Dominoes are a type of game that can be played with two or more players. Each domino is a rectangular tile with a line down its center, separating the ends into two squares. Each end of the tile has a number of spots, or “pips,” that can be either blank or numbered from one to six.

The first player, determined either by drawing lots or by who holds the heaviest hand, places the first domino on the table. The domino may be positioned horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Then the second domino is placed, and so on. The tiles are not connected, but rather stacked on top of each other in long lines, and it is possible to build very complex designs when the tiles are arranged correctly.

If you have a few dominoes at home, you can try to build your own designs using them. You can create straight lines, curved lines, grids that form pictures when they fall, and even stack them in three-dimensional structures like towers or pyramids.

You can also use dominoes to design your own games. Some popular games include dominoes solitaire, a version of bridge, and rummy, an ancient Chinese game. You can also use dominoes to build an obstacle course.

A common strategy for a domino game is to start with a piece that has the highest value. For example, the highest-value domino in a set is the double-six. You can use this strategy to win the game if you can get all of the other dominoes on the board to have the same value as your first domino.

Another strategy is to start with a single domino that has the lowest value. If you can get all of the other dominoes to have that same value, you can make your way to the next highest-value domino in the set.

Physicist Stephen Morris, who teaches at the University of Toronto, says that when you stand a domino upright, it stores potential energy, or stored energy based on its position. When you knock it over, the stored energy is converted to kinetic energy, or energy of motion. This change creates a chain reaction, and the dominoes that come after will follow suit.

Hevesh uses this concept when she sets up complex displays that involve hundreds of thousands of dominoes. She has helped set a Guinness World Record for the most dominoes toppled in a circular arrangement: 76,017.

It takes several nail-biting minutes for her creations to fall, but once they do, their inertia allows them to tumble according to the laws of physics. Gravity is the key, and when it pulls a domino toward Earth, it will send it crashing into the next domino in the chain.

This phenomenon is called the domino effect, and it can be used as a personal strategy to help you overcome obstacles. By focusing your energies on the activities that have the greatest potential for success, you can knock over many smaller dominoes and move on to bigger and better things.