Domino is a small rectangular block used in games of chance or skill. Also known as bones, cards, men, pieces or tiles, dominoes are typically twice as long as they are wide. They feature a line or ridge in the middle that divides them visually into two squares. Each side of the domino has an arrangement of dots or “pips” that indicate its value, ranging from six to none or blank. The pips are usually arranged in the same way as those on a die, although some variants use different arrangements.
The four most common sets of dominoes are the double-6, double-9, double-12 and double-15 sets. These are called “standard” sets because they form the basis for most domino games. Each set contains 28 dominoes, which is enough for a single player. The game rules vary from game to game, but generally the players begin by drawing one domino from a stock that is shuffled and arranged face down on the table (called a boneyard). The player then places that domino on the table next to an already-placed domino of matching value. When all of the remaining dominoes have been played, the player who played the first domino wins the game.
For the most basic dominoes, they can be stacked on end in long lines and then tipped over. This causes the second domino in the line to tip over, and so on, until all of the dominoes have fallen. This simple process has led to many games that involve placing and tripping dominoes, and it is the basis for a popular saying, the “domino effect,” which refers to a sequence of events that start small but eventually cause a larger and often unexpected result.
Professional domino artists use the same principles to create intricate designs that take minutes, if not hours, to fall. A video on YouTube by Hevesh, an artist who has more than 2 million subscribers to her domino art channel, shows how she creates stunning setups, including curved lines that form pictures and stacked walls that are as high as a 10-story building. Her largest designs, which require hundreds of thousands of dominoes, take several nail-biting minutes to complete.
As a novelist, you can learn a lot from the world of dominoes. When creating a novel, it is important to think about the impact that each action can have on what happens next. In the end, it is not the individual actions that make a novel compelling, but the chain reaction that is created by those actions. This is what a writer needs to capture in her or his plot. Whether you are writing off the cuff or following a meticulous outline, understanding how to use the domino effect will make your story more interesting for readers.
