Domino is a game of skill and timing where players place dominoes edge to edge on the table. Each domino has a number on one end, and a player must match the numbers on adjacent ends to form a line of complete dominoes or a particular total. Dominoes are made from various materials, but the most common in the US are polymer clay with a color coating. They are also available in wood, metal, and marble. They are typically numbered in Arabic numerals, although some sets have more readable numerals such as French or English.
The most common games played with dominoes are positional ones. In these, a domino is placed on its side so that it touches adjacent dominoes either at their tips or across their edges. Then, a player places another domino in its place, forming a chain of connected dominoes that increases in length. The first player to touch a complete domino chain wins the game.
Lily Hevesh started playing with dominoes when she was 9 years old. Her grandparents had the classic 28-pack, and she enjoyed setting them up in straight or curved lines and flicking them to watch them fall. Now, at 20, Hevesh has become a professional domino artist who creates spectacular domino setups for movies, TV shows, and events, including a recent album launch for pop star Katy Perry.
Physicist Stephen Morris notes that standing a domino upright gives it potential energy based on its position. When you push on it, though, much of that potential energy gets converted to kinetic energy and causes the domino to topple. And that, in turn, causes more dominoes to topple and so on.
A similar process can be observed when a person takes on new habits. As Jennifer Dukes Lee explains, once she began making her bed everyday, she found herself doing more to keep her home clean and organized. In the beginning, this was just a few small things like putting away dirty clothes and reorganizing Tupperware in cabinets. But over time, it snowballed into a new self-image for her: She was the type of person who kept a clean house. She reflected this new self-image in other areas of her life, such as cleaning the kitchen or buying fresh flowers.
In literature, this principle can be used to create a smooth and satisfying plot. As a novelist, it’s important to think about how a single scene can influence the next, and the next, and so on. Whether you’re writing an epic fantasy or a simple story of domestic drama, it helps to get all your scene dominoes in a row so that they fall into place without hiccups.
Domino’s co-founder, Tom Doyle, understood this principle in business. He knew that a small change in one aspect of the company could have ripple effects, and he worked hard to make sure his dominoes were set up for success. For example, he worked with crowd-sourced auto designers to produce the Domino’s DXP, a customized Chevy Spark that was “cool looking and built for speed.” As a result, the Domino’s brand has grown from an Italian-American pizza company to an international pizza powerhouse.