Dominoes are small, flat blocks used as a game. They have an identifying marking on one side and are blank or identically patterned on the other. Most dominoes are white with black pips, but some sets use different colors. A typical set of dominoes contains 28 tiles, but larger sets exist for games involving more players or those seeking longer chains.
Most people are familiar with the popular domino game, in which players place a single tile on an end of a row and then roll dice to determine how many other pieces can fall before that tile is knocked over. Each player then attempts to fill in the rest of the row, with the goal of ending up with the highest number possible. Some domino games are cooperative, while others are competitive.
A more intriguing use for dominoes involves artistic creations. Artists can create stunning curved and straight lines, grids that form pictures when they fall, or even 3D structures such as towers and pyramids. A domino artist named Lily Hevesh, for example, has a YouTube channel with more than 2 million subscribers and has worked on projects requiring 300,000 dominoes.
She explains that she uses a sort of engineering-design process to create her mind-blowing setups. She starts by considering the theme or purpose of an installation. Then she brainstorms images or words that might represent it. After that, she considers what sort of tracks or paths the dominoes should take to get where they need to be.
When she’s done with that, she creates a blueprint of the whole project. This helps her see the bigger picture and to determine how many dominoes she’ll need for each track or path. She also calculates the number of dominoes needed to create a certain effect, such as a spiraling pattern or an endless cascade.
She adds that the most important force when it comes to a good domino effect is gravity. When a domino is standing upright, it has potential energy based on its position. As soon as you knock it over, much of that potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, which travels from the domino to the next domino until the whole chain collapses.
For writers, the domino effect can be an incredibly useful tool when it comes to creating plot and character. If you can imagine a scene in terms of the domino effect, it may help you understand how your hero might get where he or she is in the story and why other characters act the way they do. That’s because the domino effect can also tell you whether a scene will be exciting or boring to readers. If it’s boring, it probably means you need more logical action in the scene or more motivation for a character to do what he or she is doing. Similarly, if the scene is exciting, it’s likely because you’ve built up enough momentum with the previous actions of the characters in the scene.