Myths and mix-ups
A few ideas that sound tidy until you open the sources.
Everyone agrees that Western dominoes were invented independently in Europe, with no link to China.
In every proper game, each player always starts with exactly seven tiles.
In the usual draw game, the last two tiles in the boneyard are not drawn.
A tile found with the Mary Rose proves that dominoes were a popular English game in the early 1500s.
Mah-jong tiles are just Chinese dominoes under another name, and the two games share one origin.
See also the fact-check log.