Horizontal 3–1 Domino Tile

The tile has three pips at one end and one at the other.

The Chinese Civil series is one named group within Chinese dominoes; its 3–1 tile is called Harmony. Chinese dominoes share values and traditional rankings with Chinese dice. One possible account says the tiles began as records of the banker’s throw in Tien Gow (“Heaven Nine”), a Chinese dice game where the banker takes bets against the other players.

Chinese dominoes appear in historical accounts reaching to the 12th century. The earliest surviving domino manual is attributed to Qu You (1347–1433); its title, Domino Manual of the Xuanhe Era, refers to 1119–1125, long before he lived. European dominoes appear in Italy in the 18th century, but whether the set came from China or developed independently remains disputed.