Photo Dominoes

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About Photo Dominoes

Welcome to one of the most creative groups in Flickr.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY BEFORE STARTING TO PLAY

Photo Domino Rules in Portuguese

Dominoes (or "dominos") generally refers to the individual or collective gaming pieces making up a domino set (sometimes called a deck or pack) or to the games played with these pieces. (Wikipedia)

Have you ever come across a photo and thought: "this one reminds me of..."
Photo Dominoes is the place where this chain of thoughts can be stiched into many, potentially endless, streams of pictures, each one linked to the previous by means of... well, whatever you think is the common denominator, the invisible line that makes one photo related to the next in the sequence.

It could be a character of an imaginary plot jumping from one picture to the other, or the same object captured within different contexts, or a pattern repeting itself into different views, or a visual idea flowing through a sequence of images.

"Photo Dominoes" is not a theme-based group. It is the attempt to create visual stories, letting the reader discover the link and maybe find the next in the sequence.

How to insert an image: To embed a video or photo in a comment or group discussion, all you have to do is put the URL to the video or photo page in [square brackets]. "

So to post a photo, go to that photo's main page, then copy the URL address (INCLUDING thehttp://www) from the address bar at the top of your browser. Then go to the domino you are playing it into, and post the URL in [square brackets]. It automatically posts in the small size, perfect for this game. No more clicking through the "All Sizes" pages! If you are posting someone else's photo, please include their Flickr name with near the photos in your post, we like to see the names in the threads.

Rules of the game

1. DO NOT OPEN new dominoes when there are still 10 open (not including special ones). You may only open a new domino when there are 9 or fewer active/working dominoes open. It makes the whole game more manageable, because working dominoes will not become buried deep down in the discussions list. Photos that have been previously played in another domino may not be used to open a new domino.

Once you have made the opening move in a new domino, please do not (personally) start another one again until at least 10 more new threads have followed. Everyone likes to start a new domino at some point, so if you've already opened quite a few, please give others a chance.

2. Each domino can have a maximum of 50 photos. When you make your move please add the move # underneath. Double check the numbers above you before numbering, and if a correction is required, please do feel free to help keep things accurate by correctly numbering your move.

3. Photos must be taken from one's own photostream and players should not post two images of their own one after the other. This will assure a context jump.

4. Each player can post a maximum of 4 photos in the same domino, not including the one starting the domino.

5. Photos may be placed in the photo pool only when they are also used as the FIRST domino in a new thread.

6. Avoid posting more than 3 pictures in a row with the same subject (three cats, three dogs, three flowers, three landscapes...) It makes the game far more interesting and astonishing.

7. Please do not use any images repeatedly in the dominoes. Once you've played a photo in a domino, and tagged it as such, you will always be able to tell that you've already used that photo in another thread. We like to avoid overexposing the same pictures within the group and leave room for more creativity. If a LOT of time has passed, say at least 100 threads and an image is repeated, we are not going to mind. But certainly do not post them in concurrently running threads, or in threads that are not far apart from each other numerically.

8. Use two specific tags for each photo belonging to a domino. Tag them with "photodomino" and with "photodomino-NNN", being NNN the number of the domino the photo belongs to.

9. Use specific threads for posting:
- Generic Comments (post in the Running Commentary thread)
- Transitions you liked and want to show to the rest of the group (post in the Best Transitions thread)
- Questions about Unclear Transitions (post in the Unclear Transitions thread)

Special Dominoes

A number of variations to the basic Photo Dominoes idea have also been created and are currently running. They are called Special Dominoes, with a special set of rules each.

Ready to start? Please hold on a second and keep reading. Here you can find some useful suggestions on how to play.
When you've done with your first move please leave a message in this thread to greet the group and introduce yourself.

How to start a new domino

If you want to start a new domino please post the starting picture (a new photo, never used in a domino before) in the pool and start a new discussion thread with the title "PhotoDomino #NNN", being NNN the first number available in the collection of dominoes.
Then insert your picture in the small version as the message body.
Subsequent players will reply to that message posting their pictures in the discussion thread, so forming the domino stream.

How to make a move into an existing domino

If you want to continue an existing domino you don't need to post your picture in the group's pool. If you do it the picture will be removed because the pool is reserved only to the starting pictures of each domino.
IMPORTANT: always click the PREVIEW BUTTON before posting in order to check that no one else already made a move before you in the sequence. If it happened please check that the photo you're posting still links to the previous one, otherwise choose a better one.

How to choose the right photo for a new move

A link between two photos is ideally intended to go beyond the subject matter, maybe taking a specific feature of the photo, an object or an action, or looking for similarities that can be found at a higher level of abstract shape.
But sometimes it could be weaker, easier if you like, strictly depending on the context in the previous photo.
We can measure the difference in terms of speed of flow, namely how fast the context switching is performed.

The following connections show a smooth change of context:



...but the presence of the duck suggested a faster switch...



...that was the prologue of an amazing jump soon afterwards...



So, the flow could go smoother, maybe also working on the chromatic changes to go from picture to picture, or it could go faster, dramaticaly jumping into a new context and changing the way a domino is developing.
That's the power of Photo Dominoes!

A fun way to finish a domino is to post a 50th photo that is related to the 49th, of course, but is also related to the very first photo. We call this "circling" the domino -- the final move refers back to the first move, hence creating a circle. Although circling is by no means obligatory, some players enjoy the challenge of selecting moves #47, 48, and 49 appropriately to guide the domino towards a circle. Look at the ":-)" at the end, showing the joy of players who did it!

And please do stop by the Photo Domino Cafe thread to introduce yourself and meet other players!

Let's play!

Awards

- 2005 award for excellence in groups with under 200 members