DOMINO THEORY

An unidentified man celebrates after winning a game of dominoes.

"Domino!"

Leon Bond jubilantly yelled the game-ending word as he slapped down the winning domino on the picnic table at Indian Park.

As he did, three other players groaned before reluctantly standing up so three new players could try their luck at dominoes.

Bond is one member of a loose group of mostly men who meet nearly every day at Indian Park to "slap some bones." Anyone with knowledge of the game can play, but beware: They don't take kindly to novices.

"Man, what you come out here for? Who told you you could play, your mama?" Bond asked a teen-ager as he slid into place at the table.

"Me and my mama got something to show you," the young man shot back as he reached for his seven dominoes to start the game.

Dominoes, often referred to as "slappin' bones" at Indian Park, is an age-old game of skill. The Indian Park players come in every age, gender and size, but the regular players are 20- to 40-year-olds who learned to play in their early years by watching their parents.

Generally, four players will sit for each game. To start the game, the dominoes are placed face down and shuffled, after which each player draws seven dominoes apiece at random.

The players conceal their dominoes from each other, and the person with "Big Six", or the domino containing two sets of six dots, places it on the table to start the game.

The player with Big Six sets the rules, so the game may differ based on who's playing.

"Most of the old heads know how to play and use the same set of rules, but sometimes you get people down here who don't really know what they're doing, and they set stupid rules for the game," said Bond.

The domino players meet whenever it's not raining or too hot. Since the game can be played with as few as two players, sometimes individuals can be found sitting in the park with their personal set of dominoes, waiting for someone to come along to play the game.

"I can bring my set down here, and within about an hour somebody'll sit down to play," Bond said.

At other times, especially around noon or in early evening, up to four players will compete at a time, while many others will mill around the table awaiting their chance to play.

When that happens, the competitors must play by the "rise and fly" rule.

"It's like this: Rise and fly means losers rise up and fly away so we can give the other pigeons a chance to play," Bond said after another win, motioning the losers away from the table.

Besides the fun of the game, many of the players said they enjoyed the trash-talking that occurs during the game. A lot of would-be comedians gather around the dominoes table, and the jokes and good-natured insults can be as enjoyable as the game itself, they said.

"You have to have a thick skin to come down here, but you know, we're just having fun," said Bond.

Players said the domino games probably will continue to be as important to park-goers as the basketball courts are at Indian Park because they help people to relax.

Players keep coming because they know they can come to the park, sit at a table, talk trash and unwind with a group of people who just want to enjoy a good game, they said. If they get a little better at the game, so much the better, they said.