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The Domino Mexican Train

Mexican Train is a domino variation played basically in the United States. More than four players best play it.

The double twelve domino set is the main equipment in the game. It consists of all the probable pairs of numbers ranging from 0 to 12, yielding 91 pieces all in all. Some coins may be used as a marker: a penny and a nickel for individual players.

The dominoes are dealt and individual players picks an amount of dominoes and place them on the ends so that they can be seen by the player but not by their opponents. The number of players determines the number of tiles to be drawn.

• 4 players picks 15 dominoes separately

• 5 to 6 players get 12 tiles each

• 7 to 8 will draw 10 each

• 9 to 10 players gets 8 tiles each.

The dominoes that are left will make up the bone yard.

The Scoring

The game comes to an end right away when one player is left without a domino, or when no player can move a move because there are no more edges that can create a match.

The only exception is when a player is able to play all his dominoes right away in his initial turn, linking them all in a train, play then commences until all players have made their initial turns, and then terminates.

The remaining dominoes of every player will be credited as penalty points, which means that there will be no penalty for the player who has no more dominoes.

A full session of the game will have 13 games; the first game begins with the 12-12, then the 11-11 and so on until the 0-0. The aim of the game is to score the fewest points as can be scored within the 13 games. The player with the least accumulated points wins the game.

Variations

There are many versions of Mexican Train, and some of them are quite vague, so it is hard to determine what rules are designed. Some variations do not use the rule that exposed pairs must be fulfilled by the succeeding player.

In some games, the doubles must be complied with opposite of the pattern in which the play initially started.

In some variations, instead of placing as many cards as possible on their own train, they are placed one at a time from the onset.

In some variations, positive points substitute penalty points. The player left without a domino to play, or the player scoring the least number of points when a block ensues, accumulates the sum of the remaining points of the other players' hands. When there is a block and there is a tie for the winner, the points of the other players are shared by the winners.