Dominoes are small, rectangular blocks that usually have a number of pips on one side. They’re used to play a variety of games, and they are popular for their simple mechanics.
They can be made from a wide range of materials, including bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, or a dark hardwood such as ebony. Some domino sets are more complex and use metals, ceramic clay, or frosted glass or crystal.
A domino set typically contains 28 pieces. The pieces have many nicknames: bones, cards, tiles, stones, spinners, or tickets.
There are a lot of games you can play with dominoes, but the most basic is a block-and-draw game for two players. The players draw from a stock of dominoes, and the winner is the player who has the most dominoes with matching values to the ones already played.
The first domino falls, and much of the potential energy it contains is converted to kinetic energy, or the energy of motion. Some of that energy transfers to the next domino, causing it to fall as well.
When this happens, it can be difficult to tell which domino is the one that falls last because there are so many to choose from. But there’s a rule to this: Each domino must have a total number of pips that is divisible by five or three.
It’s also important to remember that each domino has a different weight, and so it doesn’t fall all at once. Each domino has its own center of gravity, and so it doesn’t need to be tipped forward very much before gravity takes over and pulls it down to the ground.
This makes it easy to see how a tiny nudge from an outside force can tip over a domino, and then the next, and the next, until the entire set has been knocked over. The process is called the domino effect.
The domino effect can apply to a lot of things, like politics and even business. In fact, it was cited in a famous article published by journalist Henry Alsop in 1953 to help explain how Communism could spread from one country to another if the United States didn’t stop it.
In the business world, a small change can cause a cascade of other changes that are ultimately rewarded with increased profits. For example, when Tom Monaghan became the CEO of Domino’s in 2004, the company was in the midst of bankruptcy.
He emphasized that the company needed to make changes in order to survive. This meant changing the way the business was run, especially from the top down.
By changing the culture, Monaghan was able to turn around the struggling company in a short amount of time. Among other things, he changed the name to “Domino’s” and created a new brand image that was in line with his vision of the company.
He also focused on communication, listening to his employees and addressing their concerns directly. In doing so, he was able to quickly turn around the organization and restore a sense of trust. As a result, Domino’s has been able to grow into the world’s largest pizza delivery company and continue its mission of “Championing Our Customers.”