Domino is a game with small blocks (also known as bones, cards, men, pieces or tiles) which are normally twice as wide as they are tall. They feature a line down the middle to divide them visually into two squared ends, which are marked with varying numbers of dots, called pips. The more pips on an end, the higher its value; some sets have an additional mark to denote a blank or no pips. A domino is played by one or more players, and the object of the game is to lay down dominoes in order to form a chain reaction, with each player playing only one tile in turn. In most domino games, the first player to play all their tiles wins.
There are many different games that can be played with a set of dominoes, although most involve blocking or scoring. Some domino games use positional rules, whereby each player in turn places a domino edge to edge against another, either so that the adjacent faces match (e.g., 5 to 5) or so that the number of pips on one end matches the number on the other (e.g., 12 to 12). Other types of domino games, such as those involving skill, are often played with a full deck of cards. A variation of a classic solitaire card game, called Concentration, is also popular with dominoes.
In the most common domino game for two players, a double-six set of dominoes is shuffled and placed in a pile (also called the boneyard) to form the stock. Each player draws seven dominoes and then plays them according to the rules of the game. The player with the highest total value of pips wins the round and then scores points. Each round is played until a certain point limit, such as 150 or 200, is reached or the players cannot draw any more tiles.
A specialized type of domino game involves setting up dominoes in 3-D formations. This is done to produce artistic effects or to challenge other builders to a competition, in which the creators try to achieve the most complex domino effect or reaction before a live audience of fans. Some artists also make their creations for educational purposes, such as teaching kids about the mechanics of how dominoes work.
When a domino is correctly positioned, it has inertia — the tendency of an object to resist motion until an outside force causes it to move. The first domino to fall will then nudge other dominoes into movement, as illustrated in this 1983 video of University of British Columbia physicist Lorne Whitehead’s demonstration of the domino effect.
A domino effect can happen in a much more subtle way, too, in the way that fiction writers create plots. Whether they compose their manuscripts off the cuff or carefully follow an outline, plotting a novel comes down to answering the question of what happens next. Considering the domino effect in your story can help you craft an exciting and engaging narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
