When you’re a kid, it’s fun to line up dominoes and knock them down. Dominoes are also used in games to build a chain reaction or set up elaborate patterns that can be viewed and enjoyed by others. And some people use them to create art! Hevesh is a popular YouTube artist who’s created stunning domino setups for movies, TV shows, and events. She’s even helped to set a Guinness World Record for a circular domino arrangement! Some of her largest creations take several nail-biting minutes to fall. Hevesh says that “before a domino falls, it has inertia, which resists motion.” But once the first one goes down, it triggers a chain reaction that leads to the next domino falling.

In the modern sense of the word, a domino is any one of 28 small, oblong pieces marked with 0-6 pips in each half. They are usually found in a set of tiles that are called a double-six or a double-nine, although larger sets exist. There are many different ways to play dominoes, but most involve blocking or scoring games. A basic strategy involves laying down tiles with values that match those of the previous tiles in a row.

A specialized form of domino is known as a puzzle. These were used in the 18th century to teach arithmetic and problem-solving skills, and they are often made with very large numbers of dominoes. They require players to match a given pattern or number of tiles, and they can be very difficult to solve.

The word domino also has a number of different meanings related to business and leadership. It can refer to a company’s policies or structure of leadership, or it may refer to the top leader in a particular branch of a business. In the latter case, it’s often used to describe a person who has a strong influence over other employees or managers in their area. It can also be used to refer to a group of people that has been tasked with a particular project or task.

As a writer, you can apply the idea of domino effect to your novel’s plot. Whether you plan out your story using a careful outline or write off the cuff, every scene should have an impact on what comes next. Think of your scenes like dominoes that connect in a sequence to tell a compelling story.