How Dominoes Can Improve Concentration and Focus
Domino is a small rectangular game piece with anywhere from one to six dots. It is used to play the game of dominoes, in which players place tiles on the edge of a table so that each tile has one end touching another end of a preceding tile, thereby creating a chain reaction. This is what inspired the phrase, the Domino Effect, which describes when a single action leads to many other effects. Dominoes are also stood up to create a variety of artistic shapes. These structures can be quite elaborate. They can even be 3D!
Lily Hevesh began collecting dominoes when she was 9 years old. She loved arranging them in straight and curved lines, flicking the first one and watching the entire line fall. This interest led to a career as a domino artist, where she creates stunning domino setups for movies, TV shows and events, including an album launch for pop star Katy Perry. She has a YouTube channel called Hevesh5 and over 2 million subscribers.
The word domino comes from the Latin dominium, meaning “flip or top.” In English, the term was originally spelled Dominoe, but it was shortened to its current form in the 17th century. It was adopted in France about 1750, where it replaced the earlier sense of a cape worn over a priest’s surplice during Carnival or at a masquerade.
There are many different games that can be played with dominoes, but the most common are positional games. In these, each player starts with a certain number of dominoes and takes turns placing them on the edge of an adjacent table so that the facing edges match (or form some specified total). After each turn, the player must choose a domino from the boneyard that matches the value of the previous domino to continue the chain.
Aside from being fun to play, dominoes can also be a great way to improve concentration and focus. The reason is that when you stand a domino up, it stores energy in its upright position. When you then tip it over, much of this energy is converted to kinetic energy in the chain reaction. This energy causes the other dominoes to fall over, causing them to store even more energy, and so on. When you’re working with a team, the same principle applies. When you have a clear direction, everyone can focus more easily.