No, not a typo. I just couldn't find any earlier (written) evidence. I would imagine there must be some ... but where? You may remember the game from the early 1960s but I don't remember it from my childhood (the 1950s). Was I just deprived by not being allowed dominoes to play with?
P.S. In trying to find the Tissandier reference online I stumbled across a Tom Tit illustration for sale at https://www.oldiesbutgoldies.paris/product-page/illustration-sur-les-cartes-%C3%A0-jouer . And that reminded me in turn of the domino structures in one of the Tissandier or Tom Tit books. Possibly also in Kolumbus-Eier / Columbus Egg - now I'm starting to get confused. Will have to check...
Don't forget "Jeux et jouets du jeune âge" (1884) by Gaston Tissandier (I know you have
a page on it), which shows (p. 29) a line of Capucin monks made from cards and lined up and starting to fall over. The text on p. 28 says "Les capucins de cartes sont alignés à la queue leu-leu. Si vous poussez le premier de la rangée, ils tombent tous à la file (n° 10)." I had to look up "leu-leu" - apparently it just means "in a line" or "one after another". The same page also shows a card castle.
You may have noticed that I referred to playing card toppling 'in this pure form' ... thus leaving the door open for my next blog post ... which will be about Capucins ... I am not sure I know about Kolumbus-Eier ... in fact I'm sure I don't. Maybe we should finish this discussion by email ...
Sorry, I’ve got the bit between my teeth now! Hull Daily Mail, Saturday 15th March 1919, a rather grisly article describing how 220 German rioters had been machine-gunned and had “fell like dominoes”
On a roll indeed ... or perhaps a topple. I've done some quick research of my own today and the earliest reference I can find is from 1891 - see here. I guess I need to rewrite my introduction to this piece now ...
Are you serious about domino toppling not being recorded before 1976? I agree that videos of really complicated runs have not been around for very long, but the simple game of making a long row and toppling them was certainly something I had done as a child (early 60's), and I certainly didn't feel that I had invented it! Or is it a misprint and you meant 1876?
As evidence, consider the Wikipedia article on "Domino Theory" - the Cold-War era idea that if one country fell to the Communists, then their neighbours would follow swiftly:
"U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory during a news conference on April 7, 1954, when referring to communism in Indochina as follows:
Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."
So it's clear that setting up a row of dominoes was a familiar pasttime in the early 1950's.
No, not a typo. I just couldn't find any earlier (written) evidence. I would imagine there must be some ... but where? You may remember the game from the early 1960s but I don't remember it from my childhood (the 1950s). Was I just deprived by not being allowed dominoes to play with?
P.S. In trying to find the Tissandier reference online I stumbled across a Tom Tit illustration for sale at https://www.oldiesbutgoldies.paris/product-page/illustration-sur-les-cartes-%C3%A0-jouer . And that reminded me in turn of the domino structures in one of the Tissandier or Tom Tit books. Possibly also in Kolumbus-Eier / Columbus Egg - now I'm starting to get confused. Will have to check...
Don't forget "Jeux et jouets du jeune âge" (1884) by Gaston Tissandier (I know you have
a page on it), which shows (p. 29) a line of Capucin monks made from cards and lined up and starting to fall over. The text on p. 28 says "Les capucins de cartes sont alignés à la queue leu-leu. Si vous poussez le premier de la rangée, ils tombent tous à la file (n° 10)." I had to look up "leu-leu" - apparently it just means "in a line" or "one after another". The same page also shows a card castle.
You may have noticed that I referred to playing card toppling 'in this pure form' ... thus leaving the door open for my next blog post ... which will be about Capucins ... I am not sure I know about Kolumbus-Eier ... in fact I'm sure I don't. Maybe we should finish this discussion by email ...
When I was a kid I certainly wouldn't have been allowed to fold cards like that! I would be pretty peed off now if someone did it a pack of my cards.
Sorry, I’ve got the bit between my teeth now! Hull Daily Mail, Saturday 15th March 1919, a rather grisly article describing how 220 German rioters had been machine-gunned and had “fell like dominoes”
…18th August 1899, page 8 of the “Morning Leader”, from London, “the cowardly crowd fell back like dominoes”
On a roll indeed ... or perhaps a topple. I've done some quick research of my own today and the earliest reference I can find is from 1891 - see here. I guess I need to rewrite my introduction to this piece now ...
Not sure id the link has taken ... here it is in full ... https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gK5RAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA135&dq=dominoes+falling&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjuxYe1s6SIAxXdVkEAHa-REAwQ6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=dominoes%20falling&f=false
Are you serious about domino toppling not being recorded before 1976? I agree that videos of really complicated runs have not been around for very long, but the simple game of making a long row and toppling them was certainly something I had done as a child (early 60's), and I certainly didn't feel that I had invented it! Or is it a misprint and you meant 1876?
As evidence, consider the Wikipedia article on "Domino Theory" - the Cold-War era idea that if one country fell to the Communists, then their neighbours would follow swiftly:
"U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory during a news conference on April 7, 1954, when referring to communism in Indochina as follows:
Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."
So it's clear that setting up a row of dominoes was a familiar pasttime in the early 1950's.
Yep. Thanks for that. 1954 it is ...