Dominoes are small rectangular wood or plastic blocks, each marked with one or more dots resembling those on dice. They are used in games that involve laying down pieces, or tiles, to form chains. The most common domino set consists of 28 tiles, but the number of pieces can vary. Some sets have no blank spaces; others include duplicates of some throws.
Dominos are traditionally arranged in a line and players take turns placing a domino on top of a previous piece that has been placed according to the rules of the game. The first player to place all of their tiles wins the game. Other types of games include scoring games, such as bergen and muggins; and blocking games, such as matador, chicken foot, and Mexican train. Dominoes can also be used to teach number recognition and math skills.
A person who creates elaborate domino setups is called a domino artist. Hevesh5, who has more than 2 million YouTube subscribers, creates stunning domino installations for movies, TV shows, and events, including an album launch for Katy Perry. Her largest creations can take several nail-biting minutes to fall. But Hevesh says the key to her intricate displays is the power of gravity. She says that each domino has a high center of gravity, which means it only needs to be slightly tipped for it to tumble.
Hevesh says she started playing dominoes when she was 10 and began creating her own designs. Now, she makes a living as a domino artist and has worked on projects for more than 300 films. She has even helped to set the Guinness World Record for the most dominoes toppled in a circle.
Dominoes can be used to inspire writing, as well. For example, if you’re working on a scene in your novel where the hero discovers important clues to the case, it’s important that the opposition or antagonists react to those discoveries in ways that raise tension. If they do not, the scene may seem flat and uninteresting to readers.
Dominos are often used as symbols of strength and power in business. The company Domino’s recently announced a new innovation lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which will bring together cross-functional teams to brainstorm ideas and build prototypes for new delivery methods. The lab’s goal is to enable Domino’s to continue to grow and compete with other delivery services. These examples have been programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word domino. Opinions about the meaning of domino are based on personal experiences, interviews with experts, and the use of publicly available data. The examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.