Dominoes, also known as bones, pieces, cards, men or stones, are small rectangular blocks of a material such as wood or plastic that are used to play a variety of games. Each domino has a square end with a number of spots (or pips) that indicates its value, ranging from six pips to blank or none. They are normally twice as long as they are wide and stacked horizontally, one on top of the other. Dominoes can be used to play a variety of games, and they can be combined in many ways to create more complex arrangements.
The word domino is an Italian variation of the French term for “cape” worn over a surplice, and it may have been derived from the way a domino piece contrasts with a white garment. The earliest meaning of the word was probably related to a long hooded cloak that could be draped over a mask during carnival or masquerade. In English, it was once common to use a black domino as a playing piece to contrast with the priest’s ebony surplice.
A popular game is to build a chain of dominoes by pushing the first tile onto another, thereby triggering it to fall. A person who is skilled at building domino chains can create elaborate artistic displays that can take hours to complete and involve hundreds or thousands of dominoes. These displays are often featured in domino shows, where builders compete to see whose domino arrangement can be the most spectacular or imaginative.
In a domino set, each domino has a number of spots (or pips) on either side that indicate its value, ranging from six pips up to blank or none. There are a wide variety of different games that can be played with these tiles, including blocking and scoring games. Some of these are adaptations of card games, and they can help to teach children numbers and counting.
The most common domino set contains 28 tiles, but larger sets have been developed with more readable Arabic numerals rather than the traditional pips. Some large sets are even printed with a combination of Arabic and Roman numerals, which allows players to keep track of their score without having to count each individual domino.
When creating a domino display, Hevesh starts with test versions of each section, then builds them together in order until they work as planned. She films each segment in slow motion to identify problems, so that she can make precise adjustments. Once a section works well, she adds it to the final design and then continues adding more layers of complexity until the entire display is completed.
Domino’s CEO, Don Doyle, has recently focused on improving customer service by focusing on the delivery process. He has sent executives to Domino’s restaurants to learn more about how the company can improve its deliveries. Doyle is also experimenting with Domino’s Pizza drones and with delivering food to homes via self-driving cars.