Kandinsky Domino - Simple System Analysis

In human’s history, people never stop trying to use various materials and combine with different rules to create new games. Domino is one of them.

This is a special version of Domino set with 28 tiles in total and each domino is a rectangular tile with a line dividing its face into two square ends. Each end colored in light blue and marked with a pattern. There are seven different patterns which creates 28 different combinations. The backs of the dominoes are same, so it is indistinguishable from the back. This domino set is made of hardwood which makes it feel substantial but actually light in weight. And it is 0.7cm in thickness which made it easy to stand up in a horizontal or a vertical way.

The most eye-catching feature in this set is the pattern on each domino. Each tile is painted with impressive images that are full of imagination, unlike original ones which are marked with numbers of spots. Those compelling images are extracted from Kandinsky’s later work – Sky Blue, which improves the system’s aesthetic into a much higher level, especially when some kind of layout game finished these patterned domino tiles on the board make up a beautiful painting.

Sky Blue, 1940 by Wassily Kandinsky

On the one hand, these vivid special patterns give this domino set educational meaning -- getting to know Kandinsky, an extraordinary abstract painter and art theorist, and abstract art itself. If players do not know these elements are from Kandinsky’s work, they can easily find the clue on the packing box. In another situation, even if players have not heard of Kandinsky before, when they open the packing box, the patterns would definitely catch their eyes. It is because it is hard to figure out what objects are painted on each domino. At this time, confusion and curiosity will stimulate them to find more information about these strange patterns.

On the other hand, due to the classic design -- Double-six has been replaced by the combination of seven abstract images, to some extent, gameplay has been affected mainly in three aspects. Firstly, it is hard to distinguish each pattern. Because they have consisted of irregular flowing shape and seemingly random color combination, nobody can directly speak out or create a name to describe each pattern. And four-seventh patterns have a large area of red which made player spend more time to recognize. Secondly, there is no obvious order between each pattern which probably leads to a gameplay dimension reduction.

Double tiles of Domino Kandinsky

For instance, some scoring rules and gameplay are not suitable anymore. Finally, it is not convenient for playing layout games. For example, when players are trying to play layout games, in a double-six domino set, they usually start a game with the six-six domino. However, in Kandinsky domino, players have to find out another way to decide who will be the early hand. Anyway, if players want, they can discuss and create a sequence for themselves before starting, but they will cost a bunch of time to remember as well. One solution is just adding a number in each tile without affecting its appearance.

According to domino’s features of appearance and physical property, there are two completely different types of play. One is layout games rely on the number or pattern’s combinations to play the strategy games or games that win by luck. And another one depends on dominos’ blocky shape such as domino-toppling, or just simply building a domino castle.

This set of domino includes 28 pieces, mainly because the classic set domino is 28 pieces. Here is a tentative analysis trying to figure out why uses 28 pieces for a set. The number is decided according to layout games’ requirement, so assuming it is a 4 players’ blocking game and the test is one player successively pick up one tile until getting required number (in row: Hand Tile Number for Each Player). In this case, the relationship between the number of pattern kinds and the coincidence proportion of the same pattern among each hand tile can be calculated. It shows when pattern kinds increased, the proportion of getting the same pattern tiles decreasing dramatically. Because of the small proportion of same pattern tiles, the percentage of different pattern tiles is close to 100%, which provides a bigger space to excavate more strategies.

The Proportion of Getting the Same Pattern among Each Tile in Different Number of Pattern Kinds

It is said that dominoes evolved from dice. The numbers in a standard double-six domino set represent all the rolls of two six-sided dice. The earliest mention of dominoes is from Song dynasty China which is listed as gambling plaques. During the 18th century, modern dominoes first appeared in Italy and then moved to France and became a fad. It is worth mention that the word "Domino" is French for a black and white hood worn by Christian priests in winter. In 1972, a young American named Bob Speca created Domino-toppling as a distinctive hobby. This game even creates a term “Domino Effect” which represents the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar events.

In conclusion, history has proven the Domino set is a smartly exquisite system in both mathematical mechanism and appearance. Most importantly, it is a fairly valuable research object. For the Kandinsky domino, it is a nice try that combines the classic game element with art and reveals domino’s potential across different education field, but creators still need to continue to polish it in order to release domino’s brilliant glamour.