Dominoes Sets Online

You may have heard about the untimely death of a European house sparrow in Amsterdam recently. An exterminator shot it dead with an air rifle as it cowered in the corner of an exposition center. The bird had knocked over a domino after flying in through an open window. Unfortunately for the bird, the domino fell onto another domino, and it hit another, and so on until more than 23,000 dominoes went down.

Actually, the disaster could have been much worse. Employees of the Endemol NV television company had spent weeks with the goal of setting up more than 4 million dominoes in order to beat the world record on 2005 Domino Day, November 18. They only had 200,000 dominoes to go when the bird knocked one (er, 23,000-plus) over.

Fortunately, the team of employees had built into their chains 750 gaps to prevent just such a catastrophes from causing them all to “lose their marbles.” After the bird expired, they reset the downed dominoes and added the remaining ones, so that they actually did beat the world record by toppling 4,002,136 dominoes on schedule, beating their own record from Domino Day last year.

When I heard of this incident, I asked myself, Are there any spiritual lessons in the “Winged Toppler” event? Serious mulling-over time has brought me to conclude that there are.

A chain of moral cause and effect
Like a row of dominoes on end, God has established a cause-and-effect relationship between our moral choices and their consequences. The Bible explains this in a number of passages. The Apostle Paul says: “God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Later he wrote, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–where you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). A few verses later he establishes the two alternate chains: offering your body to sin, which leads to slavery to impurity, then to ever-increasing wickedness; or offering your body to righteousness, which leads to holiness.

We never see it coming
Often when we find our lives disintegrating around us, we are puzzled. To us it seems like just one little thing goes wrong—like the bird landing on the domino—and everything around them starts to topple.

We don’t perceive that it is all connected. Drinking too much leads to insulting a stranger in a bar. That leads to a fight in the back alley, which leads to pulling out the K-bar. That leads to a stabbing, which leads to running from a whole gang of the guy’s friends. All from having one or two too many. If this is what is going on in your life, don’t blame the sparrow (the trigger event). It was all set up beforehand by the choices you made.

People often assume that they lost their job or their marriage ended because of one little thing that happened. That’s almost never true. The sparrow didn’t knock down all of the dominoes, only one. We are the ones who set them up.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, explains a related set: “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15).

Notice in this text that God has built in some safety gaps. Christians are encouraged to learn that: “God is faithful: he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). When we recognize evil desire in our heart, we have a chance to stop the reaction before it responds to enticement. We can stop enticement before it develops into sin, and sin before it grows out of control. God put those gaps in the process for our benefit.

Positive chain reactions
In a similar way, we can participate in erecting chains that will have a positive impact on our lives and the lives of others. What you invest in your life will bring returns. This includes how you spend your time, what you purchase with your income, what you choose to think about and talk about. Every one of these things is a domino in the exposition hall of your life. Added all together, they constitute a world-record long chain reaction for good.

And in this case, Jesus Christ himself is the sparrow, or rather He is the master-designer of the toppling dominoes. “While we were still sinners” He loved us and gave Himself up for us, setting off a chain reaction that will continue into eternity, unless we ourselves create the gaps. The shooting of that house sparrow set off its own chain reaction. Now the company faces a hefty fine; the bird was on the endangered species list.

Want to go deeper?
Contemplation about why God has established such moral cause-and-effect chain reactions ultimately leads to meditation about the cross of Jesus Christ. Just as my sin can have tremendously devastating effects in my own life, in the lives of my family and friends, even in the lives of total strangers or of generations yet unborn, so God has arranged that the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only perfect human being and God Incarnate, can bring tremendous blessing into the world (study Romans 5:12-19). If you want to explore more about the wacky world of domino toppling, do a search for the annual event, “Domino Day.”

* * *Copyright ©2006 Steve SingletonSteve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles. He has been an editor, reporter, and public relations consultant. He has taught college-level Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses and has taught seminars in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore “The Shallows,” plumb “The Depths,” or use the well-organized “Study Links” for original sources in English translation. Check out the DeeperStudy Bookstore for great e-books, free books, and great discounts. Subscribe to his free “DeeperStudy Newsletter” or “DeeperStudy Blog.”

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Remember those days when you were but a wee child, and for many reasons the day was somewhat boring and devoid of excitement.

It was one of those days where friends were nowhere to be found. Everything that you did the day before to make the day an enjoyable experience no longer had the same effect today.

Those days when you revisited the things that in the past had got you out of the doldrums: Reading books, playing board games, listening to your favourite 78/LP/Cassette/CD, cleaning your room (not sure we did that one to relieve the doldrums!), playing dominoes.

Well hang on, maybe not dominoes as in the true sense of the game, complete with the rules etc, but dominoes, as in sitting them on their edges one after another and creating a long line or a number of interconnected lines.

