Dominos, which offers pizza and other food products, has been a global brand since it was founded in 1967. Its success is due to a number of factors, including focusing on the right locations and offering fast delivery services. The company also invests in new technologies to ensure that its customers get the best experience possible. Dominos aims to provide customers with the “domino effect”—a chain reaction that begins with one small event and leads to an outcome larger than anticipated.

Domino’s was founded in Ypsilanti, Michigan, by brothers Maurice and Dominic Monaghan. They began by opening a single storefront, but quickly became successful because of their strategy of placing the stores near college campuses. This targeted their core customer base, who wanted a quick meal after studying for exams or working on projects. The business also emphasized quality, and insisted that its ingredients were always fresh.

The most common domino games in the West are the block and draw game, both of which can be played with a standard set of 28 tiles. The simplest rule is that each player places one tile on the table in turn, positioning it so that its matching end touches either another tile or the edge of the playing surface. A tile placed to a double must be perpendicular to the two touching ends, but the shape of the chain develops from there.

A domino has a unique characteristic that distinguishes it from other types of tiles: it has a line of dots running the length of the tile, which are called pips. The pips indicate which type of play is allowed, and they are normally used in combination with other markings to identify the type of domino. In addition to the traditional white marble dominoes, many sets have engraved plastic or wooden dominoes with brightly colored pips.

Some dominoes are numbered, and the numbering system usually follows a standardized pattern, such as Arabic numerals or Roman numerals. In addition to the traditional set, some players enjoy creating elaborate domino art by arranging them into straight or curved lines, grids that form pictures when they fall, or 3D structures like towers and pyramids.

While many people play domino to relax, some use it to build a chain reaction that produces an impressive display of dazzling dominoes. Some of these structures can take hours to complete, and they are often used in competitions, such as building the tallest or longest domino chain.

The term domino can also be applied to a political situation in which a small event, such as the resignation of an important politician or military defeat, is expected to have far-reaching effects. For example, President Eisenhower’s support of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in South Vietnam in 1961-62 was a key event that led to the spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia. This is known as the Domino Theory.