A small rectangular block of wood, bone, or plastic, bearing one to six dots or pips on each face. A set of 28 such dominoes makes a complete game. Dominoes are often stacked on end in long lines, then tipped over so the other pieces fall in a cascade of rhythmic motion. This leads to very intricate and beautiful structures, and also to games of chance or skill.
The name domino is derived from the Italian word for “flip,” meaning to turn upside down or over. The term was adapted to describe the game when the first player played a piece so that its exposed end touched the end of another domino, causing it to fall. A series of these matched ends, or a chain, then formed, and play continued until all the pieces were on the table.
Although domino has been around for centuries, it was not until the 1980s that it became a popular family activity and began to be used in education. Since then, domino has grown into an art form and is now used in museums and public buildings as decoration and in construction projects such as bridges.
As a child, Lily Hevesh was given a classic 28-piece set of dominoes by her grandparents and fell in love with them. Now, she is a professional domino artist who has created incredible domino sets for movies and TV shows, as well as for events like the Katy Perry album launch. Her YouTube channel, Hevesh5, has more than 2 million subscribers who watch as she builds curved and straight domino lines and 3-D arrangements. Hevesh tests each section of her installations by standing it up and flipping over the first domino to ensure it works before putting it all together.
While some people use dominoes to learn math and other subjects, others enjoy them for their beauty and simplicity. The fact that you can create a complex design with a single domino has even led to a type of modern sculpture known as the domino sculpture.
Many people also use dominoes as toys, building lines of them in a variety of shapes and tying them together with string. Then, they can be tipped over so that the next piece in line tips over, and so on. This gives rise to the phrase “domino effect,” which describes an event that triggers a chain reaction with much greater—and sometimes catastrophic—consequences.
Writing Tip for Today
When you write a story, think of each scene as a domino. You want all your scenes to fit together seamlessly, just as the dominoes in a row fall one after another without any hiccups or gaps. This is what readers expect when they read your work, and this is what will make them come back for more. To do this, you must know how to plot your story. Think of each scene as a domino in the chain, and try to build your story into a climax that will sweep readers away.