Tips on Building Letters and Numbers in Domino Fields

First of all, there a few different ways to make letters/numbers in domino fields: uppercase, lowercase, bubble letters, and block letters. Personally, I think it looks best when every letter is uppercase. Either stick to all caps or all lowercase. Don't throw in random uppercase letters in the middle of a word, when the rest are lowercase...and vice versa. (With the exception of the first letter.) That just won't look good and makes it harder to read.

Now, when you look at text on a computer, every part of a letter is on a line. In the picture below, the red lines are the top and bottom of a letter, the yellow is the middle line (example: for an "e" or "s"), and the green line is a lower line for the g, j, p, y, etc. Since there is a middle line, you have to make the the number of rows of dominoes an odd number. I recommend having at least 5 rows. Any less makes it pretty difficult to read. One row would be for the middle line, and 2 rows above and below. (7 rows = 3 above/below the middle line, 9 rows = 4 above/below the middle line, etc.) This makes every letter even and look like text from a computer. If the letter you are going to build goes through the middle line, make sure you build that on the middle row of your field.

Not only do you want the length of each letter to be even, but the width too. The width of each letter can be any amount of dominoes. However, if you are building lower case letters, I recommend building it so it makes sort of a square like the picture below. Remember how I said you should have at least 5 rows? Well, the square should be the 5 rows. This is so you can build a lowercase "e" for example, because that letter goes through the middle line. (One line for the top, then a space, middle line, space, and bottom line = 5 rows.) 

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For uppercase letters, just build the width until it looks right. (Not too skinny, not too wide...) It shouldn't make a square; otherwise it would look too wide. (Unless you want it to look like that. These are just my tips. Make your letters however you want ;)

To make block letters, there has to be a domino in every corner of the square. To make bubble letters, simply take out some of the corners. 

"o" in block letters

"o" in bubble letters

If you want to build cursive, fancy font, or any other lettering that isn't "basic", I would just plan it out on Timdomino's field planner. 

Another tip is to have a border around the word. When a field falls, sometimes the last line that topples will fall sideways and mess up the bottom of a letter. This usually happens there are no gaps between each row. Adding an extra line above and below the field will prevent that. It also looks nice with a border. If you have a slippery floor, the last few dominoes of each line will spread out when they are knocked down. You don't want a letter to be at the very end (or beginning), so add about 2 dominoes to the start and end of each line.

Field by Tardz13

The way I build numbers/letters: Most of the time I never plan words or numbers. (Unless I'm using a cross technique.) In those cases, I don't use a domino template/comb either. I like to build one letter at a time using just a ruler. Each domino is spaced about a domino width apart like the "o" pictures above. Using a template would mean planning beforehand where each letter will end, since I would be building all the letters at once. If you build using a ruler, you really have to think, "Okay, am I going to make it a capital letter or lowercase? Bubble letters or block letters? How does the beginning of this letter start sideways? How many dominoes should each letter be across? Is each domino spaced evenly?" It's all your decision. The width of some letters, such as w, m, or l, may vary, but most of them should be the same amount across. 

For letters that reach the lower line (like "g"), you can always tape the column of dominoes before the letter to make a field starter. *These fields have not been uploaded yet* - Sneak peak!

If it's hard for you to predict where a domino should go, I would stick with planning it on graph paper or TimDomino's field planner and using a comb/template. Here's the alphabet/numbers in 5 rows that I made on TimDomino's Field planner. (Click the picture to enlarge.) I've probably only used this once though because I don't like field plans :P

Spaces between each row: (This only applies if you are using a domino template/comb. There are no spaces between each row if you use the ruler technique.) It's always important to leave a space between each row of dominoes. In case you accidentally knock down a line, it won't topple the entire field. How big should the space be? Well, I've seen builders make the space a millimeter to a domino thick. I make the space a little bit less than a domino thick, just to be safe more than one line won't fall.

So there you go. Those are my tips on building letters/numbers. Not sure if it made any sense, but hope it helped! You don't have to follow this exactly...make each letter how you want, you're the builder. If you have any questions, just ask! Also, a comment would be much appreciated :) Have fun building domino fields!

Famous YouTubers in Dominoes (Part 1) should be uploaded this week! :D

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