Domino is a game of skill and strategy. It is played on a table with square pieces called dominoes that have an arrangement of spots or “pips” on one side and are blank or identically patterned on the other. The dominoes are linked together by their matching ends, which are used to form a line of play that increases in length. During the course of a game, players may also add dominoes to this line of play from the stock, or they may draw new hands from the stock to fill out their line of play. In some games, the number of pips on each end of a domino is counted in order to determine the winner.
When a person adds a domino to the line of play, it is important that its matching end touches an open end of another domino. This ensures that a chain of dominoes continues in a straight line, as opposed to a curve or circle. If a player makes a mistake, such as playing a double that has no open end touching the end of another domino, that misplay is known as a blunder and the tile must be recalled.
Most domino games are characterized by the fact that a player cannot place a tile until all of the other players have placed their tiles in a specific pattern that is prescribed by the rules of the game. These rules often depend on the amount of points that are being scored. In the simplest case, the winning player is the first to reach 100 points, or a specified number of points. In many cases, however, a method of scoring is employed in which the number of points lost by each losing player (i.e., the number of pips left in the losers’ hands at the end of their hand or game) is added to the winner’s score.
In order to begin the game, the first player must find a domino with the word START on its face and then match it up with the other dominoes on the table. This process is repeated until the last domino has the word STOP written on it, which is used to mark the end of the line of play. In the event of a tie, the players may draw new hands from the stock in order to break the deadlock.
Whether you write your novel off the cuff or follow a careful outline, plotting a story is much like building a sequence of dominoes. Each scene domino represents a step in your plot and has the potential to influence the next domino. When all the dominoes are in place, your readers will want to see what happens next.
A professional artist who creates domino displays, Hevesh has helped to set several Guinness World Records for the largest domino arrangements toppled in a single setting. She begins each project by considering the theme of the display and brainstorming images or words that might be represented. Then, she carefully plans how to arrange the dominoes into grids that form pictures or walls and 3-D structures like towers or pyramids.
