Domino is a small, rectangular block used for gaming or other activities. A domino has one side bearing an arrangement of dots or pips, similar to those on a die, and the other blank or identically patterned. There are many games played with these blocks, including laying them down in lines and angular patterns. The word is also used to describe a chain reaction, whereby the actions of one domino trigger the actions of others. For example, a person might say, “The political situation is like a domino effect,” meaning that the actions of one country will have a significant impact on other countries.
Domino was invented by American businessman E.O. Siegel in 1892. He called it “the game of the future” and hoped to popularize it for the mass market. Siegel’s idea was to make a tile with a number on both ends that could be matched to another tile with the same number, creating a chain of dominoes. He envisioned the dominoes as an alternative to the playing card, and the game was soon popular worldwide.
A domino has the power to trigger other events because it is placed on its end, a structure that allows the energy of one domino to pass through to the next. This process is called the Domino Effect, or The Falling Dominoes Effect, and it can be used to describe any kind of event or series of events that follow one other, like a cascade. The term domino has also been applied to political situations, and was cited in a newspaper column by Eisenhower during the Cold War when discussing America’s decision to aid South Vietnam. The column was later titled The Domino Principle, and the phrase stuck.
In the game of domino, each player draws his or her tiles and places them face down on a table. When play begins, the first player (determined by drawing lots or who holds the heaviest hand) begins by placing a domino on its end. Then the other players place their tiles on top of it, forming their train. The dominos with numbers on both ends are known as doubles, and those with only a single number on one end are called singles.
If the first domino is a double, its value is determined by adding up all the pips on both sides of the tile: 6 plus 3 equals 12. A double-blank is valued at zero. The winning player is the one who amasses a score of 100 or 200 points in a given number of rounds.
To create her mind-blowing domino setups, Hevesh follows a version of the engineering design process. She starts with a theme or purpose, then brainstorms images and words that relate to it. She then makes test versions of each section, and films them in slow motion to check that they work properly. Once she’s satisfied that a particular piece works, she adds it to her installation.