Domino, or dominoes (plural), are small rectangular blocks that are marked on one side with an arrangement of spots resembling those on dice. A domino has a line or ridge in the center that divides it into two squares. The squares are marked with values, ranging from blank or no pips to six, and the sum of the values on both sides is called the rank or weight of the tile. A domino is considered heavier when it has more pips than a lighter tile with fewer.
In the simplest of games, players draw seven tiles from a double-six set. They then place the rest of the tiles in a pile, face down, to form a boneyard. A player then draws a domino from his or her hand and plays it on the boneyard. The first player to play all of their dominoes wins the game. The players continue to draw and play until a player cannot find a domino of the appropriate value to play.
Dominos are the foundation for a variety of games, both simple and complex. The most common domino sets sold in retail stores have 28 tiles, but larger sets with more pips are available. Some games are based on blocking, where players try to empty their hands before the opponent, while others are scored by counting the pips in each losing player’s remaining dominoes.
The history of the domino is a story of cultural exchanges. The Chinese invented the game in the early 18th century, and the Europeans translated and refined the concept. In addition to games, dominoes are used for a variety of purposes, from settling land disputes to marking railroad track. Ivory dominoes were once common in rural England for determining traditional grazing boundaries.
Lily Hevesh started playing with dominoes as a child, when her grandparents gave her a classic 28-piece set. She enjoyed setting up straight or curved lines and flicking the first domino to watch them fall. Her love of dominoes turned into a career when she started posting videos of her creations on YouTube. Today, her popular Hevesh5 channel has more than 2 million subscribers and she creates stunning domino installations for movies, TV shows, and events, including album launches for Katy Perry.
While dominoes have been around for centuries, the idea of using them to build structures has only recently gained popularity. Architects have used them to design buildings, and some artists are even creating 3-D domino art. One of the most famous is artist Don Meij, who creates elaborate tracks that create beautiful patterns when the dominoes are laid.
When creating a domino track, it is important to carefully plan out your design. A good way to do this is by drawing a sketch of the track on a piece of paper, using arrows to show how you would like the dominoes to fall. This will help you figure out how many dominoes you’ll need to make the design work. You can also use a program such as Scrivener to help you plan out your plot ahead of time. If you’re a pantser, however, and prefer to write scenes as they come, you may want to consider using scene cards to weed out unnecessary or repetitive scenes.