And then going through the constant psychological debate of whether to add another domino or to just stop where you were and get the fun underway by nudging that first domino.

After all this is the real reason for putting all the dominoes in the sequences that you have — the fun and excitement of creating any number of patterns, lines and roadmaps with your endless supply of dominoes.

You then have the pleasure of pushing the first domino so that hopefully the first will fall on to the second, onto the third and so on, until each and every domino has fallen through the pattern, up the hill, around the corner and in the order that you have so carefully put together so that finally the last domino falls at the end of your predetermined sequence.

If you have done your homework, if you have set your dominoes up in the correct way, if you have understood the flow of energy then hopefully, after you hit domino number one, sometime down the track, the last domino will fall.

Well, effective leadership is not dissimilar.

Sometimes the direct approach is not necessarily the best way to go. Sometimes there is not a direct route to take. Sometimes you will need or have a number of people or situations involved in the process to get the result you are looking for.

And it is at this time that you start to develop your sequence of influence based on the same principles you used when playing with the dominoes.

You realise your starting point and you know the end result you are looking for. Now what is needed is the carefully thought about, developed and implemented plan between the first step and the last.

This is what the sequence of influence is all about. You start the process and then you let the laws of perpetual motion and momentum take place. In the end, hopefully, the last domino falls (perhaps in your case the last conversation, interaction, or situation) and then you have the result you were looking for.

It sounds all too easy, but reality can be quite different. Just ask anyone who has spent the day setting up endless rows of dominoes.

You incorporate turns and bends into your sequence and the dominoes fall, but only until they get to the point where the turn or bend is too tight causing the falling domino to miss the next one in line and so causing the momentum, perpetual motion and the sequence to stop.

Likewise, if you make your inclines too steep, your flow of domino-induced energy has too high to climb and, once again, the momentum stops.

The exact same rules apply for your sequence of influence as a leader.

You need to take into consideration all aspects from the starting point of the sequence until the end result you have planned. Know the things that can and will have an influence on the sequence you are putting in place.

Know each and every obstacle the sequence will need to go over, under, around or through to get to the end of the sequence.

Know the outside influences that may or may not have an effect. And at the same time, always be on the safe side and build in contingencies so that if there are outside influences coming into the picture they will have minimal effect.

Know the energy level that is developed by the sequence and more importantly, know how that energy will continue to be produced and utilised. But also know where the energy needed to keep the momentum of the sequence flowing will come from, where will it be used, how much of it will be used and by whom.

And last but not least, as a leader do not use the sequence of influence as an easy alternative because of the limited involvement required of you. The sequence of influence is not an ‘easy’ alternative, but it is an alternative. It is however, an alternative that will require considerable levels of thinking, understanding, planning and execution.

The Sequence of Influence is a skill that you will find yourself (as a leader) being able to use every day in varying degrees and in a variety of situations. Know where and when to use it and why you should use it. Using it the right way will bring with it a great set of results; the wrong use of it will bring the complete opposite.

The Journey Continues.

Bill Nelson is an elite international sporting coach who has turned his knowledge of developing peak team and individual performance into a world-class corporate consultancy, Total Performance Concepts Pty Ltd.

Bill’s wisdom on the science of motivation, performance coaching and team building has been utilised by business organisations, defence forces, the real estate and telecommunications industries, educational institutions, local government, numerous businesses and elite sporting programs throughout the world.

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There is a fine line between a toy and a game. If you don’t think so, look inside the mind of a child and inside the following article. It may just change how you think about what exactly is a toy.

What’s the difference? To a little kid, probably not much. And with games that you only need one person to play, such as solitaire, the distinction can be a very fine one. How many of us have heard our mothers yell at us to “put our toys away” and what’s in front of use is a chess set that we used to play war with. Kids have wild imaginations. Has that chess set just become a toy?

In most cases there is a very big difference between what is a toy and what is a game, at least according to our adult minds. But in the hands of a child, either one can be, well, either one.

Dominoes is a great game for two people. There is quite a bit of strategy involved in putting out just the right piece so as to block your opponent from being able to do anything and thus forcing him to pick up a domino. But did you ever see those things in the hands of a small child who’s stringing them along the floor in what is turning into a maze of wonders. With the number of dominoes in a set, the number of different mazes that child can make is virtually without limit. So go and tell him that his bunch of dominoes are not toys.

