Domino is the most popular game of its kind, a simple set of rectangular wooden or clay tiles with one side marked with an arrangement of dots called pips. The other face is blank or identically patterned. Each domino is able to be matched to another in the same way that cards can be matched, or it can be played as an independent piece. The number of pips on each end determines how many matches there are for the domino to make with other pieces. As the number of matching ends increases, so does the total amount of possible combinations of two or more tiles.
Each player takes turns playing a tile on the table, positioning it so that its number is shown at both ends of the domino chain. Each time a tile is played, the remaining ends of the domino chain are either reinforced or shortened in length. If a player plays a tile that makes the other ends of the chain show the same number, that player has “stitched up” one or both ends of the domino.
As a result of the increased number of potential combinations of ends, most domino sets have an additional feature to distinguish the different tiles in the set: a bar across the center of each piece that shows a numerical value. In the original game, each domino represented a particular result of throwing two dice. As the game became more popular, the number of results was expanded to include all 21 possibilities; and each new expansion of the number of possible outcomes led to the creation of a new type of domino.
Using a domino, players take turns placing each tile in the center of the table or on a suitable surface. The first player to play all of his or her tiles wins the game. There are numerous games that can be played with dominoes, some of which require skill or strategy. There are also domino games that can be used to teach counting and addition.
After years of declining sales and high turnover among Domino’s employees, the company hired a consultant named Ivy Lee to train CEO David Doyle on how to address the issues facing the business. She encouraged him to prioritize tasks and then focus on the biggest one first. She told him to treat that task as a “main domino” that would “knock over” other projects and help them move forward.
For example, she taught him to prioritize the order of deliveries made by the company’s delivery drivers and to prioritize a new delivery method called Domino’s Now, the Domino’s delivery fleet is much more efficient than it was before Doyle took over as CEO and is better positioned to compete with third-party food delivery services such as Uber Eats and DoorDash. The company also has started experimenting with drone and robotic delivery systems. All of this is part of a larger effort to modernize the brand and improve customer service.