CHAPTER 5
The Domino Effect
Dominoes aren’t just for playing at your kitchen table. The people behind these top toy achievements have toppled them underwater, built a gigantic wall with them, and gathered by the thousands to play with them! You’ll also read about a few records inspired by dominoes, which have taken toppling to a whole other level.
DA BOMB
After painstakingly lining up 54,321 dominoes at the Wilhelm-Lückert-Gymnasium in Büdingen, Germany, on August 16, 2014, what did the stackers do? Push them down again! But all the hard work was worth it, as Sinners Domino Entertainment of Germany picked up the Guinness World Records title for most dominoes toppled in a circle bomb!
ULTIMATE FACT:
The earliest dominoes evolved from dice games, with the tiles representing all possible outcomes from a roll of two dice.
NOW THAT’S ALL WET!
Did you ever wonder if you could stack dominoes underwater? Well, wonder no more! Sinners Domino Entertainment also achieved the most dominoes toppled underwater by a team on August 16, 2014, with 10,489 dominoes toppled in a shallow pool at the Wilhelm-Lückert-Gymnasium (above).
Four days earlier, on August 12, they claimed the title for most dominoes stacked on a single piece—1,055! The free-standing tower stayed upright for nearly one and a half hours.
IT TAKES TWO
Americans Brittany Bova and Markey Munive were all business on May 23, 2015. That was the day the duo set a new record for fastest time to stack a set of dominoes. They completed the task in an incredible 20.78 seconds at the Guinness World Records Museum in Hollywood, California.
STACKING THEM UP
Multi-record-breaker Silvio Sabba of Italy did what he does best on April 28, 2013, by adding another Guinness World Records title to his collection! He piled up 48 dominoes in a half minute, the most dominoes stacked in 30 seconds, in Pioltello, Milan, Italy. This beat his own previous personal best by . . . one domino! He also holds the record for most dominoes stacked in 30 seconds using chopsticks: 40 dominoes.
DOMINOES DOWN
On May 10, 2013, Japan’s Team Shuzo achieved the most dominoes toppled in one minute by eight people. At a Sinfonia Technology Co., Ltd. team-building event, held in Ise, Mie, Japan, 260 dominoes were knocked down. You might say they fell like . . . dominoes.
WONDER WALL
The longest domino wall stretched a staggering 98 feet, 5 inches long and consisted of 31,405 dominoes. It was erected and toppled by the pro domino society Sinners Domino Entertainment at the Wilhelm-Lückert-Gymnasium in Büdingen, Germany, on July 6, 2012.
DOMINO DOMINATION
The most people playing dominoes simultaneously is 3,344 at an event organized by Luis Alberto Ramirez Feliz of the Dominican Republic. The domino jamboree was held in the Caribbean island’s capital city, Santo Domingo, on January 22, 2012.
TAKE THE PLUNGE
The Del Mar Dive Club sure knows how to make a splash. They achieved the most people playing dominoes underwater, getting 60 players to don their swimwear at the diving center in Wigston, Leicestershire, UK, on August 27, 2013. The attempt consisted of 15 games of dominoes, each being played by four divers.
DISC DOMINOES
Taking three days to set up, the most disc cases toppled like dominoes is 5,969, achieved by German Tim Weißker, at Dientzenhofer-Gymnasium in Bamberg, Germany, on September 12, 2011. This bettered his previous record by 969 cases!
STACKING BOOKS
The Sinners Domino Entertainment team struck once again at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 14, 2015. The dedicated domino masters successfully set up and knocked over 10,200 copies of Guinness World Records 2016 to take the record for most books toppled in a domino fashion.
ULTIMATE FACT:
A standard “double-six” domino set consists of 28 tiles, but much rarer “double-21” sets have a staggering 253 tiles!