Editing Dominoes (section)

==Construction and composition of domino sets==
European-style dominoes are traditionally made of bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), [[ivory]], or a dark hardwood such as [[ebony]], with contrasting black or white pips ([[inlay|inlaid]] or [[paint]]ed). Some sets feature the top half thickness in MOP, ivory, or bone, with the lower half in ebony. Alternatively, domino sets have been made from many different natural materials: stone (e.g., [[marble]], [[granite]] or [[soapstone]]); other woods (e.g., [[ash tree|ash]], [[oak]], [[Sequoia sempervirens|redwood]], and [[cedrus|cedar]]); metals (e.g., [[brass]] or [[pewter]]); [[ceramic]] clay, or even [[frosted glass]] or [[crystal]]. These sets have a more novel look, and the often heavier weight makes them feel more substantial; also, such materials and the resulting products are usually much more expensive than polymer materials. 
[[Image:Dominoes.jpg|thumb|right|Dominoes]]
Modern commercial domino sets are usually made of synthetic materials, such as [[ABS plastic|ABS]] or [[polystyrene]] plastics, or [[Bakelite]] and other [[phenolic resin]]s; many sets approximate the look and feel of ivory while others use colored or even translucent plastics to achieve a more contemporary look. Modern sets also commonly use a different color for the dots of each different end value (one-spots might have black pips while two-spots might be green, three red, etc.) to facilitate finding matching ends. Occasionally, one may find a domino set made of card stock like that for [[playing card]]s. Such sets are lightweight, compact, and inexpensive, and like cards are more susceptible to minor disturbances such as a sudden breeze. Sometimes, the tiles have a metal pin (called a spinner or pivot) in the middle.<ref>{{cite web|title=General Western Domino Attributes|url=http://www.domino-play.com/TypeDoubleSquares.htm|access-date=12 July 2014}}</ref>

The traditional domino set contains one unique piece for each possible combination of two ends with zero to six spots, and is known as a double-six set because the highest-value piece has six pips on each end (the "double six"). The spots from one to six are generally arranged as they are on six-sided [[dice]], but because blank ends having no spots are used, seven faces are possible, allowing 28 unique pieces in a double-six set.

However, this is a relatively small number, especially when playing with more than four people, so many domino sets are "extended" by introducing ends with greater numbers of spots, which increases the number of unique combinations of ends and thus of pieces. Each progressively larger set increases the maximum number of pips on an end by three; so the common extended sets are double-nine (55 tiles), double-12 (91 tiles), double-15 (136  tiles), and double-18 (190 tiles), which is the maximum in practice. As the set becomes larger, identifying the number of pips on each domino becomes more difficult, so some large domino sets use more readable Arabic numerals instead of pips.