A domino is a small rectangular wood or plastic block, marked on one face with an arrangement of dots resembling those on dice. The other face is blank or identically patterned. Dominoes are used for a variety of games, both in a social and a competitive context. They can also be arranged in lines to make artistic or architectural designs. The term domino is also used metaphorically to describe a chain reaction that starts with one event and, like a row of falling dominoes, leads to many other events.
The most common domino set has 28 tiles, called a double-6 set. There are also double-9, double-12, and double-15 sets. Many new and popular domino games are designed to be played with these larger sets. Some of these games require a larger number of players than a two-player game that uses a double-6 set.
Dominoes are primarily used for positional games, in which players place the dominoes edge to edge so that their total value is either a given number or some combination of numbers. For example, in a game called fives and threes, each player must add a domino to the end of the line so that its total is divisible by five or three (three plus four makes nine, which is divisible by three). In some games, a score is recorded for each domino that is added to the line.
Hevesh, who goes by the name of Hevesh5, began creating domino art as a child and later started posting videos of her work on YouTube. Today, she is a professional domino artist who works on projects for movies, TV shows, and even concerts. She has created spectacular installations involving hundreds of thousands of dominoes. Some of her creations can take several nail-biting minutes to fall.
Hevesh describes her work as being “a combination of engineering and art.” When she is designing a new installation, she considers its purpose, the theme, and the overall aesthetic of the piece. Then she brainstorms images or words that might represent those concepts. She then creates a sketch of her design. Finally, she begins building the dominoes and arranging them so that they will fall according to the principles of gravity and physics.
When you look at a carefully arranged line of dominoes, you can see how each tiny action can lead to much larger — and sometimes catastrophic — consequences. The same principle applies to writing fiction. Whether you write your novel off the cuff or follow a meticulous outline, thinking about how each scene can be a domino in the story will help you craft a more compelling plot. To learn more about the science of dominoes and how they can inspire your storytelling, read our Wonder of the Day!
