Dominoes carries two separate documented origin stories rather than one. A Chinese tile set called pupai, marked with pips in the domino pattern, is recorded around 1120 AD under the Song dynasty. A distinct Western double six domino tradition is documented separately, appearing in Italy in the eighteenth century before spreading to France and the rest of Europe. Game historians debate whether the two traditions connect at all; nothing documents a link between them.
Mahjong's own path runs through cards, not through dominoes. Its modern standardized form took shape in China's Jiangsu region in the second half of the nineteenth century, developed out of an older Chinese card game called madiao. The game did not reach Western players in large numbers until the 1920s, mainly through simplified rule sets the American businessman Joseph Babcock published for that audience.
Carcassonne is the youngest member of the group by roughly two centuries. Designed by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede, it was first published in Germany in 2000 by Hans im Gluck and won the Spiel des Jahres award, the German game of the year prize, the following year.