Go inside ‘Domino Masters,’ where ‘one wrong move’ means disaster

DeMond Nason found domino artwork after getting his coronary heart damaged.

“I used to be going by YouTube clips looking for one thing to consolation a damaged soul,” recalled Nason, a San Diego native now primarily based in Brooklyn, N.Y. “I got here throughout these domino drops and there was one thing simply so tranquil about them.”

After expressing his curiosity in attempting dominoes himself on social media, a buddy and veteran domino artist reached out to ask Nason to affix him.

“There’s an exquisite launch to the artwork kind that’s an enormous pull for me,” stated Nason, who has expertise performing in Broadway nationwide excursions and off-Broadway reveals. “A part of [domino] artwork is the autumn, that’s what I like about it. You’re constructing one thing, and then you definitely [topple] it over and you progress to your subsequent canvas. … I actually use the artwork as a type of psychological well being, as a type of meditating and releasing the stress.”

Now, nonetheless, Nason is including the stress of competitors to his dominoes — he’s among the many domino artists vying for the highest prize in Fox’s “Domino Masters,” a actuality competitors collection premiering Wednesday. Hosted by “Fashionable Household” alum Eric Stonestreet, the present will see 16 groups of three compete in a event for an $100,000 money prize in addition to the title of Domino Masters.

Much like different artistic competitions, every week 4 groups will probably be introduced with a theme and given a set time to finish their domino builds. Their aim is to make use of the 16 hours to assemble an enormous piece to impress the panel of judges, comprised of actor and mathematician Danica McKellar, former NFL participant and artwork fanatic Vernon Davis {and professional} domino and chain response artist Steve Value.

However not like most different artwork kinds which are proven in competitors reveals, dominoes are kinetic. The artwork is not only within the accomplished buildings which are constructed, but in addition in the best way they topple, or the sequence because the bricks tumble down.

“The distinction between dominoes from some other constructing pastime is that ultimately, it strikes,” stated Michael Fantauzzo, who’s competing on the present along with his cousin Matt VanVleck and buddy Doug Pieschel as group Again Breakers. “It does one thing utterly by itself, relying each on physics and artistry, to make one thing that’s actually distinctive. There’s simply nothing that’s fairly prefer it.”

Each the artistic prospects and the fun of a profitable topple are among the many signature parts of the medium that appeals to those domino artists.

“I like the concept this artwork isn’t a nonetheless body,” stated Emma Renner, a techniques engineer who’s a part of group Brains and Brawn. “The artwork is within the full journey and means of it. The artwork begins whenever you put that first domino down, after which each domino — typically it’s 50, typically it’s a whole lot, typically it’s tens of hundreds of dominoes you’re placing down for one mission — each domino is purposeful.”

These greater domino tasks are greater than only a lengthy line of single-row bricks tumbling over. Advanced domino tasks, like these showcased within the competitors, incorporate methods like domino fields and partitions — that are two-dimensional domino planes created by aligning bricks horizontally on the bottom or stacking them vertically, respectively — in addition to 3-D buildings constructed from dominoes and different artistic chain response tips.

“Each domino artist has a distinct model,” stated Scott Suko, a veteran domino artist competing with a group named the OG Topplers. “Some individuals love to do stunning painting-like patterns on the ground. Different individuals love to do extra Rube Goldberg parts.”

Suko, who first turned fascinated by domino artwork after watching a world record-breaking domino topple in 1979, considers himself “an old-school domino toppler” who often makes use of principally picket dominoes in his tasks. (Dominoes made out of different supplies like plastic are extra generally favored by newer domino artists.)

“I like to attach them to basic picket toys,” stated Suko, whose buddy and teammate, Paul Nelson, is the domino artist that invited Nason to his first topple. “I work all kinds of toys and video games into [pieces] and make them transfer below the management of the dominoes. … I actually just like the forwards and backwards between dominoes falling, previous basic picket toy transferring, dominoes going up staircases, one thing sliding down a zipline, dominoes launching balloons. It’s only one factor after one other. It makes it type of goofy and enjoyable working these sorts of issues into it.”

Along with totally different tips and methods, nonetheless, the judges on the present are searching for tales instructed by every group’s topples.

“Storytelling was a factor actually pushed by the judges,” stated Renner. “Not solely when it’s simply standing, when your creation is finished earlier than you’ve toppled it, does it must be a narrative, however because it’s falling, the topple of it ought to add extra parts to the story. The sequence must be a narrative.”

“What’s so nice about dominos is you actually have a by line,” stated Nason. “There’s at all times a starting, a center and finish. … The dominoes don’t simply drop in a single massive fall. It’s on a path. You’re capable of create these great tales by the traces of the dominoes.”

On high of the storytelling parts, resident domino and chain response skilled Value stated as a choose he “was there to be sure that [the teams] challenged themselves” through the use of harder methods.

“I used to be searching for the number of several types of domino and chain response methods used, the number of totally different sizes,” stated Value. He additionally was looking out “for actually good mixtures of chain response tips that have been immediately integrated into the domino methods [and] how effectively [the teams] can mash the 2 worlds collectively.”

A domino novice, for instance, may very well be equally impressed by the pixel artwork of an enormous domino subject as by a construction constructed vertically. However as Value defined, “Regardless that it might include fewer dominoes whole, it’s far more tough to construct as a result of with 3-D buildings, if you happen to make one mistaken transfer, the entire thing will fall.”

Value was additionally searching for ways in which groups might have gotten totally different objects to behave in stunning methods.

A sports-themed domino construct from an episode of “Domino Masters.”

(Ray Mickshaw / Fox)

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Fantauzzo, who first turned fascinated by dominoes when he was 12, can also be drawn to the totally different actions that may be created within the topples.

“Even if you happen to create tons of various photos, tons of different-looking buildings, they’re often going to fall down the identical means,” stated Fantauzzo. “However if you happen to’re intelligent sufficient along with your dominoes, you can also make them fall in insane patterns. You [can] have a circle of buildings, after which all of them fall inward at the very same time. That creates a really satisfying movement for me.”

Fantauzzo additionally enjoys crossover fields, during which the artwork is revealed when the piece’s rows fall in alternating instructions.

Dominoes are a fragile medium, and though skilled domino artists have examined varied reactions and are conversant in totally different design rules and greatest practices, a very profitable topple shouldn’t be assured.

As a result of the groups are constructing in shut quarters, “when somebody’s [project] by chance topples, it impacts everybody within the room,” stated Renner. “It’s terrible. In case you’re testing one thing and it’s going to sound like a bunch of dominoes falling, it’s important to yell ‘check’ to everybody so in the event that they hear that noise they don’t routinely freak out and mess up what they’re doing.”

Failures and accidents are a part of the training course of for artists like Fantauzzo.

“I movie the whole lot,” stated Fantauzzo. “I can look again on the state of affairs and see ‘OK, why didn’t this work?’ … Being attentive to these fails has made me a greater domino artist.”

Even when issues don’t go as deliberate, “It’s simply dominoes,” harassed Nason. “The cool factor is that we now have extra dominoes. We will rebuild it.”