Domino is an ancient toy that continues to be enjoyed by children and adults. It consists of small, thumb-sized rectangular blocks, each with its face divided into halves and bearing from one to six pips or dots. A set contains 28 such dominoes.

Depending on the game played, the markings on a domino’s surface can be used to make a variety of patterns and scores. Some games are block-building, while others involve scoring points by matching dominoes with a specific pattern, such as a straight line or a zigzag. Games with a totally different character are also popular, such as solitaire and trick-taking. The latter are adaptations of card games and were once popular in certain areas to circumvent religious proscriptions against playing cards.

Another use of dominoes is to create elaborate displays called domino art. This art can be as simple or complex as the artist wants, and it can include curved lines, grids that form pictures, stacked walls, and 3D structures like towers and pyramids. Some artists even create a domino landscape. When planning a domino art, an artist first draws a design on paper to show how the pieces will fall together. This can be as easy as drawing arrows to indicate the direction each domino should go, or it may be as complicated as showing all the different pieces in a curved line.

Domino art is not only fun to create, but it can also teach students about the laws of physics. In fact, the best way to understand how a domino falls is to watch one in action. When a domino is set up in a line and then tipped, its energy travels to the next domino down the line, giving it a push that causes it to fall. Then the energy travels to the next domino and so on until the entire chain of dominoes is complete. This chain reaction is what gives dominoes their name and has led to the expression: The effect of one thing leads to another.

In business, a company that uses the domino effect to its advantage is Domino’s Pizza. The company started out as a small pizzeria founded in 1960 by Tom Monaghan, a college dropout. As the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many people to avoid going out to eat, Domino’s recognized that home delivery of pizza was a huge opportunity.

As a result, the company has invested in an extensive network of drivers and invested in purpose-built vehicles to deliver pizzas. In the process, it has become the world’s largest pizza chain. In addition, Domino’s is experimenting with drones and other ways to speed up its delivery service and expand its reach.