Domino, also known as bones, cards, men, or pieces, is a small flat rectangular block used as a gaming object. It is usually made of a rigid material such as wood or bone, although it may be made of a composite material like plastic. Dominoes come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. They are used to play a variety of games that involve laying out and positioning dominos in such a way that the end of one piece touches an edge of another, which then starts a chain reaction that continues until all of the pieces have fallen. These games can be as simple as placing dominoes side by side on a table and pushing them together or as complicated as arranging them to create 3D structures and complex networks.
Most modern domino sets consist of 28 tiles, each with a square of dots, or pips, that indicate its value. The pips are arranged in suits, with each suit comprising one or more of the numbers from one to six. A domino with all pips in the same suit is called a double-six. There are a number of progressively larger extended sets that increase the number of pips on a domino.
The most common type of domino set is the standard double-six set, which contains 28 tiles. This is enough for most people to enjoy the game. However, players who are interested in playing longer games often purchase larger sets that contain more dominoes. These larger sets allow for more possibilities in the way that dominoes can be arranged on the table and provide more opportunity to build impressive chains of dominoes.
While most dominoes have the same identifying marks on both sides, some have only a single identifier on one side, with the other being blank or identically patterned. The pips on a domino are usually arranged in one of two suits, both of which consist of a number from 1 to 6. There is also a suit of 0s.
In the case of a domino that has all pips in the same suit, each individual pips is worth the same amount of points. In the case of a domino with all pips in the opposite suit, each individual pips is worth less than the value of a number on a domino that features a single suit.
Hevesh is an accomplished domino artist and designer, whose creations have been featured on television shows. She makes a point of testing each section of her designs before she puts the whole thing together, and she films these tests so that she can review them later to see what worked and what did not work as planned. She says that this is an important step because it allows her to make precise corrections in the process and to avoid mistakes before they become serious problems.
The physics behind dominoes is fascinating. Stephen Morris, a physicist at the University of Toronto, explains that when a domino is standing upright it stores some energy. When the domino falls, this stored energy is converted from potential to kinetic energy, and this energy causes other dominoes to fall. The effect is known as the Domino Effect, and it can be applied to other situations in which one event leads to a series of subsequent events.