Domino is a game in which players place tiles, or dominoes, edge to edge with other dominoes in such a way that the adjacent faces are either identical or form some specified total. Each domino contains a small circle or other marker on its face to indicate the value it has. Typical values include numbers from six to ten and ones through nine, but some have no marks at all. Each domino also has a small hole in its center that allows it to be moved from one position to another.
When a domino is tipped over, much of its potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, or energy of motion. This energy travels to the next domino, and it provides the push needed to knock over that domino, and so on until all the dominoes have fallen. The effect is similar to a chemical reaction that creates a chain reaction, and it is the basis for many games played with dominoes.
In political terms, the domino effect refers to a situation in which one event may trigger a series of other events, with each successive event building on the previous ones. This concept was popularized by the 1977 Frost/Nixon interviews, in which President Richard Nixon defended his decision to overthrow the socialist government of Salvador Allende of Chile by referring to the falling domino principle. He stated that if Communism spread to Chile, it would be difficult to stop it from moving on to Cuba and the rest of Latin America. The domino theory became a common justification for intervention in foreign countries by the United States and other nations, and it is still used today to describe the continuation of a set of events that stems from just one initial action.
The process of creating a domino effect is not only an interesting recreational activity, but it is also an instructive way to learn the importance of timing and sequence in both everyday life and in the development of stories. The most successful domino effects are those that occur when the sequence and timing of each scene is carefully planned. If a story is written without a carefully thought-out plot outline, as is often the case with pansters (as opposed to those who use outlines or Scrivener to help them plan their novels), it is easy to end up with scenes that are at the wrong pace or do not have enough logical impact on the scene ahead of them.
When Hevesh creates her mind-blowing domino setups, she follows a version of the engineering-design process. First, she considers the theme or purpose of her installation. Then, she brainstorms images and words that she might want to incorporate in the design. She tests each section of the display individually and films it in slow motion, until she has a working model. Once each section works well, she puts it together. By constructing her displays in this way, Hevesh ensures that every piece of the domino effect fits perfectly.