Many children have enjoyed playing games with dominoes, the black and white rectangles that can be stacked in long lines and tipped over to cause more dominoes to fall. The excitement of watching one small movement set off a chain reaction is mesmerizing, which has led to the phrase domino effect, describing a series of events that start with just one action and eventually lead to much greater–and sometimes catastrophic–consequences.
Dominos are also used for more serious games of strategy and skill. Some of these games require a high degree of skill, and the rules can be complicated. Others test a player’s patience and ability to plan ahead. The markings on each domino, called pips, originally represented the results of throwing two six-sided dice. The 28-piece domino sets we recognize today differ from the Chinese versions that have no blank faces.
Professional domino artist Hevesh has developed a system for creating her mind-blowing domino setups. When she’s designing an installation, she starts by considering the theme or purpose of the display. Then she brainstorms images or words that might help her to create a creative design.
She then creates a plan for how she will build the dominoes in each layer and how she will connect them together. Finally, she executes the plan. The result is a creation that can take several nail-biting minutes to fall.
Some learning challenges impact students like falling dominoes. When a child compensates for a weak foundational skill, that compensation begins to affect the performance of other skills they need to be successful. This creates a “domino effect,” where the stronger compensatory skills begin to impact the weak foundational skills.
Dominos are not only fun to play with, but they are also useful in teaching basic math and number recognition. Most domino games are scored by counting the number of pips in the losing player’s hand, which helps develop math and counting skills. Other games, such as bergen and muggins, teach players to block opponents’ plays. Still others, such as matador, chicken foot, and Mexican train, are blocking or train-building games that encourage number recognition.
The word domino is believed to have come from the Latin for “little one.” It may have referred to a small piece of furniture or even the piece of cloth worn by a priest over his surplice. In English, domino may have also referred to the long hooded cloak that was often worn with a mask in carnival season and at masquerades.
For writers, a domino can be a metaphor for a scene that doesn’t fit in the story or doesn’t advance the plot in the right direction. This can occur when a writer doesn’t plot the story out ahead of time. The scene might be too early in the story or not impact the scenes that follow it in a meaningful way. By using scene cards and a tool such as Scrivener to help guide the writing process, a writer can avoid this kind of domino effect.
