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"...the space defense initiative drove the USSR bankrupt, and it originated at my house in Tarzana."
- Larry Niven

Randominoes  
  Dominoes that randomly generate new numbers.  

As soon as the dominoes hit the table their numbers began to change! What was once the double-six was now the the five-one. He picked up the bone, not believing what he had seen. In his hand, after two seconds, it changed again, this time to the three-one. Every two seconds brought another change...'

"Intrigued, Jimmy?" asked Malthorpe.

"Puzzled."

"It's quite simple. Max, here, invented them. We call them randominoes. Very clever; a random number generator in each piece. The dots are best thought of as rather large pixels. They light up according to the numbers generated."

"The first game was a disaster for Jimmy. Every time he tried to play a certain number, it had already changed as he moved it. The others were doing better, in some way able to predict, if not the exact number, then a close neighbour to it. As soon as a bone was played, it stopped changing. If mismatched, and removed, it started changing again."

"Contact transmitters," explained Susan. "They register the touch of another domino.

Technovelgy from Nymphomation, by Jeff Noon.
Published by Black Swan Books in 2000
Additional resources -

Thanks to Armchair Anarchist for contributing the quote for this item.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Nymphomation
  More Ideas and Technology by Jeff Noon
  Tech news articles related to Nymphomation
  Tech news articles related to works by Jeff Noon

Randominoes-related news articles:
  - TileToy LED Puzzle And Jeff Noon's Randominoes
  - Sifteo Tiles

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