The Domino Effect
A domino is a flat, thumbsized rectangular block that is blank on one side and patterned with an arrangement of dots or “pips” on the other, like the spots on a die. The pips are used to identify the domino and determine its position in a game. A complete set of dominoes consists of 28 identical pieces.
Dominoes are used to play many games in which players try to empty their hands while blocking or scoring other player’s plays. These games often duplicate card games and were once popular in some areas to circumvent religious proscriptions against playing cards. Some domino games help children learn number recognition and counting.
In some of the simplest games, players place dominoes in a straight or curved line and flick them. A domino with matching pips will fall, setting off a chain reaction that can continue until all the pieces have fallen. Other games use more elaborate sets of dominoes. One of these is called a rainbow spiral, which requires a total of 12,000 dominoes to create.
The first domino to fall in a rainbow spiral is called the starting domino, and it’s also known as the sprite. The rest of the dominoes in the set must match that sprite for the spiral to be completed. This requires a lot of planning and skill, as the dominoes must be lined up correctly to fit in a tight space.
While the domino effect can be seen in a variety of contexts, it’s most commonly used to describe a sequence of events that causes one thing to influence or change another. The term is based on the idea that a single action can cause an effect, like a ripple in water, that is felt far and wide.
For example, an admiral once said that the first domino action he took was making his bed every morning. This simple act caused a chain reaction of good habits that changed his life for the better.
When writing a novel, whether you write off the cuff or carefully plot out your story in advance, it’s important to consider the domino effect. If you do, you’ll find that your scenes will develop naturally, without you having to force them.
For Lily Hevesh, a professional domino artist, the beauty of this principle is evident in her amazing creations. She has built domino sets in a variety of shapes and sizes, including massive circular structures that can take several nail-biting minutes to fall. Hevesh’s largest setups involve hundreds of thousands of dominoes, and they’re all held in place by the laws of physics. Each domino has its own inertia, a tendency to resist motion until pushed against. But once a domino is nudged, its potential energy becomes available to push the next domino until it too falls.