Domino is a small rectangular block, blank on one side and marked with a pattern of spots resembling those on dice. A domino is typically made of a light material such as wood or plastic, but historically it was also produced in bone, silver lip oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory, and even ebony with contrasting black or white dots. Dominos are used to play a number of games with two or more people, with the aim of scoring points or blocking opposing players from playing their tiles.

Dominoes are often used to create works of art. Whether it is a curved line, a grid that forms pictures, or a stack of walls, there is almost no limit to the ways that these small blocks can be arranged to form impressive structures. Dominoes are also a popular way to teach children the concept of cause and effect. For example, if you push a domino down on a surface, it will cause other dominoes to topple over.

One of the keys to a successful business is listening to your customers. This principle was very much at work when the founders of Domino’s decided to make changes to their company’s policies and procedures in response to complaints from employees. They took note of the most common issues and addressed them right away. The result was that Domino’s quickly turned around its slipping performance.

When the Domino’s franchise first opened in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1967, founder Tom Monaghan placed his stores near college campuses because he knew that this was a key demographic for pizza sales. This strategy helped the company grow and led to more than 200 locations by 1978. Domino’s success owes much to the fact that the company focused on its core audience and listened to their needs and concerns.

To play domino, each player selects a tile from the boneyard. This tile must have matching values with the tile already played and is then positioned on the end of a row of dominoes. Normally, additional dominoes can only be laid on the open ends of a row, although there are some exceptions.

If no other player has a tile with the same value as the one just played, the second player can choose to place it on an open end or to start a new row of dominoes. Play continues until a player can’t lay any more tiles or no one can continue the game. At that point, the winner is the person with the lowest combined total of pips on their remaining tiles. This is sometimes called the chip-out rule.