Domino is a game in which players place dominoes on a table in lines or angular patterns. The first player to play all of his or her dominoes wins the game. Dominoes may be made from plastic, wood, marble, ceramic or other materials. They are usually twice as long as they are wide, which helps them stand up and be re-stacked after use. The dominoes are normally marked on both sides with a value indicating how many dots or pips the piece has. The most common set has 28 pieces and each domino has either six pips or none (blank). The values of the two sides of the domino are added together, with a piece that has a number on both ends indicating it is worth more than a blank one.
When Hevesh knocks over a domino chain, it releases energy. The potential energy stored in the first domino is converted to kinetic energy, which is transferred to the next domino, pushing it over and continuing down the chain. When the last domino falls, it releases even more energy as friction heats the air and creates sound. Hevesh uses this principle of momentum when she builds her mind-blowing domino setups.
She considers the theme or purpose of the installation, brainstorms images or words and then begins laying the dominoes out in a pattern that supports the desired outcome. She then connects each domino to the next, using a process she calls “stitching up the ends.” This means ensuring that the dominoes are properly aligned and that the end of the chain is touching its starting point.
While there are a multitude of games that can be played with dominoes, most games revolve around placing tiles and building chains. In a basic game, the first person to place all of his or her dominoes on the table takes the turn and then lays down another tile. The second person then places a tile with a value that adds to the previous one. Then each subsequent player lays down a tile until a domino with a matching value is placed or the players run out of tiles to play.
Some games of domino involve scoring by determining who is the winner. This is usually done by awarding points to a player who has completed a specific portion of the chain. The winning player is awarded the number of points scored by the opposing players’ dominoes. This can be accomplished by counting the pips on the dominoes, or by calculating the number of adjacent pips, or both.
In addition to the traditional 28-piece sets, there are also extended dominoes that increase the number of possible combinations of pips on an end. The most common extended sets include the double-twelve and double-nine.
In order to play a game with extended sets, each player must draw a hand of tiles and then put them in front of him or her. The player with the highest ranking double – either a double-six or a double-nine – goes first, and so on.