Which U.S. pizza chain is named after a game tile with pips?

Domino's is the U.S. pizza chain named after the domino game tile marked with pips.

The chain began in 1960, when brothers Tom and James Monaghan acquired a pizza store called DomiNick’s in Ypsilanti, Michigan. James later traded his share to Tom for a Volkswagen Beetle, leaving Tom as the sole owner. When expansion made a shared brand desirable, the business was renamed Domino’s Pizza in 1965.

The name refers to a domino, the rectangular tile whose ends display numbered spots, or pips. Domino’s logo also reflects the tile idea: its original three dots represented the company’s three stores in 1965. The plan was reportedly to add dots as new stores opened, but rapid growth made that impractical.

The name was not chosen because pizza is played like a game. It was a branding choice inspired by the word “domino” after the earlier DomiNick’s name could not be used for the expanding chain.