Getting back to our chess example. We all know that a game of chess is one of the most complex games of thought ever created and it takes a superior mind to play well. But did you ever see a kid set up a chess board and start to move the two armies towards each other? As the pawns approach and get within striking distance you’re only seconds away from seeing pieces fly all over the place. And so see the knight get up on top of the castle (isn’t that what knights do)? and start firing arrows or swords at the opposing bishop is a sight to be seen. And then finally, to see the cat fight between the two queens as the kings stand by and watch is like watching the battle of the titans. Chess pieces can be great toys. And if you’ve got those new chess pieces that are designed after popular movie characters like Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings, well, who needs real toys?

Take a simple game of cards and it doesn’t matter which card game you choose. Did you ever see a kid start to fling those things around the room? They make great projectiles and if you’re not careful as an adult passing by, those cards can easily take out an eye. Not to mention the great card castles that you can make. Heck, we all do it. And don’t think they’re so easy. Kids seem to have a gift when it comes to that stuff.

The truth is, just about any game can be taken apart and turned into a toy. But for the sake of the remainder of articles in this series, we’re going to concentrate on toys that were not meant to be made into games.

Not to say they don’t ultimately end up as one.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Toys

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I wish raising kids came with a set of directions, bemoaned my friend, totally befuddled and full of self-doubt after her latest go-round with her son.

I contend that it wouldn’t matter. Parental guidance directions would be just like homework. People wouldn’t follow them, they’d lose them, the cat would pee on them, their baby cousin would eat them, they would not understand them, they’d break them, they’d make up their own or they’d say they tried them when they didn’t.

And why reinvent the wheel? Parenting wisdom can be found in the strangest of places, sometimes right in front of our noses like in the typical childhood games from yesteryear. While there are some great new games others like CSI Senses (since when is a crime scene fun?), Fact or Crap (that’s its REAL name), or Balderdash (practice how to lie convincingly) aren’t in the same league as some old standbys.

Take dominoes - the little black and white building blocks for common sense that no one plays anymore. Let me connect the dots for you.

Dominos string out a series of fun lessons about planning, predictability, and consequences. Playing with them can stimulate a young beginner, yet they have the versatility to challenge a mature mind as the complexity construction can be adjusted to fit the developmental stage of the individual.

Predictability is learned from setting things in motion. One flick of a finger and the fruit of your labor plays out before your eyes. The builder can see clearly what their hard work made possible, and how fragile it is as their younger sibling stomps in the room and sets everything into motion prematurely. (Just count the lessons in self-control and anger management waiting to be tapped into!)

More importantly, dominoes demonstrate that once you set something in motion, there is no turning back. Just think of all the trouble certain young pop stars could have saved themselves if they had just spent more time playing dominoes than making music videos featuring their backsides in motion.

Children can learn skills like getting along with others, planning, strategy, the value of practice, and creative problem solving from games like Pick Up Sticks, Apples to Apples, Tiddly Winks, Checkers, Jacks, Yatzee, Bingo, Scrabble, or Monopoly with you. Basic math skills are also reinforced when keeping score, and heaven knows it’s a lot easier to keep score when you can put two and two together.

(Now if my friend’s had played games he would have known that if you run the car out of gas miles away from home during the wee hours of the morning, it would be a cold day in hell before he’d be behind the wheel without getting grilled about what direction he’s headed and if he had enough gas to pass go.)

And lastly, don’t forget that playing games provides plenty of opportunities for learning to become a graceful winner and/or loser.

And with any luck, the kids will learn this too.

Mary Fagan has an M.S. in Education and is the mother of three children with the gray hairs to prove it. When not playing around, she offers lighthearted parenting humor at http://www.motherwise.us

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A well-chosen game can be a learning experience … for an adult as well as a child. After all, don’t you learn something every time you play a game like Trivial Pursuit? That may not be your intention when playing the game, but it’s a by-product nonetheless.

And so a well-chosen child’s game can also cause children to learn. But tell them they’re going to learn something, and they’ll likely rebel. After all, that’s human nature … I want to play, not learn!

For each of the past few years, I have given my mom one or more games for a Christmas gift. The games were not really for her — they were for the grandkids. Since they spend a lot of time at her house, they might as well have some fun games to play also. And if a game can be educational, so be it.

Math is such an easy subject to “teach” in a game … whether it’s learning to make change as the banker in Monopoly, or whether it is just adding up or coordinating the dots on dice or dominoes, it’s amazing how much math you can learn in a game. Games that encourage spelling or word creation are also great learning experiences.

Simply get a game, play it with the children, and see how excited they can get about learning. Last year’s favorite in our family was Pass the Pigs. Other hits for young school-age kids have been Bunco, Syzygy, and Countdown.

Why not see what fun educational games you can find to give as Christmas gifts this year. Of course, educational games don’t only have to be for the kids.

