Dominoes are small, flat game pieces that have been made in many different materials over the years. Typically, they are twice as long as they are wide, with a line in the middle to divide them visually into two squares, each of which may contain any number of dots or pips. When you play domino, you usually set the tiles out in a row and begin the game by laying down one of them. The next player then matches it with another tile (or, if the tiles have blank sides, with any other type of piece) and continues to do so until all of the tiles are matched or there are no more matching pieces in the line.
Domino is a popular family game and there are also many competitive games and tournaments that involve it. There are even a few domino-based strategy games that require some math skills and the ability to think ahead. While the games are easy enough for children to play, they are challenging to master and can teach players a lot about probability and strategy.
In the beginning, it was hard for domino to make a name for itself in a world full of pizza restaurants and fast-food chains. But it was able to set itself apart by focusing on delivery and locating its stores near college campuses, a move that was critical for its early growth. This allowed Domino’s to quickly deliver its product to customers who were looking for a quick bite to eat.
The word “domino” is derived from the Latin dominum, which meant a hooded garment worn with a mask at carnival time or during a masquerade. The earlier French sense of the word referred to the black and white hood that priests wore over their surplices, and it is believed that this is where the game’s name comes from as well.
The most common domino games focus on emptying a player’s hand and blocking opponents’ play, while scoring games can be played as well. Some of the most complex domino sets are used by domino artists, who create stunning setups that can take several nail-biting minutes to tumble.
Hevesh, a professional domino artist who has worked on projects for movies and TV shows, has a YouTube channel where she posts videos of her creations. Her most intricate designs include thousands of dominoes that can take hours to complete. When a domino is tipped over, it releases the potential energy that has been stored within it, and this energy causes the other pieces to fall in a chain reaction called a domino effect. Similarly, in a novel, the scenes work together like dominoes, with each scene adding momentum to the next until the climax arrives. If the climax isn’t sufficiently powerful, the rest of the story will lack impact. This is why it’s important to choose strong scene dominoes and to carefully connect them so that the resulting chain has a logical flow.