A domino is a small rectangular wood or plastic block with a face that is blank or marked with an arrangement of dots resembling those on dice. The term can also refer to a game played with such blocks, or to the action of dominoes falling.
When it comes to plotting a novel, many writers wrestle with one basic question: What happens next? Whether you compose your manuscript off the cuff or follow a meticulous outline, the answer will shape the story as it unfolds. Considering how the Domino Effect works will help you write a more compelling tale of what happens when an event triggers another, then that leads to another and then to yet another, and so on.
For example, when Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan saw that his company’s delivery drivers weren’t satisfied, he decided to do something about it. That small change led to improved communication, which then triggered a number of positive outcomes. Those positive outcomes were like dominoes that fell, creating a chain reaction that impacted customers, employees and investors.
Hevesh, a renowned domino artist, follows a version of the engineering-design process when she creates her mind-blowing setups. She considers the theme or purpose of an installation, brainstorms images or words that might fit, then starts with a foundational piece. Then she adds pieces around that, gradually building on it until she has the entire setup.
A domino’s inertia makes it resist motion when no outside force is pushing or pulling on it. However, when a player pushes on the first domino, it loses its inertia and converts to kinetic energy, or energy of motion. That energy travels to the next domino, providing the push that causes it to fall. This continues until the last domino falls.
Dominoes are crafted from materials including bone (often silver lip oyster shell, or mother of pearl), ivory and a dark hardwood such as ebony. Some sets are made from more novel natural materials such as marble, granite or soapstone; metals such as brass or pewter; ceramic clay; and frosted glass or crystal. Such sets have a more unique look and feel, but are typically more expensive than those made from polymer.
Dominoes are normally twice as long as they are wide, making them easy to re-stack after use. They are generally used with a set of matching dominoes, which may be divided into two squares, each of which is identified by an end, whose value is indicated by the number of spots or pips that appear on it. The pips are normally in an arrangement of values that range from six to none or blank. The domino’s total value is known as its rank or weight, and it is higher for a tile with more pips than a tile with fewer pips. Alternatively, a domino is sometimes described by its “pip-count,” which is the sum of the numbers on the pips. Each rank usually has a name, such as double-twelve or double-nine.