Domino is a game of chance and skill in which players place dominoes on a table. The first player to complete a chain of dominoes wins. Traditionally, players have played positional games with dominoes made of bone, silver lip ocean oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory or a dark hardwood such as ebony, with contrasting black or white dots on the exposed sides. The most popular modern sets are made of polymer and typically have a brightly colored, glossy finish.
When playing a domino game, each player draws a hand of dominoes, or a set, and places them face down on the table. Then, starting with the heaviest or most valuable domino, the first player plays a tile by placing it edge to edge against another. The two matching ends of the domino must touch (either one’s touching two’s or double’s touching doubles) and must form a total multiple of five. The game continues until one player chips out or until a player cannot play any more of his tiles.
A player may also win by forming a line of dominoes with his tiles. This line must begin with a double, and the player can score points by laying subsequent tiles in a snake-like pattern across that double. The scoring is done by counting the total number of dots on each exposed end of the dominoes that touch the first tile in the chain.
As an art, domino design is a way of using the little rectangular blocks to create curved lines, stacked walls, grids that make pictures when they fall, or even 3D structures like towers and pyramids. The artist begins by drawing a track or pattern on paper and then calculating how many dominoes she will need to make the desired structure. She then draws arrows to indicate how the dominoes should be placed.
Whether a writer is plotting an entire book off the cuff or using a detailed outline, the process comes down to a single question: What happens next? The answer to this question determines the arc of the story. It’s this arc that writers are trying to shape with their words and the way they set up their dominoes, or scenes, to ensure the story has a dramatic impact and stays interesting to the reader.
When it comes to writing a story, the first domino to fall is often an idea or scene. From there, the rest of the story flows. However, sometimes the dominoes start falling before the story is even written and, if they’re not properly set up or carefully managed, they can fall in ways that ruin the whole thing.
When a business or organization is facing challenges, it can help to have a plan to address them. This can be as simple as setting up a series of dominoes or as complicated as creating a new strategy that involves many different elements. The important thing is to find a solution and then move forward, taking care not to knock over any of the dominoes that have already fallen along the way.