We’ve all seen those spectacular domino constructions, where you tip the first piece ever so slightly and watch the rest fall in a beautiful cascade. That’s what we call the “domino effect,” and it’s a good analogy for any scene in your novel that should have a similar impact on the scenes that follow it.
Dominoes are small rectangular blocks of wood or plastic, with one side marked by dots resembling those on dice. They are normally twice as long as they are wide, which makes them easy to stack and re-stack. Each domino has a number of pips on either side, from six to none or blank, and the total number of pips determines the value of a single domino. When used in a game, the open end of a domino should face the player’s own playing area, called the table. The number of pips on a domino is also its rank or weight; a heavier rank (more pips) means it has a greater influence over the outcome of a match or game than a lighter domino, (less pips).
A domino is used in several different ways, depending on the rules of a given game. Some games are positional, where players place dominoes edge to edge in such a manner that the adjacent faces match or form some specified total. The remaining open ends of the dominoes are then used to score points in the game.
There are many different kinds of domino games, and the rules vary from country to country and even from game to game within a given country. However, most of the games have very similar or identical rules. A domino is usually played by two or more players, with the winner being the first to reach a predetermined total point score, or by the first player to complete all his or her scoring requirements.
If a player does not have the required number of tiles to make his or her first play, he or she may draw new dominoes from the stock. The rules of some domino games state that the player must take all the dominoes in the stock that he or she is permitted to have, while others allow players to buy only a limited number of tiles from the stock.
Some domino sets are made from natural materials, such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory or a dark hardwood such as ebony. These sets have a more refined look and feel, and are often much more expensive than those made of polymer.
Some people use dominoes to create works of art, such as curved lines that create pictures when they fall, or 3D structures like towers and pyramids. Others simply enjoy creating elaborate setups and then letting the dominoes fall naturally according to the laws of physics. One of the most famous domino artists is Hevesh5, who has a YouTube channel with more than 2 million subscribers, and has created elaborate domino installations for movies, TV shows, and events, including a Katy Perry album launch.