Domino, also known as dominoes, is a tile game that can be stacked on end in long lines and tipped to cause the next one to fall. As you can imagine, this can lead to some spectacular setups. Domino artist Lily Hevesh has been creating amazing domino setups since she was a kid, and now her YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers. She has worked on projects involving 300,000 dominoes and helped set the Guinness World Record for most dominoes toppled in a circular arrangement. Watch her create some of her stunning installations in the video below.
Each domino has a number on each of its ends and the most common domino set, the double-six set, produces 28 unique tiles. The numbers vary from 0 (or blank) to 6, and each end is shaped slightly differently so that the tile can be stood on edge.
A player places a domino in turn, positioning it so that the numbered side of the tile matches a number on another existing domino on the table. When this happens, the domino “chips out” and play passes to the opponent. The goal is to get all of your opponents’ chips out before you, a feat that requires skill, planning and luck.
Although many people associate the word domino with block games and scoring, there are actually many different kinds of domino games. There are blocking games where the first player to place a domino controls the flow of play and strategy games where a player can only continue to play if there is a match for his or her tile on the opposing side of the table. The most popular domino game, Five-Up, is a variation on this type of strategy game, and the first player to have all of his or her tiles played wins.
Because there are so many different ways to connect and play dominoes, the possibilities for creative layouts are endless. In addition to straight and curved lines, there are also 3-D arrangements and other patterns. When creating a layout, it is important to think about how the pieces fit together and what kind of pattern or effect you want to achieve.
The process of creating a domino layout can be just as fun as the final product. Hevesh spends a lot of time testing and filming each section of her creations to make sure they work correctly before adding them all together. She even makes test versions of her layouts by stacking them on top of each other and then knocking them over to see if they still hold up.
The most basic domino game is simply to play the tiles on the table in order from left to right, placing each one so that its numbered end reaches the opposite side of the table. This process can be as simple as lining up the tiles, or as complicated as laying out a detailed pattern on the table. Dominos can be connected at a 90-degree angle to each other, or they may be joined at right angles, depending on the desired outcome and the limitations of the playing surface.