The Art of Dominoes
A domino is a small, thumbsized rectangular block that is blank on one side and bearing from one to six pips or dots on the other: 28 such tiles make up a complete set. Also called bones, men, stones, or spinners, dominoes are a favorite pastime of children and adults who enjoy stacking them up in long lines and then knocking them over. Many games can be played with dominoes, including a variety of chess variants and the popular game of Draw Dominoes.
Dominoes can be used to create intricate designs, and they have even inspired artistic works. In the world of architecture, dominoes can be used to model buildings and bridges, or they can be arranged in elaborate patterns to form sculptures and art installations.
Hevesh, who goes by the online name Hevesh5, started playing with dominoes as a child and began posting videos of her creations on YouTube when she was 10. Her work has garnered millions of views and thousands of followers. She has created domino sets for movies, TV shows, and events, including a music video for the singer Katy Perry. Hevesh has worked on projects involving up to 300,000 dominoes and has set a Guinness World Record for a circular domino arrangement. Her largest displays can take several nail-biting minutes to fall.
As you might have guessed, Hevesh is a master of the laws of gravity. She makes test versions of her biggest 3-D sections before putting them together. She then films the tests in slow motion to be able to make precise corrections if something isn’t working correctly. She also takes the time to acclimate her hands and fingers to the weight of the pieces before she begins placing them on the table.
While it may seem counterintuitive, it’s important to plan your dominoes out ahead of time if you want to win a game. The reason is that the more you know how many tiles you have in your hand, the better chance you have of winning. If you have a double-six, for example, and no one has a matching one, you can’t play it.
Another consideration when planning your dominoes is that some rules require a certain number of matching pairs of tiles to be able to continue to play. For instance, a double-blank may count as one or two (depending on the game), and a tile with a single pip might only count as a one or a three.
In addition to planning out your dominoes, it’s a good idea to practice on an uneven surface, such as a carpet or a sidewalk, so that you can get the feel of how they’ll fall. Also, don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes! And if you’re playing with multiple people, have each player draw seven dominoes and then see who has the highest score after the first round. This is how you’ll determine who wins the game! In most games, additional tiles can only be placed on the ends of a layout that are “open” or not connected to any other tiles.