A domino is a small, rectangular block of wood or ivory with one face bearing from one to six pips or dots. A complete set of dominoes consists of 28 such blocks. Dominos are used in a variety of games to form lines and curved shapes, or in 3-D structures like towers and pyramids.
The best known game using dominoes is perhaps a variation of the card game Twenty-one, where players score points by placing dominoes end to end such that adjacent dominos either match in number (e.g., two’s touch two’s) or form a specified total, such as 21. The first player to reach 21 wins the game.
Dominoes also provide a fun way to learn math skills, such as addition and subtraction. In the classroom, dominoes can be used to teach fractions, and they are often used as a starting point for a science project on forces, such as gravity or friction.
One of the most impressive domino creations is an artistic arrangement involving many rows of dominoes stacked in neat, even layers on top of each other. A person creating such a domino track, called a domino run or domino chain, must carefully plan out each step of the design so that the final result will be flawless and impressive.
Often, the first domino in such an arrangement will have an interesting shape, such as a crown or a cross, and the other dominoes will be arranged in a pleasing way, such as by color, size or texture. The process of creating a domino run is a lot like an engineering project, with each step requiring careful planning and execution.
When Hevesh starts a new design, she first creates a prototype, or model, of the entire structure. Then, she tests each section to make sure it works properly. Once she’s satisfied, she begins to put the pieces together. She starts with the biggest 3-D sections and then moves on to flat arrangements, and finally lines of dominoes that connect all the different sections.
In business, a domino effect can be seen in the way a small change at one company ripples through the rest of the industry or in the way that a policy decision made by an authority figure has a knock-on impact on other people and organizations. It is possible for a domino to have negative as well as positive effects, but the latter are more common.
A good example of a positive domino effect can be found in Domino’s Pizza, which was founded in 1984 by brothers Frank and Tom Monaghan. The company has become a worldwide phenomenon and is valued at more than $20 billion. One of the keys to their success has been their ability to innovate, which has allowed them to keep up with customer demand for new ways to order and receive pizza. Their innovation has led to things like emoji-based ordering and the use of voice-controlled devices to place an order.