Donated to the Museum in 1980, this domino set is really two sets in one. It was manufactured by Shackman, Inc. in Japan, and has the Serial number 3510. The box indicates that the set is "educational", in that the game can be used to teach children how to match pictures or "dots".
The cardboard box lid is 9.7cm long x 17.3cm wide x 2.8cm high, and the bottom is 9.3cm long x 16.9cm wide x 3cm high. Inside the box is a rectangular platform 8.8cm long x 16.4cm wide x 1cm high used to support the tiles.
Each tile is made of thick cardboard and is 8cm long x 3.8cm wide. There are 28 tiles in the box, designed and printed so that players can either match colorful picture or standard numbered domino black pips. The backs of each tile are white. The front side of each tile is divided by black line, each half has domino dots and a brightly colored picture.
As may be seen in the photograph, the pictures are either stylized animals such as a tiger or bird, or an other object such as a flower or a butterfly. Play of the game would be one of the variants of a game of Western dominoes, except children can use the pictures rather than the domino images which are in the corner of each picture. After "mastering" play in this manner, young players can "graduate" to using the domino pips. Note that each different picture always includes the same domino pips. For example, look at the tile with the picture of the fish. Each "fish" tile has three domino pips. Note the same design for the "tiger" tile.
Last update February 4, 2010