Domino is a small tile that represents the roll of two dice. It has a line down its center, and each end contains an arrangement of spots (or blanks) that resemble those on the die. The most common domino set contains 28 tiles. A player scores by placing one domino edge to edge against another, so that the adjacent pips form some total, such as 6 to 6. The first person to reach that score wins the game.
There are many ways to play domino, from simple straight lines that create a pathway for the next domino to fall, to 3D structures like towers and pyramids. In addition, people can make domino art by drawing a design on a piece of paper and then marking where each domino will be placed. A domino track can be as long or short as the artist wants, and it can have a variety of themes and colors.
The word domino is also used as a metaphor for a situation or event that triggers a chain reaction that leads to a large consequence, such as the collapse of a building. In business, a domino effect can refer to the impact that one activity has on subsequent activities. It is important to recognize the effects that one action has on other activities in order to make the right decisions in any given circumstance.
While a business owner may not have dominoes lying around, the idea of a domino effect is a useful tool for understanding the impact of certain actions and decisions. In addition, the concept can be applied to other aspects of life, such as relationships and politics.
A good domino is a task that contributes to a bigger goal, such as completing a project or improving finances. When picking a domino, it is important to consider how much time and effort it will take to complete the task. The more work that goes into a domino, the larger its impact will be.
As the popularity of dominoes has increased, so too has their use as a metaphor for various situations and events. For example, in the 1977 Frost/Nixon interviews, Richard Nixon defended the United States’ destabilization of the Salvador Allende regime in Chile on the grounds that it would “fall like a domino” into Communist Cuba, thereby creating a red sandwich that the United States could then dominate.
The domino theory has also been applied to international relations, where it has been used as a way to explain the impact of forged alliances within regional and global powers. It is often suggested that the United States has fashioned a series of tight bilateral alliances with Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, in an attempt to control those countries’ military strength, foster economic dependency, and prevent them from acting independently. These dominoes are sometimes referred to as the Pacific Pivot, and they have been criticized for potentially causing a “domino effect” in other regions, such as the Middle East.