A cousin of playing cards, dominoes are a fascinating tool for games, both old and new. They can be arranged in long lines and then tipped over to create intricate designs. Each domino has one face with a pattern of dots or pips, which match those on a die, and the other face is blank. 28 such pieces form a complete set, which can be used to play various positional games. The word “domino” also has a much earlier sense, denoting a long, hooded cloak with a mask worn at carnivals and masquerades.
The most basic Domino’s game involves two players and a double-six set of dominoes. The first player draws a domino from the boneyard and then places it on the edge of another domino, matching the ends of each piece and forming a line or angular pattern. The second player then chooses whether to play that domino or pass it on to the next player, drawing from the same pool of 28 tiles. The first player who plays all of their tiles wins.
Dominoes are a good metaphor for many aspects of life, including the way that simple events can lead to complex results. The term “domino effect” is frequently used to describe this phenomenon, in which a small initial action leads to greater and often catastrophic consequences. The idea of dominoes can also be useful when creating a story, especially in fiction. As a writer, you can use scene dominoes to create narrative momentum. Each scene domino may be ineffective on its own, but when combined with other scenes, it can help to propel the story forward and make the reader eager to see what happens next.
When arranging dominoes, it is important to test each section of an installation. Hevesh makes sure that all the pieces fit together and that their connections are strong before putting them up. She also films each section of her displays in slow motion to check for errors. This allows her to make precise corrections before putting up the final display.
For Hevesh, the most exciting part of a project is watching the final dominoes fall, as they tumble according to the laws of physics. Some of her largest installations take several nail-biting minutes to finish falling. She credits this to inertia, a property of objects that causes them to resist motion unless force is applied. But once the first domino has fallen, that energy is released and can be used to push on the next domino in the sequence.
When creating a novel, it is often helpful to think of your plot as a series of dominoes that you need to place in order for the story to progress. You can think about each scene in your story as a domino that needs to be tipped over, and then consider how that will impact the rest of the story. Then, you can work out how to best tip the dominoes in your story so that the final result is both satisfying and unpredictable.