Domino, also known as dominoes or domino pieces, are a type of game piece that is used to play games of chance or skill. They are small rectangular blocks of hard material, usually made of wood or bone, but they can also be made of plastic or other materials. Each domino has a unique arrangement of dots or pips on one side, and is blank or identically patterned on the other. A complete set of dominoes has 28 pieces, each with an arrangement of pips from zero to six.

The word domino comes from the Latin for “flank” or “slide,” and it was first used to describe a particular type of sliding board game that was played by young children in the 17th century. Later, the word came to refer to a game that involved arranging dominoes into lines or angular patterns before they were knocked over. Today, domino is a general term for all such games and other activities that involve the use of these tiles.

In the game of dominoes, a player starts by placing a single tile on the center of an empty domino board. Then, he or she can place dominoes around the edge of the board, in rows, or in any other pattern desired. The rules of the game are then decided upon by each player, and the goal is to place all of his or her dominoes down in a manner that will result in a scoring sequence.

Some people are fascinated by the beauty of a domino line, and they spend a lot of time building intricate structures that will fall in a nice cascade of rhythm. These people are often called “domino artists.” Others use dominoes to create art that is more than just a line of falling dominoes. This art may include curved lines, grids that form pictures, stacked walls, or 3D structures like towers and pyramids.

The most common games of domino are blocking and scoring, but there are many other games that can be played. One such game, which is sometimes referred to as a puzzle game or a concentration game, is a variant of the classic card game Concentration. This variation is for two players and uses a double-six set of dominoes. Each player places a domino on the board, and then chooses any other domino that has matching values to the one already placed. This process continues until one player has all the dominoes on the board, or until neither player has any more tiles to play.

When Hevesh builds a domino display, she often makes a test version first by standing up the pieces and putting them in different configurations to see how they work. This allows her to make precise corrections if needed, so that when she sets up the final version, the whole thing will come together smoothly. It’s a lot like making sure that each piece of a puzzle fits perfectly before you put it all together.