If you’ve ever sat down with your friends and family to play a game of domino, you’ve experienced the awe-inspiring power of this wildly popular, often overlooked family game. Besides its obvious appeal as a simple game of strategy, dominoes can also be played in a number of other ways.

Dominos have a long and complex history. They can be made from a wide range of materials and are often used in both traditional and more contemporary games.

Originally, dominoes were made from bone or silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl). They’ve since been made from a variety of natural materials, including ash, oak, redwood and cedar. They’ve also been crafted from metals and ceramic clay.

In a more modern sense, dominoes are often used as gaming devices, similar to playing cards or dice. They’re often made with a number of pips on each end, which vary in number from zero to six. This allows players to create a variety of combinations and is why dominoes are sometimes called “double-six sets.”

A domino set has one unique piece for every possible combination of two ends with spots from zero to six. This is why a traditional double-six set has 28 pieces.

It is common to use larger sets with even more pips on each end, allowing for greater variety and increasing the number of different combinations. The most common extended domino set is a double-nine set, which has 55 pips.

This means that, if you’re using a double-nine set to create your own masterpiece, you can create up to seven unique designs with that one set of dominoes.

Before you can build your own stunning display, though, you need to understand the science behind why dominoes fall in a particular way. The reason is that they’re made from materials that have a certain amount of inertia, which makes them resist motion. But when Hevesh knocks over a domino, it’s not just that domino that falls; the next one is also pulled toward the ground by gravity.

According to Lorne Whitehead, a professor of physics at the University of British Columbia, this process of energy conversion is known as the domino chain reaction. It’s the mechanism that sets dominoes on fire when they collide, and it’s also how dominoes assemble into intricate displays like the ones Hevesh creates.

Creating a domino display isn’t as hard as it sounds, if you know the laws of physics and follow a specific engineering-design process. Hevesh tries out a series of sections to make sure they work individually before building her installations, and she uses filming techniques so that she can make adjustments as needed.

She also focuses on creating the best balance of 3-D and flat sections, so that she can create a cohesive whole. This is the process that helped her create a Guinness World Record for the most dominoes toppled in a circular arrangement: 76,017.

This process is similar to the way you’ll be able to prioritize ideas in your business. You’ll want to consider the big picture, ensuring that each idea has a place in your company’s goals and isn’t just a distraction that doesn’t add any value. You’ll need to be willing to cut down on a few things that aren’t quite working, so you can keep your vision in mind when making decisions.