Dordt Students Named ‘Domino Masters’ in National Network TV Competition

Alex and Derek Koops, members of Faith Christian Reformed Church in Sioux Center, Iowa, were publicly acclaimed as "Domino Masters" in 2022, achieving the title as participants in the FOX network series of the same name.

For the show, the brothers, who are students at Dordt University in Sioux Center, were teamed with Lyle Broughton of Massachusetts to form the “Dominerds.” They competed against 15 other teams in the weeks-long challenge. It's an achievement gained after about 11 years of hundreds of domino and chain-reaction builds, many of which are documented on the brothers’ YouTube channel, Daks Dominoes. 

Dordt hosted a watch party for the final episode. About 400 people gathered in the auditorium, learning as the show played out that Alex and Derek had won the competition—a secret the brothers had had to keep for nearly a year. “To be able to see our work on a big screen and have friends and family and members of the community all there to support us was really special,” Alex shared.

Each build for “Domino Masters” involved 8,000-12,000 dominoes, said Derek. Four teams were introduced per episode, with the Dominerds first appearing in episode three with an “Old West” build for the episode’s “Time Travel” theme. Alex said each episode took three days to film, including 16 hours of building. The Koops brothers posted videos of all five builds for the show on their website.

The two have done numerous builds for Crown Pointe nursing home in Sioux Center, beginning nine years ago. “The residents there really enjoy it,” said Alex. “It gives (them) something unique and cool to look forward to.” They also did a build at Dordt University in 2022 to create a virtual campus tour-style video featuring dominoes toppling in chain reaction through various settings around the campus. One of their favorite builds, they said, was joining seven other domino builders to set up 100,000 dominoes in one week. “We broke the Guinness world record for the longest Domino wall, which was 51.7 meters (169 feet, 7 inches) long, and consisted of 54,123 dominoes.”