masquerade costume, and finally to a piece of the domino set.
The game was transferred from Italy to France during the early 18th century and became a craze. During the latter stages of the 18th century, domino puzzles were being produced by France. There were two varieties of puzzles. The first type provides a pattern and players were requested to put tiles on it in such a manner that the edges are identical. The second type also provided a model and the players were asked to put tiles on mathematical attributes of the spots, commonly the sum of position of tiles and tile parts.
The game was introduced in Britain during the latter part of the 18th century from France through prisoners of war from France and immediately appeared to have become popular in inns and taverns during that time.
The word "domino" is a French term for the black and white masks worn by Christian priest during the winter which is probably where the name of the game originated. Domino games are played worldwide, though they are more popular in Latin America.
Inuits, or natives of North America, played the game making use of tiles out of bones which is identical to Western Dominoes. The game was probably imitated from Western games instead of being a native invention.
Most of the games associated with dominoes are quite contemporary. The most ancient of the European games seems to be the block games. The game of Muggins can be traced back during the initial years of the 20th century.