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.

The Florida legislature is considering legalizing domino games at state-licensed cardrooms. Currently only the game of poker is allowed in the cardrooms.

If enacted, Florida Statute 849.086, which authorizes the operation of cardrooms at licensed pari-mutuel facilities in the state, would be amended to also allow wagering on games of dominoes at licensed cardrooms in pari-mutuel facilities.

There are two pieces of legislation moving forward. House Bill 579, sponsored by State Representative Edward Bullard, and Senate Bill 1422, sponsored by State Senator Larcenia Bullard.

Domino-Games.com is cited as a reference in a staff analysis of the house bill.

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

The Professional Domino Association’s 2006 tournament season begins February 11th with a qualifier tournament in Los Angeles. Subsequent tournaments will be held at roughly two-week intervals, in 11 additional cities around the United States, thru the end of July. The final championship tournament, dubbed the PDA National Championships, will take place in Las Vegas on August 19th.

Each qualifier tournament boasts a $30,000 prize purse, with a $150,000 grand prize total at the Championship tourney in Las Vegas. In addition to cash prizes, first place winners receive waived registration fees, free travel and hotel accommodations. There are also plans underway for a television series, and, eventually, online tournaments as well.

The entry fee for each tournament is $300 ($200 for PDA members), and a $15 admission fee for non-players. There is a limit of 128 players per tournament. The PDA plays a version of All Fives Dominoes, with each game played to 150 points. Best 2 out of 3 takes a match in early rounds; later tournament rounds feature more games. Refer to the official tournament rules for details.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to play with the big boys, check out the tournament schedule, find one near you, and enter for your chance at dominoes glory.

Click here for the tournament schedule, complete rules, and registration forms.

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

The story of the sparrow killed at the Domino Day event in the Netherlands has sparked worldwide interest. The following is the story as posted by the Associate Press:

November 14, 2005, 5:01 PM ESTAMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A sparrow knocked over 23,000 dominoes in the Netherlands, nearly ruining a world record attempt before it was shot to death Monday, the state news agency reported.

The unfortunate bird flew through an open window at an exposition center in the northern city of Leeuwarden where employees of television company Endemol NV have worked for weeks setting up more than 4 million dominoes in an attempt to break the official Guinness World Record for falling dominoes on Friday night.

Only a system of 750 built-in gaps in the chain prevented the bird from knocking most or all of the dominoes over ahead of schedule, “Domino Day” organizers were quoted as saying by the NOS news agency.

The bird was shot by an exterminator with an air rifle while cowering in a corner.

The organizers are out to break their own record of 3,992,397 dominoes set last year with a new record of 4,321,000.

The following are a few of the online articles discussing the incident:

• Sparrow executed for disturbing dominoes
• Domino killing ruffles feathers
• Probe into death of domino record sparrow
• Threats to man who shot domino-toppling sparrow
• Record chasers in a flap as bird topples domino bid
• Death threat for killer of Domino-toppling sparrow

There has even been a web site set up in honor of the fallen sparrow, complete with condolences and up-to-the-minute news (all in Dutch).

As of mid-December, the story was that the sparrow that was killed during the 2005 Domino Day event will end up in the Rotterdam Natural History Museum in the Netherlands.

The bird had been preserved in a freezer since it was shot with an air rifle after knocking over 23,000 dominoes that had been set up for an attempt at a new domino-toppling record. The deceased domino-toppler will be displayed atop a box of dominoes in the museum as part of an exhibition on sparrows.

The exterminator who killed the bird was fined 200 euro by Dutch prosecutors, because the common house sparrow had been placed on the nation’s endangered list.

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