Domino is a game in which players place dominoes on the table and then knock them down. It’s a popular pastime for families, groups of friends, and co-workers. The physics of the game are fascinating, and when a player accidentally or purposely knocks over a domino, the rest of the dominoes cascade down in a beautiful chain reaction. There are many ways to play Domino, but the basic rules are the same for all of them: dominoes are stacked side by side in rows, and each domino has a number on one of its two matching ends. As each tile is played, a line forms on the table, called the domino string or line of play.
After the dominoes are shuffled and the players draw their hands, they start playing their tiles. Some games have rules that specify the first player to make a play must match the pips on the open end of the last tile played, while others require the winner of the previous game to begin play. If there is a tie, the tied players must draw new dominoes from the stock to determine who starts the next game.
When a domino is played, its matching side touches another domino of the same type, and the other side of the tile remains free to be matched in the future. Each time a domino is played, the domino chain develops into a snake-line pattern that moves across and around the table according to the players’ whims and the limitations of the playing surface.
The most common domino sets have 22 tiles, but some are “extended” to have more pips on the ends of each domino. These larger sets can be played with more than four people, and the most common extended domino sets are double-nine (55 tiles), double-12 (91 tiles), and double-15 (136 tiles).
In order to make a play, the player must touch the domino that has the number of the first tile he wants to match with his own. He must then match his own domino with the open end of that tile, and he must continue to do this until the entire line is completed.
While most domino players focus on the fun of knocking over all of the dominoes, there are other interesting aspects to the game. Dominoes are an excellent way to introduce and reinforce concepts such as fractions, patterning, and sequencing. They also teach children to pay attention to details and how to follow directions.
When Hevesh builds her dominoes, she’s often careful not to put the final piece down until all of the others have been finished. This helps prevent an accidental knock over that would bring the entire installation crashing down. She also uses fractions when preparing her projects, and she divides the total length of the project into sections to help her determine how many dominoes she will need for each section. She even omits some pieces until the very end, so that if she or a teammate accidentally knocks over a domino, it won’t bring down an entire section of her work.