Chris Wright is a professional domino artist who has been building with dominoes since he was 12. Through his company Wright Reactions, he builds dominoes and chain reaction machines for clients like Microsoft and Disney. In April 2022, he was part of a team that set a Guinness World Record for longest domino wall. In May, his team “Brains and Brawn” earned second place on the FOX show Domino Masters.

Chris returns to BMAC for the 15th Annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza on Sunday, October 16, at 5:30 p.m. He and fellow domino artists Brady Dolan, Nathan Heck, and Lily Hevesh will arrive two days in advance to begin setting up the spectacle. The floor of BMAC’s Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery will be filled with an elaborate pattern of tens of thousands of dominoes. This year’s event will be presented both in person and via Facebook Live.

Above photo: Little Pond Digital, LLC

BMAC: You’ve been part of BMAC’s Domino Toppling Extravaganza for a number of years. What do you enjoy most about it?

Chris Wright: My first year was the 6th Annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza, which means I’ve been coming for 10 years, though I had to miss two of those years. I’m super excited about this year. It’s something I always look forward to.

BMAC’s event is definitely unique. It’s the longest-running annual domino event. Brattleboro has a unique culture and dynamic within Vermont and New England. Building in the museum is also unique—most of the time, when I build with a friend or do a corporate project, I’m in a larger space. BMAC has a tile floor, and it’s a space with an organic layout, not just one big flat room. It’s not set up to be perfect for dominoes, but it works really well, and we take full advantage of the space we have.

Another way BMAC’s Domino Toppling is unique is that we don’t plan a lot before coming each year. If I’m building dominoes for Pizza Hut, there’s a pretty concrete plan—I know in advance exactly how big the pizza is going to be and what colors I’m going to use. The BMAC event is a lot more free-form, which makes it fun. Lily, Nathan, and I have known each other for over 10 years, and we trust each other’s judgment. And we’ve known Brady since he was 11 or 12. In 2017, the four of us were part of a group that broke three U.S. domino records and toppled 250,000 dominoes. Brady is a freshman at the University of Michigan now.

Wright and Lily Hevesh at BMAC’s 2021 Annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza. Photo: Little Pond Digital, LLC.

BMAC: Earlier this year, you were a finalist on the reality show competition “Domino Masters.” What was that experience like for you?

Chris: The only thing I was familiar with was the dominoes—everything else was different and new. Normally I’m behind the camera, building dominoes for a company. On “Domino Masters,” they wanted to see how we think, how we handle conflict, how we work on a team. The competition aspect was also new. I know 20 or 30 people in the U.S. who build dominoes, and maybe a couple hundred worldwide—it’s a small world, and not normally a competitive one.

The judges on “Domino Masters” wanted us to tell a story with dominoes, which a lot of us hadn’t experienced before. They wanted us to think outside the box, be outlandish, and really use our creativity. We had nearly unlimited resources, not only in terms of colors and types of dominoes, but also fireworks, smoke bombs, water—a lot of things we’d avoided in the past, for safety or for space reasons. That was new and different, and quite fun.

It was like being in another world, being out in LA for a month and a half. Before the show, I told myself that whatever happens, happens—but somehow my team kept advancing. We made it to the finale and came in second, which is really close to winning, so that was a little disappointing, but the team that won really deserved it. I’m very happy I got to participate. “Domino Masters” was a great way for more people to get more insight into what I do and why I like it.

Courtesy of WrightReactions Instagram

Courtesy of WrightReactions Instagram

BMAC: Do you think the show played a role in the increasing popularity right now of dominoes?

Chris: On the whole, I think dominoes have gained prominence and popularity due to the show, especially for children and families. Give it a few more years, and those kids will be growing up, building more elaborate displays. People who watch domino videos online think that they could never do that. But when they watch “Domino Masters” and get to see the building process and the people behind it, it humanizes dominoes a bit more and makes people more receptive to it.

BMAC: In addition to being a domino artist, you work full-time as an engineer. Do you see dominoes as an art form or a feat of engineering?

Chris: The two aspects are absolutely intertwined. To focus on one is to look at the other. You might build a domino spiral with beautiful colors and a beautiful pattern—but to make something perfectly symmetrical that will fall correctly, you need to pay attention to the technical aspects. It needs to be technically spot-on not only in the way you build it, but the way it will topple. I think a lot of times, people don't realize how much planning goes into how the dominoes will look when they fall. There is often some math that goes on behind the scenes—measurements to make sure things line up perfectly, hidden technicality, patterns behind designs. As an engineer, it’s really fun for me. I like designing things, creating things, combining creativity with the technical side. I like visualizing something before it exists.

BMAC: Does your day job leave you with any spare time for your domino company, Wright Reactions?

Chris: It is challenging to make time for it, but I have a strong entrepreneurial side, and I’m fortunate that the company I work for, Gillette, is encouraging and offers flexibility. It’s fun to be able to plan and design with the client, and to be able to say yes a lot of the time, even though I’m busy.

BMAC: Are you able to share anything about the surprises you and your team have in store for the 15th Annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza?

Chris: It’s the 15th year—I think that’s quite a milestone. We have a new builder this year, Brady, so that'll add some new flair. And at least three out of the four of us have been on a domino TV show in the past year—Nathan and I on “Domino Masters,” and Lily as the judge on a Dutch TV show called “Domino Challenge.” On “Domino Masters,” they wanted us to build the most grand and visually spectacular things that we could. I learned a lot about how to build for an audience. This year at BMAC, we’re going to build things that are new and exciting. It’ll really fill the space—it’ll be even more densely packed. We’re planning to build something pretty grand.

Don’t miss the chance to see Chris Wright, Brady Dolan, Nathan Heck, and Lily Hevesh (a YouTube superstar and the subject of the award-winning documentary “Lily Topples the World”) at BMAC’s 15th Annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza.