Domino is a popular name that carries an association with the game of domino. It is a masculine name that also suggests a masterful commander who thinks two moves ahead. The word’s ties to dominoes are a reminder of the way that one event can affect another in unexpected ways.
Dominoes are rectangular or square plastic or wooden tiles, each marked with an arrangement of spots or “pips” on both sides. A set of dominoes consists of a number of different colored dominoes and a matching scoring device (usually a die). Each piece is used to mark its own place in a chain of dominoes, indicating which player is next in turn. Each time a tile is played, it causes the other pieces to fall in a sequence of steps, called a “domino effect,” until all the dominoes are laid.
Each domino has a unique number that corresponds to the number of its pips on both sides. Some dominoes are marked with a single number, while others have a pattern of different numbers on each face. The pips on each domino are arranged in a suit, with the numbers that match as a pair being in the same suit, and the remainder of the dots form the 0 suite.
The most common domino sets come with 28 tiles, although larger ones exist to allow multiple players to play games that involve long chains of dominoes. These are often sold in specialized stores or as sets with a specific theme. Many people use their dominoes to create artistic designs that include curved lines, grids that form pictures, and 3D structures such as towers and pyramids.
In business, a domino effect describes the tendency of one situation to influence other related situations in unforeseen ways. The term may be used to describe a series of events that have an impact greater than would be expected, or it can refer to the effect that one event has on a person’s life or career.
For example, if someone has a difficult relationship with their boss or supervisor, the effects of that behavior can spread throughout an organization and have a negative effect on other employees as well. This type of domino effect can be very hard to stop and requires a great deal of discipline.
In the early years of Domino’s Pizza, founder Tom Monaghan was careful to choose locations wisely, putting pizzerias near college campuses where students were most likely to want fast delivery of a quality product. This strategy helped the company grow quickly, from a small shop in Ypsilanti to over 200 franchised locations by 1978.
Domino’s is still a leader in the pizza industry, but like any other company it has its own problems. A recurring issue is turnover among store workers, and the company’s CEO Don Meij recently went undercover on an episode of the reality TV show Undercover Boss to investigate what was happening at some of its restaurants.
