Dominoes, the small rectangular blocks used as gaming pieces, have been around for centuries. The name derives from the Latin domino, meaning “little one.” It is also sometimes spelled Dominoe or Dominos.
Whether they are lined up in a line or laid on top of each other, dominoes have the power to knock over other dominoes and create chain reactions that can be spectacular. Dominoes are so fascinating to watch that they are often used in shows and events where builders compete to construct elaborate domino effects or reactions before a crowd of people.
The most popular game of domino involves placing a domino edge to edge against another in such a way that adjacent sides match in number (e.g., 5 to 5) or form some specified total. The resulting dominoes are then knocked over in turn, and the player who makes the last move wins. Other games involve blocking a player’s play or scoring points by completing a predetermined total. Still others are adaptations of card games, once popular in places where religious prohibitions against the playing of cards were common.
In the game of dominoes, the identifying marks on the face of each piece are called pips. These dots are usually arranged in an arrangement that corresponds to a die, such as the numbers 1 through 6 or 0 through 10. The other side of each domino is blank or identically patterned, except for a single spot or line that separates the domino from its adjacent neighbor. Identifying the pips on a domino becomes difficult as the set grows larger, so some large sets use more easily readable Arabic numerals.
Lily Hevesh grew up with dominoes, starting to collect them at age 9. By 17, she had started making videos of her own domino projects on YouTube, and today she has more than 2 million subscribers to her channel. She is a professional domino artist, creating mind-blowing domino setups for movies, TV shows, and even music events.
Creating these impressive structures requires more than just skill and imagination. Hevesh follows a version of the engineering-design process when designing her creations. First, she considers the purpose or theme of the installation. Then she brainstorms images or words that might represent it.
Finally, she draws out a plan for how to achieve the effect or reaction she wants. This includes diagramming the setup and determining how many dominoes will be needed to complete it. For the most complicated sets, she may even make a prototype to test it before moving on to the actual construction.