Dominoes are flat, rectangular tiles that have a pattern of dots or spots on one side and are blank on the other. They are often used to play games where the goal is to make long, curved lines of dominoes fall from one end to the other. They are also often used to create artwork, including curved lines, grids that form pictures when they fall, or 3D structures like towers and pyramids.

Dominoes, which are sometimes called bones, cards, men, or pieces, are typically twice as long as they are wide. They are normally made of ivory, bone, or another type of durable material. The dots on each piece are arranged in rows and columns that are identical to the arrangement of dots on a die. Dominoes are used in a variety of ways to play games, both alone and with others, in many countries.

The domino effect is a well-known phenomenon that refers to the way that one small event can cause a series of other events that follow. The term has been applied to political situations, such as the way that a nation may be able to influence its neighbors by forging strong alliances with them. This strategy may prevent other nations from trying to assert their independence or develop their own nuclear capability, and it can serve to deter aggression by demonstrating that a country will not stand for any attempt to challenge its sovereignty.

Lily Hevesh, who has more than 2 million YouTube subscribers, has created a career for herself as a domino artist. She grew up playing with dominoes, and she loved the way that a single flick of a domino would cause all the other ones to fall, one after the other. She soon began creating her own domino art and making videos of it.

Before each game, a player shuffles the tiles face down on a flat playing surface, thoroughly mixing them by moving them with his hands. He may choose to take turns shuffling for a game, or he may agree that he will do the shuffling every time. Once the tiles have been shuffled, the player draws his hand for that game and places it on the table. The players then begin making their plays.

Each player, as specified in the order of play for that particular game, must place his tile onto the line of play, which is a chain of dominoes based on matching the pips on the open ends of the dominoes. The person placing the first tile in the chain is often referred to as the setter, the downer, or the lead.

Depending on the game being played, some of the dominoes in the stock may be bought. Some players may agree to count only one of the ends of a double when counting the number of pips remaining in the losers’ hands at the end of a hand or game, and then add that amount to the winner’s score.