Domino is the name of a game, but it’s also the word for a long series of events, a chain reaction. It’s the sort of thing that a kid can do with bricks or even just a cardboard box, and it has real-world applications in business and politics as well.
Each domino is a rectangular piece with a line down the middle that separates it into two square ends. Each end has a number of spots, called pips, that are identical or match in number (one to six). Most domino sets contain twenty-four to thirty-six pieces. Some are larger, with as many as fifty-four pieces in a set.
A person can use a set of dominoes to play games, usually blocking or scoring ones that depend on the players emptying their hands. Most popular domino games involve a sequence of matching tiles and counting the pips. Some are adapted from card games, and others have a more abstract character. Blocking and trick-taking games are available as well.
In the world of marketing, the term domino often refers to a campaign or an initiative that has an effect on many other parts of the business. For example, when a new product or service catches on with consumers, it can cause a cascade of positive feedback that can lead to increased sales. A similar effect occurs when one company’s success prompts its competitors to enter the market. The result is that the competing businesses may battle for market share until the market is more fragmented than it was when all the companies were competing in one large niche.
The idea of domino has been used in storytelling as well. In fiction, writers have long envisioned scenes that are like dominoes: A single scene does little to advance the plot by itself, but its impact on the scene that follows is dramatic. This sort of scenario can be played out in a wide variety of ways, from a slow-motion car crash to the heroine’s discovery of an important clue that leads to the villain’s arrest.
Whether you’re a pantser who writes out your story by the seat of your pants or a plotter who uses an outline program such as Scrivener, understanding the concept of the domino effect can help you create and improve your novel. If you’re a pantser, the domino effect will remind you that every scene should be as effective as a single tile in a stack of fifty thousand.
Hevesh is a YouTube celebrity who creates intricate domino art, working with massive groups of dominoes that take several nail-biting minutes to fall in an arrangement. She’s also worked with celebrities and music artists, creating domino installations for movies and TV shows. Her most spectacular work has involved 300,000 dominoes. You can see her domino creations on her YouTube channel, Hevesh5. Her videos are mesmerizing. She has even helped to set a Guinness record for the most dominoes in a circular pattern.