A domino is a small rectangular wood or plastic block, marked with dots resembling those on dice. It is a key component of many games played with a number of players, each taking turns placing one domino edge to edge against another in such a way that the open ends of the tiles match or form some specified total, such as 5, or the sum of two particular numbers. The game’s rules determine how each player makes his play and when he may make subsequent plays. This configuration of dominoes is called a layout, string or line of play. The first domino to fall is the starting point for a chain reaction in which other dominoes are then pushed over, each building on the previous one until the final, domino-sized, domino falls. Dominos also can be used for decorative purposes in arrangements of straight or curved lines, grids that form pictures, stacked walls, and 3D structures such as towers and pyramids.
When Lily Hevesh creates her mind-blowing domino installations, she tries to prevent big accidental topples by carefully planning how the pieces will be arranged. She starts by considering the theme or purpose of a project and brainstorming images that might represent it. She then divides fractions to help her calculate how many dominoes she’ll need for a design and how they’ll be positioned. For example, if she wants to build a line of dominoes 24 inches long, she’ll need a total of 436 pieces, because each domino has an opening at its front end that must be covered with the next piece before it can fall over.
She tries to omit a few pieces from her designs, so if she or a teammate accidentally nudges a domino out of position, it won’t bring the entire setup crashing down. “Small accidental topples happen in just about every project,” she says. “They don’t have the same impact as a domino that was put in place with a deliberate plan.”
Most domino games fall into four categories: bidding games, blocking games, scoring games and round games. Each category has its own rules regarding when and how a player may make a play, but the overall goal of any domino game is to win.
In the case of a tie, the winning player is determined by counting the pips remaining in each losing player’s hand at the end of a hand or game and adding them to his score. Depending on the rules of the game, some players may bye and draw additional dominoes from the stock to break the tie. Other games require that a player draws the number of dominoes he is permitted to have for his hand, according to the game’s rules. When a player draws more than he is allowed to, that is, has an overdraw, he returns the extra dominoes to the stock before anyone else can draw from it. The game continues until one player has reached his goal and scores.
