BUSINESS: GAMES

On a Roll
An Arizona entrepreneur’s sleek metal dominoes are attracting celebrity attention.
By Kimberly García

One of the few domino manufacturers in the country is attracting celebrity attention with his signature anodized aluminum tiles. Duce Staley, runningback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has a set. Craig Null, backup quarterback to Bret Favre for the Green Bay Packers, purchased two sets. Even comedian Steve Harvey bought 300 sets to sell at his Table Classic domino tournaments, according to Ronald Rosales, owner of Billet Bones.

“They are made from a solid bar of aluminum, and they aren’t mass produced,” says Ronald Rosales, 32, of Tucson, Arizona. “They are handmade one by one. The quality is there, and the price goes along with that. They attract a lot of attention. They’re really shiny and sparkly.”

Rosales, who learned how to play dominoes by watching others at family gatherings, has been playing the game since he was 13 years old. He started making aluminum dominoes in 2001 because he was tired of his tiles breaking whenever he slammed them down to intimidate opponents.

Rosales’ mother, Patricia Victory, owns Arizona Research and Manufacturing Corporation, a company that manufactures aerospace parts. Rosales works as a machinist and an office manager for the company. His job provided an opportune venue to customize his own line of dominoes.

He makes his dominoes from T6 aircraft quality aluminum, also commonly referred to as “billet,” thus his company name. Rosales also anodizes the tiles with a scratch-resistant coating, and he can engrave them with any font listed at www.1001fonts.com. Tiles come in platinum gold, black onyx, sapphire blue, emerald green, and ruby red, which clients can view at www.billetbones.com. A set of 28 tiles costs nearly $250 and comes in a plastic case or a wooden case for an additional $75. By comparison, plastic domino sets sell for less than $5 and ivory sets for less than $25, Rosales says.

“When I came across Ron’s website for custom domino sets, I immediately fell in love with the idea of [having] my signature on the back of my own dominoes,” quarterback Nall says. “Ron’s dominoes have gone over very well with my teammates also.” He says a group of them frequently plays in the locker room. “The craftsmanship is phenomenal,” he says of the sets. Several forms of the game exist. Chicanos usually play with 28-tile sets that include double-6 tiles, while Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans prefer to play with 55-tile sets that go up to double-9s. Tile games in general were found in China as early as 1120. Dominoes in particular originated there in the 14 th century and arrived in Europe in the late 18 th century. The word “domino” is French for a black-and-white hood that Catholic priests wore during the winter.

Annual domino tournaments have been held in Halletsville, Texas; Andalusia, Alabama; and San Francisco for decades. You can also find tournaments and weekly games at assorted Cuban centers in major cities. An annual world championship domino tournament is held in Kingston, Jamaica.

Rosales is one of the few domino manufacturers left in this country. Puremco, Inc., in Waco, Texas, which used to be among the largest domino makers, stopped making them in 2000 because companies in China and Taiwan manufactured them for lower prices, according to Scott Pitzer, Puremco’s president. Crisloid, Inc., in Providence, Rhode Island, still makes them; the company, which produces other home entertainment products such as dice, checkers, and cribbage boards has been making dominoes since 1947, according to office manager Gen Jordan. H