Domino is a game of skill and chance that involves placing a tile on a line of others. If the tile is a double, it must touch the ends of adjacent tiles (ones touching one’s, twos touching two’s, etc). Each end of the domino has dots that count as points when scoring a line of dominoes. The other side of each piece is blank or identically patterned. Most sets of dominoes are made from bone, silver lip ocean oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory or a dark wood such as ebony with contrasting black or white pips inlaid or painted on them. Some sets are also made from metals such as brass and pewter, ceramic clay or glass, or even plastic.

While some players just enjoy the challenge of arranging the pieces in such a way that they fall according to the rules of domino, others play for points. The first player to score a full line of seven dominoes wins the game. Players may score additional points by laying down dominoes that have matching ends (i.e., a pair of one’s touch or that total some number such as five). A game of domino can last for several rounds.

Hevesh, who has a YouTube channel with more than 2 million subscribers, creates intricate domino installations for movies and TV shows. Her largest setups can take several nail-biting minutes for all the dominoes to fall. She always makes test versions of each section before she puts them all together. Then, she films the tests in slow motion to correct any problems.

A single domino is unlikely to have much impact on its neighbors, but when many of them are arranged in a line, they can have the same effect as a well-coordinated chain reaction. This is the concept behind a theory of international relations known as the Domino Theory. It suggests that a rise or fall in the influence of a Communist country will have similar knock-on effects in neighboring countries, and so on.

A study conducted by University of British Columbia physicist Lorne Whitehead in 1983 showed that dominoes can actually knock over things about one-and-a-half times their size. This is because a domino has a lot of inertia, which resists movement until enough force is exerted on it. When a domino is pushed, however, the potential energy stored in that initial domino is released and the next ones get knocked over. This principle is what allows for the elaborate creations of Hevesh and others like her. This phenomenon has also been applied to other fields, including science. The physics of dominoes has inspired a number of mathematical models and algorithms. In addition, it is a popular theme in pop culture. For example, in the hit TV series Undercover Boss, Domino’s CEO Don Meij goes undercover to see how the company’s delivery service operates and interacts with its customers. He learns that a well-organized leadership structure can have positive impacts on the entire organization.