The First Hollywood Domino Tournament, a benefit for The Art of Elysium, a non-profit organization that runs arts workshops for seriously ill children, was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills in February.

Celebrities taking part in the tournament included Rumer Willis, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Kate Hudson, Salma Hayek, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Penélope Cruz, Debbie Matenopoulos, James Van Der Beek, Kate Beckinsale, and many more.

Charlize Thereon was the big winner of the night, walking away with a $25,000 blank check for the charity of her choice. In addition, she was awarded a customized Instrumento NoUno watch by de Grisogono president Fawaz Gruosi.

According to Sky Showbiz: “dominoes - yup, that game where you line up dotted tabs - has got the Celebville X factor. More than cool, it’s inherent (yet hidden) showbiz potential for fun and frolics apparently rivals that of a big-time Hollywood casino. As the event got started, stars flocked to the first De Grisogono’s Hollywood Domino Tournament like sharks to a tasty bait, to do their bit for charity.”

GQ Magazine reports that “Traditionally beloved of stout-sipping pub-goers, it seems that the humble game of dominoes is in danger of becoming the new poker.”

GQ also reports that “The glitzy tournament, inspired by A Night In Havana, is also the official launch of Hollywood Domino, a variation on the classic game in which players build “Blockbusters”, “Sequels” and “Trilogies” as they battle it out for the “Oscar” domino. Hollywood Domino will be available to buy in autumn this year, in time, no doubt, to be a Christmas bestseller.”

According to Vanity Fair, “Hollywood has always been a gaming town,” and “Now there’s a new game in town: Mexican Train dominoes. Best friends Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz are fanatics” and “they’ve converted pals such as Demi and Ashton, Donna Karan, Bruce Willis, and Lucy Liu.”

For more details, as well as photos of the stars attending the tournament, see Just Jarad, PopSugar, Chic Today, omg!, Pacific Coast News, ConnieTalk.

Dominoes will take center stage in the Big Apple, when over 400 of the best players will meet to celebrate their passion for the game of Dominoes. Players from as far away as Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia and Spain will travel to New York to compete with players from the U.S. to determine who is “El # Uno” in the sport.

The NYC Domino Tournament, Sun April 29, 2007 12-7pm at Latin Quarter is the first of a Series of events that will be hosted in the New York area by worlddominotournaments.com, a site published by R. Paniagua Inc., a company based in New York that has focused on multi-cultural programming for the past 25 years.

The format of the Tournament will be Double Six with no elimination. Instead each two-man team will play five 200-point games with a 40-minute time limit per game, and then the top teams will vie in the sixth game for the title. The Final eight teams will be filmed to broadcast in the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean and other key markets of interest.

Upcoming events include the Puerto Rican Parade Tournaments on June 9th and the Dominican Day Parade Tournament on August 5th, two huge weekend events in New York. These will culminate with a multi-city event that concludes in Las Vegas in the Fall of 2007.

For more information, visit worlddominotournaments.com.

Although some may find it hard to believe, there comes a day when playing dominoes becomes more entertaining than having sex.

Playboy king Hugh Hefner says he knows he’s not getting any younger and doesn’t have the stamina and drive for the bedroom that he once did in his early years. He admits that he now prefers playing the classic family game rather than getting naughty under the covers.

“I’m bored of the hanky-panky. I’m still active, but it’s different - I like to play dominoes with my girlfriends,” he tells the London Sun.

When asked about his infamous wild nights at the Playboy mansion, the 80-year-old publisher who turned his men’s magazines business into a worldwide entertainment and fashion empire said, “I haven’t been to as many parties because I’m doing other things that are taking up my energy”.

ESPN2 has recently broadcast the 2005 World Domino Tournament from the Las Vegas Hilton. The Tournament originally took place on November 18-20, 2005. The ESPN telecast features the quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals of the competition. Produced in a reality show format, the telecast includes seven one-hour shows. ESPN’s veteran announcer Alvaro Martin is joined by actor/comedian Casper Martinez for commentary of the tournament, which was originally broadcast on ESPN Deportes in March, and on ESPN2 in June.

The 2005 World Domino Tournament featured more than 40 teams from the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean competing in a tournament that featured the most skilled professional players, competing for a cash prize.

The tournament rules do not describe what specific domino game variation is being played, although from the pictures and rules, I infer that they’re playing Latin Partnership Dominoes, as described in the books How to Play Latin Partnership Dominoes and How to Play Better Dominoes.

This appears to be a 4-handed variation of Block Dominoes, as described on Jose’s Page on Domino Games in Puerto Rico and Latin American Match Dominoes at Puremco.

ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s Spanish-language network, and the International Domino Federation have reached an exclusive agreement for the network to televise the World Domino Championships through 2011.

“Our commitment in bringing the widely popular game of dominoes to our viewers remains intact,” said Lino Garcia, general manager, ESPN Deportes. “This agreement with the International Domino Federation, one of the game’s most respected organizations, reinforces our pledge to bring to our viewers the best and most competitive domino tournaments in the world.”

“The International Domino Federation is extremely pleased with the agreement it has reached with ESPN Deportes,” said Eduard Petrenas, president, International Domino Federation. “Both parties have shown a strong commitment to make dominoes the next mainstream sport on television.”

The World Domino Championship is an annual international tournament. The 2005 tournament, which took place in Las Vegas, will be televised in English on ESPN2 beginning June 12; it has already been shown on ESPN Deportes. The 2005 tournament featured a field of more than 40 teams from the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean competing in a two-day tournament that featured the most skilled professional players.

The 2006 tournament will be held in October in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is home of the 2007 tournament, and Orlando, Florida will host the 2008 event.

See also: ESPN Deportes, Federación Internacional de Domino.

Reference: Business Wire.

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In an article in the Richmond, Va Times-Dispatch (Central Virginians Are Already Hip To Dominoes), Daniel Neman discusses some of the background of dominoes, some of the many domino variations, and how it’s played in his area of the world. The articles includes quotes from a retired couple, as well as a 21-year-old immigrant from Mexico, both of which enjoy playing the game with their friends and families.

Read the full article.

There’s an article in the Houston Chronicle (Are Dominoes Next Big Thing?) about the recent Professional Domino Association tournament in that city. The event attracted more than 40 players hoping for a share of the $30,000 in prize money. The the winner was Jerome Wooten of Kansas City, Mo., who took home the $10,000 first prize.

The next tournament is April 22nd in Dallas, with six additional qualifiers before the final championship tournament on August 19th in Las Vegas.

Read The Article
PDA Tournament Schedule

An article in the New York Times (After Luck With Poker, ESPN Bets on New York Dominoes) discusses ESPN’s coverage of dominoes. The network currently shows dominoes on its Spanish-language sports channel ESPN Deportes. Hoping it will be popular with English-speaking viewers, network officials plan to show similar programming on ESPN2 starting in June.

The ESPN sports network has declared dominoes the next big spectator sport and is promoting it as both a colorful cultural touchstone and a highly competitive game, complete with rankings, formal tournaments, celebrity events and sponsors.

“We think it will be the next cool thing,” said Lino Garcia, the general manager of ESPN Deportes. “We’re connecting with the best places dominoes is played, so naturally we’re going to start in uptown Manhattan and the Bronx, the places where it really happens.”

The remainder of the article discusses the local dominoes scene in New York: “New York’s neighborhoods are filled with characters who come together to play on Spanish Harlem sidewalks, Bronx parks and in basement and backroom clubs in Washington Heights.” An example is a dominoes club in the Bronx called Hijos y Amigos de Altamira.

Read the entire article …

ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s Spanish-language network, has announced that it will bring dominoes to the television screen with its telecast of the 2005 World Domino Tournament, which took place November 18 - 20, in Las Vegas. ESPN Deportes’ telecast will focus on the quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals of the competition. The 2005 World Domino Tournament will be aired on ESPN Deportes beginning March 21 at 10 p.m., ET. In addition, to the delight of English-speaking domino fans, the 2005 World Domino Tournament will be aired on ESPN2 June 2006.

“ESPN Deportes is once again pushing the envelope providing innovative programming,” said Lino Garcia, general manager, ESPN Deportes. “Dominoes is one of the most popular games among Latinos and it has also proven to have a strong following among English-speaking fans. Our goal is to make dominoes the next mainstream sport on television.”

“Dominoes is part of the Latino lifestyle and in Las Vegas we felt the passion that comes with this game. By having ESPN televise the 2005 World Domino Tournament, it takes dominoes to its proper place”, said Ralph Paniagua, President of R. Paniagua Inc, organizer of The 2005 World Domino Tournament.

The telecast, produced in a reality show format, will include seven one-hour shows. ESPN’s veteran announcer Alvaro Martin will be joined by actor/comedian Casper Martinez for commentary of the tournament on ESPN Deportes and ESPN2.

The 2005 World Domino Tournament featured more than 40 teams from the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean competing in a two-day tournament that featured the most skilled professional players. Coverage will include various compelling features that will air within the shows and on SportsCenter the week leading up to the launch of the series.

Note: This post was originally published in the Dominoes forum.