For more great Christmas gift ideas, visit http://www.A-Gift-From-The-Heart.com and check out our special section at http://www.christmas-gift-ideas.a-gift-from-the-heart.com

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What is your opinion of math? Math, you say? What do I care about math? I had to take it in school, but I am beyond that now. Math no longer applies to my life. On the other side of the coin, there are those that find math to be exciting, exhilarating, and the time of their lives. It does apply to their lives and they can’t wait to use it. This second opinion, however, is the minority. Most people find that math is work. It is confusing, complicated and totally unnecessary. Is this you? The problem with this kind of thinking is that it isn’t true. Math is necessary, from the simplest addition and subtraction to more difficult geometry and physics. Math applies to life and we cannot live without it.

So, with that established, where do we go from here? If math is dull, boring and tedious, how can it matter? Well, the truth is, it doesn’t have to be. Math can be fun, exciting and something to look forward to. How? How can math possibly be fun? Well, have you ever played a game? Sure, you have. Was it fun? Of course it was. Would you ever like to play another game again? If the answer is, “Yes”, then I have hope for you when it comes to math. There are games out there that are just as much fun and teach you all you need to know to succeed in math. Have you ever played Dominoes or Hangman? Have you ever played cards or board games? I know a way to adapt these well-known games to math, and I know a great many more games that do the same thing. You will find yourself having so much fun that you will wonder where the time has gone.

For games that not only will teach you to succeed in math, but will have you having so much fun that you don’t even realize that you are learning, go to:

dedicated wife and mother of four; Bachelor of Business Adminstration

http://www.fungamesandmath.blogspot.com/

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Hours and hours of painstaking work have led to this moment. The clock counts down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Zero! For the next minute, the small rectangular tiles fall, one after the other, in what appear to be hand-crafted portraits of animals, people, nature, and even company logos. In just a minute, it’s over. It’s all gone. But it was quite a ride!

You’ve probably seen a few online dominoes videos of international events like the Netherlands’ annual Domino Day in which thousands or even millions of dominoes are arranged for a few-minute display. However, dominoes are more than just the tools in a spectacular show. The dominoes game has a history that stretches back nearly nine hundred years!

So you don’t have the patience or skill to set up some picture with domino tiles. You like card games, right? What about chess or checkers? Why not learn dominoes rules and play the dominoes game like it was designed?

The dominoes game is immensely popular around the world. In the Latin Americas, dominoes are more popular than Poker. In China, the dominoes game and its derivative Mah Jong are as steeped in Chinese culture as football is the US. It’s only in the United States that the dominoes game hasn’t gotten the spotlight it deserves.

If you can play a card game, you can play a dominoes game. You just need to familiarize yourself with the dominoes rules. The most common dominoes game, Double Six, is played with a set of 28 tiles, which are called “bones” in the dominoes game, marked on two ends with a number of dots, or “pips,” from zero to six.

What are the dominoes rules of play? Two to four players draw six domino bones from the draw pile and keep them from view. The player with the highest double-numbered domino bone puts down that bone first (the double-six is the highest). If no player has a double-numbered bone, the tiles are reshuffled and drawn again.

The next player must play a domino bone with a number that matches that double-numbered tile. He or she should place the second bone perpendicularly to the first. If at any point in the game the player does not have a numbered tile that matches, he or she must draw more bones from the leftover pile until he or she can play. When there are no more bones to draw, the player must knock on the table and pass play to the next player.

Dominoes rules dictate that the design on the played dominoes may stretch out in any direction, but matching numbered tiles must always be placed end to end-except for double-numbered tiles, which are placed perpendicularly to a tile, and when a table runs out of room, in which case a right angle to continue the line is acceptable.

The player to run out of tiles and to call out “Domino!” first wins. Depending on how you want to play, you can keep score over multiple games by adding up the total number of pips left on the bones still in the other player(s)’s hand(s) and awarding that amount to the winner of the game. The first player to earn a predetermined amount of points wins the match.

If you can’t find someone to play the dominoes game with you or you want to get started right now without having to run out and buy a dominoes set, why not play your dominoes games online?

There aren’t many dominoes games online and the few there are seem to either charge you to play or suffer from horribly stale graphic design. To play a free online dominoes game that actually makes you feel like you’re playing a fun yet serious game, try www.dominomatch.com.

Sign up for an avatar and see your online persona play free online dominoes games on a 3D table view. DominoMatch.com lets you practice your new knowledge of the dominoes rules against one to three computer opponent(s) until you get the hang of the dominoes game. Once you win a few rounds, play against one, two, or three other online dominoes player(s) from around the world!

When your boss isn’t looking, you might sneak in a few online puzzle games during the weekday, like Solitaire or Tetris. If you’re not fired by now or you really do have the free time to spare, you can add dominoes games online to your online puzzle game rotation!

For more resources about dominoes rules or even about dominos games online please review this website http://www.dominomatch.com

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