Domino is a game of strategy, where players try to line up a series of dominoes edge-to-edge so that the adjacent pips match or form some specified total. It is a popular game for children and is played all over the world, from Italy to Africa.

It can be played with a group of people or on your own. Traditionally, dominoes are made from bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (MOP), ivory or a dark hardwood such as ebony, with contrasting black or white pips. Other materials, such as ceramic clay or frosted glass and crystal, are also used.

In the 18th century, dominoes became a fad in Europe. They were first recorded in Italy, where they quickly spread to Austria and southern Germany, then to France.

The word “domino” comes from the Italian phrase domino d’oro, meaning “bone of gold”. A domino set typically contains 28 pieces and is sometimes called bones, cards, tiles, spinners, tickets or stones.

You can play dominoes with your kids or on a board, or just by knocking them down. The goal is to get the numbers of the pips on each domino in a row equal to some specified number, such as a sum of five or seven.

It is often played with a group of friends, or even in teams, to test and challenge each other’s skills. It is an easy and inexpensive way to engage a team in a friendly competition, or to stimulate creative thinking.

When a single domino falls, the potential energy it stored in the ground becomes available to push on the next one. This process is a lot like the energy required to reset a nerve cell after it has fired, says Stephen Morris, a physicist at the University of Toronto.

Those who have seen domino shows know that it takes skill and precision to make a domino installation that works. The trick is to make sure each part of the system can be tested independently and then assembled in a seamless way.

To do this, Hevesh makes tests of each section of her installation in slow motion to catch any errors. Once the sections are ready, she adds flat arrangements and finally the lines of dominoes that connect all the parts together.

She focuses on the details and doesn’t make shortcuts that could result in the wrong piece falling off or having a different effect than intended. She also tries to use as many different materials as possible, including woods and metals.

In addition, she carefully considers how the individual pieces of each domino fit into the overall structure and how they will interact with each other. This allows her to produce installations that are visually appealing and functionally effective.

The resulting dominoes are beautiful and functional, as well as fun to play with. Hevesh is a devoted amateur woodworker, so she has her own tools in her garage, including a drill press, radial arm saw, scroll saw and belt sander.