Numerous games are based on the domino principle, and Mexican Train is definitely among the most engaging and challenging. This board game can be played by the whole family or a group of friends to spend a couple of hours in a friendly and joyful atmosphere. Let’s learn how to play Mexican Train dominoes to add some curiosity to your parties or family meetings.
Table Of Content
The Game Objective at a Glance
The main goal of the Mexican Train Domino game is to get the smallest final score during 13 turns. According to the Mexican Train rules, the winner is the player who managed to discard as many dominoes as possible during the whole game. The score is calculated after each of the 13 rounds, and then each round’s points are added to calculate the final results. The best-case scenario for the game is to get 0 points.
Mexican Train Setup
The game is suitable for companies from 2 to 8 persons. Each game set consists of:
- One train hub – the centerpiece of the game, a round wheel with 8 train hubs to start the train from them and 1 central slot for the starting domino.
- 8 trains – tokens used for marking players’ trains as Public or a special Mexican train
- 91 dominoes with double fields of pips consisting of all possible combinations of pips from 0-0 to 12-12.
- Scorepad – a paper form to fix the score of each player after finishing each round.
When one train starts moving, everyone follows. In Mexican Train, each player is the engineer of their strategy!
Mexican Train Dominoes Rules And the Gameplay
First, let’s define the main terms used in the Mexican Train game rules.
- The engine is a central domino which starts each round. This domino is always a double 12 for the first round, a double 11 for the second, and so on until the double zero domino is set for the last, 13th round.
- The train is a queue of dominoes started by each player from the engine and following the direction toward the player. The train is private by default but if its owner cannot manage to add new dominos to it, it can be marked as public by setting a train token on it. Then each other player can continue it with their dominoes.
- The hand is several domino pieces discarded to each player. According to Mexican Train instructions, each player should keep their hand in secret from others.
- The boneyard is the rest of the domino pieces which are lying face down on the table to get them randomly if the need occurs.
- Satisfying doubles is the mandatory rule for each player. If a player during their turn places a double domino on their train or a public train, then they must immediately pick one more domino from the hand and place it either to the double or to a public train.
- The Mexican Train is an additional train which can be extended from the engine by any player after the first turn ends and remains public from the beginning to the end.
The game starts by turning all the domino pieces face down and mixing them to randomize the player’s choice. Each player has to pick domino pieces to their hands:
- 2-4 players pick 15 dominoes each
- 5-6 players get 12 dominoes each
- 7-8 players draw 12 dominoes each
The hand is installed in special racks and then the game starts. Let’s consider how to play Mexican Train step by step.
- The first turn
At the first turn, the engine should be placed in a rack of a train hub. The engine for the first round is always double 12, and each next round it changes to a double with a smaller number of pips.
The player who has this engine-double starts the game by putting it on the rack and then adding one more domino to be the first wagon of their train in front of them.
The first wagon consists of one field with 12 pips and any other number of pips on the second field. Then the turn goes clockwise to another player. The next player has to start their own train from the engine by discarding a domino with 12 pips and putting it in their own train hub. So do all the rest.
- The next turns
After the first turn is done, the first player can either put another domino to build their train or start a Mexican train. In the first case, the domino with the number of pips similar to the previous one is used.
If there is a domino with a number of points similar to the engine in the hand, a player can start the Mexican Train which is public and anyone can play their dominoes to build it.
- What if a player doesn’t have any matching dominoes during the turn?
In this case, a player goes to a boneyard and selects one random domino. If it matches, then it can be played immediately. If the domino doesn’t match, then a player has to place a token on their train to claim it as a public train. Other players can add their dominoes to this train until its owner during the next turn makes it private again.
The directions of dominoes in Mexican Train is typically toward the players but they can be changed and designed in angles or parallel rows so as not to crash with other players’ trains.
- How to play doubles
Doubles are tricky dominoes in the instructions for Mexican Train. Once you play them, you need to satisfy them with your hand. Doubles are placed perpendicularly to the train, and then one more domino with a double number of pipes on its field is drawn to it.
If a player has no dominoes to satisfy the double in the hand, they should take one more domino from the boneyard. If this domino doesn’t suit, a player puts a public token on the train and the next player has to satisfy the double.
- How does the round end?
The round lasts until there are dominoes in each player’s hands, or until there are dominoes in the boneyard to pick. The player that manages to discard all dominoes from the hand wins. If there are no matching dominoes in the boneyard and all players still have their hands, the winner is the player with the smallest score.
Mexican Train Rules for Scoring
The scoring is calculated by the number of pips on the dominoes remaining in the players’ hands after someone wins the round. For example, double 5 domino brings 10 points as 5+5=10 and 12/4 domino brings 16 points (12+4=16). Double 0 domino is worth 50 points.
Mexican Train scoring is fixed after each of 13 rounds in a scorepad and after the whole game ends, the winner is selected according to each round’s scores and their calculations.
Winning the Game
The winner of the game is the player with the minimal score after 13 rounds. If there are two players with similar minimal scores, the winner is the one who had more 0-score rounds. If still two players have a similar number of 0-score rounds, the winner is whose next to first 0-score round results are smaller.
Main Strategies to Use
While playing Mexican Train Domino, you can develop various strategies:
- Playing the most ‘valuable’ dominoes first to reduce the score in the round
- Playing doubles to discard additional domino and faster win the round
- Start a Mexican Train to increase your chances of matching your hand’s dominoes with the trains on the table.
Conclusion
Mexican Train is a game you can play at any age and its instructions are quite simple, Just start it to enjoy the process and develop your skills. Just in a couple of games, you’ll become a true expert.
