Domino is a game of skill and chance played with a set of numbered domino tiles. The object is to play all of your dominoes before your opponent does. The player who does first wins the round and advances to the next hand. In many versions of the game, a domino with a blank side (i.e. no pips on one side) is not eligible for playing until another tile with a matching number of pips is laid down.
Dominoes are a common and popular form of entertainment for families, groups of friends, and even for professional team building. They can also be an excellent way to teach children the fundamentals of math and pattern recognition. The word “domino” and the game itself appeared in France in the late 18th Century but may have arrived earlier in Europe via French prisoners of war. The word originally denoted a long hooded cloak worn together with a mask during carnival season or at a masquerade. The domino piece’s ebony black color was probably reminiscent of the hooded garment and thus a connection with the word was made.
The earliest surviving domino tiles were found in the Mary Rose shipwreck dating to the early 16th Century, although they were most likely invented much earlier. The game of domino has since spread to most parts of the world and even the Inuits have a version of the game using bones that are similar to Western dominoes.
Many of the most popular domino games involve scoring points by laying a line of dominoes end to end with matching ends: i.e. one’s touch two’s, three’s touch four’s, etc. When the exposed dots on both sides of a first double total any multiple of five the player receives that score and is then “out”.
There are countless different ways to play domino, and each game has its own rules and strategy. Most domino games require the players to empty their hands of all remaining tiles before their opponents can play. Some, such as bergen and muggins, require blocking of the opponent’s play. Others, such as Mexican train and chicken foot, are scoring games in which the winning player has the least amount of pips left in his or her hand.
When creating her mind-blowing domino installations, Hevesh follows a version of the engineering-design process. She makes test versions of each part of an installation and films them in slow motion to make sure they work correctly. Once she is confident that each section works, she puts them all together. She usually starts with the largest 3-D sections and then adds flat arrangements and finally lines of dominoes.
While some people think that dominoes are simple and straightforward, it is easy to lose track of how many details there are in a successful setup. To create a perfect domino rally takes practice and a lot of patience. But once you get it right, the results are spectacular!