Dominoes
Dominoes come in various shapes, sizes, and color schemes. While most brands are focused on providing playing sets for the corresponding tile-based game, several vendors have also specialized in the production of dominoes in an attempt to optimize material properties for toppling. Typically, these dominoes only have a single solid color per piece and do not feature the classic dots or other color patterns. To provide you with some advice for the next expansion of your inventory, this page lists some of the most common brands along with my personal experiences regarding their individual advantages and disadvantages for building toppling projects. Please note that while vendors occasionally send me free samples for reviewing, I am not affiliated with any of these companies and do not receive money for expressing a certain opinion on this page.
Maria Lamping
Maria Lamping is a private person based in Germany who owns a machine for producing plastic dominoes. Similar to the ones seen in the TV show Domino Day, the pieces are 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) in size, have a weight of around 8 grams (0.28 oz) each, and are available in a wide range of colors. She has been the only supplier of this type of dominoes for quite some time in the early 2010s, and her dominoes are still the most widely used by both individual domino builders as well as large domino teams. As prices and color availability have changed frequently over the years, it is best to contact her directly via e-mail at maria-lamping@web.de to retrieve the lastest information if you are interested in buying some of them.
Advantages: The widespread use of these dominoes in small and large toppling projects over the years confirms their suitability for building all types of lines, fields, and structures. They are available in many colors, and their small price compared to other brands make them easily affordable even in larger numbers.
Disadvantages: Several domino builders including myself have observed that the quality of freshly-ordered dominoes seems to have degraded over time. In particular, it has become quite common that a considerable number of dominoes had to be discarded because of rough edges, round corners, or multiple dominoes sticking together. Additionally, the unavailability of a webshop makes the ordering process more complex compared to other brands.
Don Domino
Don Domino is a Belgian brand that started producing and selling dominoes in 2020. Their overall goal is to provide plastic dominoes for the European market in the Domino Day-inspired size of 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) with a weight of around 8g (0.28 oz) per piece while improving on the drawbacks of other similar brands. There are over 20 individual colors to choose from, which are also available as mixtures with respect to particular color themes if you are undecided. Orders can be placed in a webshop accessible at www.dondomino.eu.
Advantages: The dominoes are smoother and more consistent than the ones from Maria Lamping and do not come with a logo such as Mr. Domino, Bulk Dominoes, or H5 Domino Creations. They are perfectly suitable for building all different types of lines, fields, and structures.
Disadvantages: It is difficult to single out a disadvantage here, but of course, the price of these dominoes is higher as compared to Maria Lamping. Nevertheless, they are still in a comparable price range to the other brands.
Mr. Domino
After completing several successful world record attempts, the Dutch company behind the TV show Domino Day around lead organizer Robin Paul Weijers introduced their own brand of plastic dominoes in 2009 called Mr. Domino. While having the same size of 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) and weight of around 8g (0.28 oz) than the pieces used in the real world records, these dominoes each come with a debossed logo of the company for identification. However, the webshop www.dominowebshop.com also sells pieces without this logo that were previously used in the actual world record projects.
Advantages: The dominoes are smoother and more consistent than the ones from Maria Lamping and are well-suited for building lines and fields. The option of acquiring used dominoes without the logo from real world record attempts is tempting for any fan of the Domino Day shows on television.
Disadvantages: The debossed Mr. Domino logo on every single piece is considered disturbing by many builders and leads to unexpected light reflections when viewed from different angles. In addition, the resulting slightly unequal weight distribution makes these dominoes more risky to use for larger stacking structures. Therefore, it seems best to choose the previously used dominoes without the logo as long as they are still available. However, these only come in random rather than selectable colors.
Bulk Dominoes
Bulk Dominoes is a company based in the USA that offers one of the broadest product palettes on the market. The standard plastic dominoes have the Domino Day-inspired size of 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) with a weight of around 8g (0.28 oz) per piece and are available in a large variety of opaque and translucent colors. Other domino sizes are available as well, where the smallest size of 1.0 x 0.5 x 0.2 cm (0.39 x 0.20 x 0.08 in) and a weight of 0.09g (0.003 oz) per piece is even eligible for breaking the world record for the most mini dominoes toppled. Moreover, they offer a large variety of specialized dominoes and accessories like LED-dominoes, bridges, building templates, a guide book, and an application for building dominoes in virtual reality. Bulk Dominoes can be ordered in the corresponding webshop accessible at www.bulkdominoes.com.
