Dominoes are cousins to playing cards and one of the oldest tools for game play. They were first used in the 1300s, and their markings—known as pips—are still in use today to represent different combinations of dice. The beauty of a domino setup is that it only takes tipping the first piece ever-so-slightly for the rest to fall in a rhythmic cascade. This phenomenon is called the domino effect.
Domino is a popular name that has been associated with everything from power and success to leadership and authority. A domino leader is someone who knows the impact of their actions, and they always think two steps ahead.
There are many different ways to play domino, with the most important factor being that all players have a equal number of tiles to start with. Typically, the player with the largest domino chooses to go first. This can be determined by drawing their allotted domino at random, or by having a “boneyard” where the larger dominos are reshuffled and returned to the table when they are knocked over. In either case, the holder of the large domino must also decide whether to place it on top of another tile or to leave it in place.
When laying down a domino, each player must position it so that the ends of the matching end-to-end domino chains touch. When the domino is a double, it must be placed cross-ways on the end of the chain, straddling the other tile. When additional tiles are played to a double, the chains develop into snake-lines that change shape at will according to the rules of the specific game being played.
The physics behind a domino effect is fascinating. Each domino has a high center of gravity, but only needs to be tipped slightly for it to fall over and trigger the next domino. This is because each domino is made of heavy materials such as wood, marble, or even bone, which all have a high weight-per-surface area ratio.
Hevesh, a professional domino artist who has set a Guinness World Record for the most dominoes toppled in a circular arrangement, credits this force with making her amazing creations possible. Hevesh explains that it only takes one domino to make the others tumble—and this is what makes her designs so spectacular.
Writing Tip for the Day: When plotting your novel, you need to consider the domino effect. This is because your story is like a domino setup—and the impact of each scene must be logically linked to the one before it. If your character uncovers a clue in the opening scene, for example, but the subsequent scenes don’t add much tension or raise the stakes, then there’s likely something wrong with your plot.
Whether you’re a pantser or use Scrivener to help you create detailed outlines, understanding the domino effect can help you ensure that your scenes have a clear and cohesive impact on each other. So, the next time you’re creating a new scene, ask yourself how it will impact the scene before it—and then do some test runs on your computer to see if your dominoes fall in the right order.