Domino is a game of skill and chance in which players place dominoes in a line on the table, one by one, until they build a chain of dominoes that cannot be stopped. When the last domino is placed, the players score according to the rules of the particular game they are playing.

The word domino is derived from the Latin word dominium, which means “little dominator,” and it originally denoted a small hooded cape worn over a mask at a carnival masquerade. Domino pieces were once made with ebony blacks and ivory faces, and the name may have evoked the image of this type of garment. In an even earlier sense, the word also referred to a long black cape that a priest would wear over his white surplice.

Each player begins a domino game by drawing the number of tiles for his hand allowed under the rules of the specific game being played. He then places his hands on the table in front of him so that the other players can see only the open ends of the dominoes. Usually the player then matches the pips on the open ends of his dominoes to the open end of the next domino in the line of play. The resulting configuration is called the layout, string or line of play for the particular game.

In some games, the pips on the dominoes left in the losing players’ hands at the end of a hand or game are counted to determine the winner. The winning player then adds the accumulated number of pips to his score. The accumulating pips are sometimes referred to as a “count” or simply a “total.”

As a domino is played, it must be followed by another domino that matches it exactly on both sides. Typically, this second domino must be placed either parallel or perpendicular to the first, depending on the particular game being played. Some games have a requirement that the second tile played to a double be a spinner, meaning it can be played on all four sides.

Lily Hevesh, a 20-year-old artist from Chicago, has become known for her mind-blowing domino art. Her YouTube channel, Hevesh5, has more than 2 million subscribers. She creates amazing domino setups, including straight and curved lines that form pictures or grids, stacked walls and 3D structures like towers and pyramids. She plans her designs by using a version of the engineering-design process.

When creating a plan for an engineering design, the engineer must consider what needs to be done and rank it in order of importance. She must then focus on completing that task until it is completed. Then, the engineer can move on to the next task, and so on. This process is similar to the way a writer works on plotting a novel. Whether the writer composes his manuscript off the cuff or follows a careful outline, he must consider what happens next in his story to keep readers engaged.