Advantages: The dominoes are smoother and more consistent than the ones from Maria Lamping. They are perfectly suitable for building all different types of lines, fields, and structures. The number of different sizes, colors, accessories, special effects, and merchandise is impressive.
Disadvantages: The standard dominoes come with a debossed logo of the company for identification, which leads to unexpected light reflections when viewed from different angles. However, the logo is more subtle compared to Mr. Domino and H5 Domino Creations. Regarding accessories, their visual appearance using colorful plastic pieces seems a bit less professional than the ones of H5 Domino Creations.
H5 Domino Creations
H5 Domino Creations is an American domino brand from the toy company Spin Master Games in cooperation with Lily Hevesh, who became known as a domino builder on her YouTube channel Hevesh5. The dominoes come in the Domino Day-inspired size of 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) with a weight of around 8g (0.28 oz) per piece and each have a shining H5 logo on them. Additionally, they come with some basic accessories like bridges, field starters, a building template, and tutorials for domino building by Lily herself. More information as well as retailers of H5 Domino Creations are listed on www.hevesh5.com.
Advantages: The dominoes are more consistent than the ones from Maria Lamping and are well-suited for building all different types of lines, fields, and structures. Moreover, the dominoes have a slightly rough surface for an improved grip, and the accompanying accessories are visually the most professional compared to the other brands.
Disadvantages: The shining H5 logo on every single piece leads to unexpected light reflections when viewed from different angles. Moreover, the limited number of colors is too constraining for more complex projects.
The Domino
The Domino is a German domino brand created by domino fan and builder Andreas Braun, who started his own production in 2022. The dominoes come in the Domino Day-inspired size of 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.75 cm (1.89 x 0.94 x 0.3 in) with a weight of around 8g (0.28 oz) per piece and are debossed with the company’s domain name. An overview of the available colors as well as basic accessories can be found on www.thedomino.de.
Advantages: The dominoes are smoother and more consistent than the ones from Maria Lamping and are well-suited for building all different types of lines, fields, and structures.
Disadvantages: The debossed domain name on every single piece leads to unexpected light reflections when viewed from different angles. However, it is more subtle than the logos of Mr. Domino and H5 Domino Creations.
Domino Express / Domino Run
Domino Express (see picture) and Domino Run are brands produced by the German toy companies Goliath Toys and Noris Spiele, respectively. Both types of plastic dominoes are smaller and lighter than the ones typcially used in professional toppling projects, but most domino builders started with exactly one of these brands due to their easy availability in department stores. Dominoes are available in some primary colors and can also be bought in combination with tailored accessories like automated building machines, bridges, ramps, and special effects.
Advantages: The easy availability of dominoes and additional materials in department stores makes them especially suitable for beginners trying to find out if domino toppling is fun for them.
Disadvantages: The light weight of the dominoes introduces additional risks of falling too early or falling in unexpected directions, and the limited number of colors is too constraining for more complex projects.
PESTAS
PESTAS is an Austrian brand selling wooden dominoes that were produced with sustainability, fairness, and safety in mind. They are especially targeted at children and come in four primary colors applied only to the front and back faces while the sides retain the original color of the wooden material. With a size of 4.8 x 3.2 x 0.8 cm (1.89 x 1.26 x 0.31 in), they are a bit wider than the ones inspired by the TV show Domino Day. PESTAS can be ordered in a webshop accessible at www.pestas.com.
Advantages: The sustainable production chain and the use of ecologically friendly materials is a benefit over many other domino brands. The wooden surface offers a good grip, which makes the dominoes convenient to work with also for stacking structures.
Disadvantages: The lack of color on the sides makes it more difficult to create the impression of an image when building domino fields. Moreover, the limited number of colors is too constraining for more complex projects.
