At time of writing, the most recent domino day took place in 2009 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, when 4,491,863 dominoes were toppled, breaking the world record. 10 things you might not know about dominoes and domino day:
A game similar to dominoes was played in Song Dynasty China, around the 12th century. Yuan Dynasty describe it as a gambling game sold by peddlers. They referred to the game as ‘pupai‘.
Some centuries later, a similar game was being played in Europe. It’s not known whether it evolved independently from the Chinese version or if travelling missionaries brought the game home with them.
The origin of the name is unclear, too. Some say it came from the resemblance to a kind of carnival costume worn during the Venetian Carnival, often consisting of a black-hooded robe and a white mask. Others believe it was derived from the Latin word ‘dominus’ meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master’.
A European domino set consists of 28 tiles, the Chinese sets have 32.
The tiles are sometimes referred to as “bones”, probably because they were traditionally made from bone or ivory. Sometimes they were made from ebony or mother of pearl. Today, however, they are made from synthetic materials which mimic the feel or bone or ivory, such as Bakelite or plastics.
The most commonly played domino games are Domino Whist, Matador, and Muggins (All Fives). Other popular games include Texas 42, Chicken Foot, Concentration, Double Fives, and Mexican Train. In Britain, the most popular pub game is Fives and Threes.
Domino toppling is the activity of standing up dominoes in sequence known as a domino run, and triggering the first one in line to create a chain reaction where they all fall over. This activity has given its name to the domino effect, or a cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of other events, usually within a relatively small time frame.
Domino Day was once an annual event in the Netherlands, starting in 1998, when an attempt would be made at breaking the world record for domino toppling. Organisational and financial constraints put a stop to it in 2010. Although it was set to return in 2020 the covid plague put a stop to that and no further dates have been announced at time of writing.
In 2005, a Sparrow got into the building where the domino run had been set up and created a domino effect of its own, toppling 23,000 of the 4 million carefully placed tiles. The organisers of the event had the sparrow shot, which caused an outcry and a court case initiated by animal rights activists which ended up with the hired exterminator being fined €200.
In 2008, as well as the record for the most tiles toppled (4,345,027) several other records were also set: the longest domino spiral (200 m); the highest domino climb (12 m); the smallest domino stone (7 mm); the largest domino stone (4.8 m); the longest domino wall (16 m); the largest domino structure (25,000 stones); the fastest topple of 30 metres of domino stones (4.21 sec); the largest number of domino stones resting on a single domino (727 stones) and the largest rectangular level domino field (1 million stones).
Character birthday
Kelyane Opeia, younger sister of Cassandra (Cassie) Opeia. Cassie caught the eye of a crown prince in Classica, who attempted to hold her hostage until she married him, although Cassie was at the time on a quest to find her lover, who had gone missing. Cassie escaped when the prince allowed her a visit from her family, and he fell in love with Kelyane instead.
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