Dominoes are small, flat, rectangular-shaped game pieces. They have been made from a variety of materials over the centuries, including wood, bone, ivory, and plastic. They are usually twice as long as they are wide and are made to be half as thick so that they can stand on their edge without falling over. Each domino has a unique set of numbers, letters, or symbols on its face. Some sets also have an image on one of the faces, often a flower or animal. Dominoes are used for a variety of games, both solo and multiplayer.
Most people are familiar with the traditional domino game, in which players take turns laying down tiles until someone cannot play a tile to match it. The first player to do so wins the round and begins the next one. Other common domino games include matching, blocking, and scoring. Some are adaptations of card games, which were once popular in places where religious restrictions forbade the playing of cards. Dominoes can be used in creative ways, such as in art or storytelling. In fiction, dominoes might represent scenes or points that influence the plot. In nonfiction, they might serve as an outline or framework to organize information.
In addition to being used for games, dominoes can also be arranged in elaborate configurations for displays and entertainment. Lily Hevesh, a 20-year-old YouTube sensation and professional domino artist, has built stunning structures from the little rectangular blocks since she was 9. Her setups feature intricate patterns and even musical instruments. She has created large domino installations for movies, television shows, and events, and she once helped to break the Guinness World Record for most dominoes in a circular arrangement. It took her and her team several nail-biting minutes to set 76,017 dominoes in a circle.
The forces that determine how dominoes fall can be complex. Each individual domino has a specific number of pips, and each combination of numbers occurs only once in a set. For example, a standard double-6 set contains 28 tiles: seven doubles and 21 singles. In general, the higher the number of pips on a domino, the more force is needed to push it over other dominoes.
For this reason, it is important to play domino on a hard surface, such as a wooden table or a concrete floor. Also, playing on a smooth surface helps keep the dominoes from sliding around and making unwanted marks on the floor.
Dominoes are commonly used in creative projects, from building artistic structures to creating mechanical devices. They are often combined with other elements to create larger works, such as Rube Goldberg machines or the famous falling domino sculpture at the Palace of Culture and Science in Moscow.
Many children play with dominoes, lining them up in long rows and then knocking them over. But adults can also enjoy the challenge of building more intricate setups and watching them collapse according to the laws of physics.