Domino is a series of small, oblong pieces (also known as bones, cards, men, or tiles) that are laid down to form a line. Each domino has a number of spots, called pips, on one side and blank or identically patterned on the other. The value of a domino is determined by the arrangement of its pips, with a higher value having more pips and a lower value having fewer. Dominoes are usually twice as long as they are wide, which makes them easy to stack and re-stack.
Dominoes are used in a variety of games. Some involve blocking opponents’ play, while others score points by counting the pips in the lost player’s hand. Other games are duplicate card games, and still others teach children number recognition and math skills.
The word “domino” itself derives from the Italian word for “little one,” or diminutive. In the 19th century, the word also took on a more generic meaning, referring to any small piece or set of pieces used in game playing.
By the 1980s, Domino’s was a major pizza chain with 200 locations in the United States and over 25,000 worldwide. The company’s early success was due in part to its centralized delivery system and its emphasis on placing pizzerias near college campuses, where they would attract young customers who were hungry for quick, affordable meals.
Domino’s has also been innovative in developing and implementing technologies to streamline the delivery process and reduce costs. In addition to the custom-designed Domino’s delivery truck, it has experimented with drone delivery and online ordering. The company has even launched a new, purpose-built pizza-making factory in Detroit that is powered by renewable energy.
In addition, Domino’s has invested heavily in its technology infrastructure to support artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads. Its platform, Domino, provides a self-service way to manage and deploy AI workloads on-premises, in any cloud or hybrid multi-cloud environments for better performance, security and compliance.
As a result of these efforts, the company’s stock has surged over the past two years, from less than $13 per share to more than $30 per share in late 2019. Despite some slowing in growth toward the end of 2019, Domino remains confident that it can achieve its goals of having 25,000 global locations by 2025.
Domino’s also has a strong focus on leadership development, a key component of the company’s culture and values. The chain has adopted a behavioral theory of leadership, which emphasizes the need for leaders to be made rather than born. It has also encouraged employees to take initiative and use their creativity.
At the age of 10, Hevesh began creating elaborate domino displays, and soon gained a large following on YouTube for her videos of them. She has worked on projects involving hundreds of thousands of dominoes, some of which require several nail-biting minutes to fall into place. Her YouTube channel, Hevesh5, has more than 2 million subscribers. She has created spectacular domino setups for movies, TV shows and events, and even helped to set a Guinness World Record for the most dominoes in a circular display.