A domino is a small rectangular block used as a gaming object. The domino’s face is blank or marked with an arrangement of dots resembling those on dice. It is also sometimes known as a bone, piece, men, cards, or tiles. A domino set usually consists of 28 pieces, though larger sets are available. A person who plays dominoes is called a dominator. A game played with a domino set is called a domino game or simply a domino.
Traditionally, dominoes are made of bone or silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or dark hardwood such as ebony, with contrasting black or white pips inlaid or painted on them. More recently, they have been made of marble and other stone; metals such as brass or pewter; ceramic clay; or even frosted glass. Most people play games with a set of dominoes, but some make them into art by creating curved lines and grids that form pictures or 3D structures such as towers and pyramids.
The word domino has been in use since the 18th century. Its etymology is obscure, but it may come from either the Latin verb domino (“to dominate”) or the French noun domina, which refers to a hooded robe worn with a mask at a masquerade. The word has also been used to describe a country expected to react politically to events in another country according to a predetermined pattern.
In a domino game, players place down a domino of any type in a row or square and then build upon it, thereby creating a chain reaction. The last domino to fall determines the winner of the game. Most domino games involve blocking opponents’ play, but scoring games such as bergen and muggins award points to winning players based on the number of pips on their opponent’s tiles.
A popular game is simply drawing a hand of seven dominoes to determine who goes first. To do so, the tiles are shuffled, and then one player moves them around randomly without touching any of them. The player who draws the highest double goes first. If there is no high double, the player draws a second domino and so on until everyone has seven tiles in their hand.
When Hevesh creates one of her mind-blowing domino setups, she follows a version of the engineering-design process. She starts by considering a theme or purpose for the installation. Then she brainstorms images or words to incorporate into the design. She also tests each part of the setup, ensuring that it works correctly.
When a domino is stood upright, it stores energy in the form of potential energy. As the domino falls, this energy is converted to kinetic energy, which provides the force needed to knock over the next tile. This chain reaction continues until all the dominoes have fallen. Physicist Stephen Morris agrees that the energy stored in a domino when it is standing upright is what causes the domino effect, which allows one domino to tip over the next with little effort.