How to Make a Domino Display
Domino is the classic game where a single domino knocks over many more, in a sort of chain reaction. But domino can also be used to create art, such as lines and curved shapes that form pictures when they fall, grids and 3-D structures like towers and pyramids. Hevesh designs her displays first on paper, putting in arrows to show the way she wants each domino to fall. She then makes test versions and films them, to make sure each section works correctly. This process allows her to refine her creations, and she can even use the filmed tests as a way to teach students how to build a domino display, too.
The most basic Western dominoes are called blocks, and consist of a double-sided tile bearing a line that visually divides it into two squares, with each square displaying an arrangement of dots or pips (also known as the value of the domino), similar to the markings on dice. Each domino can then be stacked on top of another to form a chain or a line, the number of which is indicated by the domino’s pips or marks. Unlike playing cards, which are often made from polymer, dominoes are usually made from natural materials such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or a dark hardwood, such as ebony, and may have a painted pips or inlaid markings.
A domino is typically twice as long as it is wide, to make it easy to re-stack them after use. This characteristic is also a useful design feature in certain games, where players draw for the lead piece and then place it on the table to start the chain. Each subsequent player then places a domino of his or her own on the next empty spot to the right of the leader piece, or “boneyard.”
As each domino falls, it pushes down the adjacent ones. The resulting chain or cascade is called a domino effect, and it can be very powerful. In fact, according to a 1983 study by University of British Columbia physicist Loren Whitehead, a domino effect can knock over objects up to one-and-a-half times its size.
When it comes to writing, each scene in a story serves as a kind of domino, pushing down the next ones until you get to your climax or conclusion. The trick is to ensure that each domino in a story is effective, and that it logically connects to the next scene. Otherwise, your reader will become frustrated and may lose interest in the story. Just like the dominoes in a good Domino’s Pizza, they must all fit together seamlessly to build up the story until the big finish.