Mexican Train rules

What it is

Mexican Train is a domino game in which every player builds their own line of dominoes — their train — out from a shared starting tile in the middle. There is also one public train, the Mexican Train, that anybody may add to. The aim is to get rid of your tiles; the cost of failing is the pips left in your hand. It is friendly, noisy and very popular in the American Midwest and South. This page describes the game as it is played at jpgames.app.

What you play with

A double-12 domino set — 91 tiles, every combination of two numbers from 0 to 12.

The deal

Each round starts with the engine: a specific double placed in the middle that every train starts from. It counts down as the game goes on — the double-12 in round one, the double-11 in round two, and so on.

How many tiles you draw depends on how many are playing:

Everything left over is the boneyard, to draw from.

Play

On your turn you play one tile, matching a number on it to the open end of a train you are allowed to add to.

Which trains may you play on?

1. Your own train, always.
2. The Mexican Train, the one public train that belongs to nobody — always.
3. Another player's train, but only while it is marked open. A train is marked when its owner could not play and had to pass, and it stays open until they play on it again.

If you cannot play, draw one tile from the boneyard. If that tile can be played, you may play it. If not — or if the boneyard is empty — your turn ends and your own train is marked open for everybody else to use. That is the real penalty for being stuck: your private line becomes public.

Doubles must be satisfied. Play a double and it stays crosswise, and the next tile played anywhere on the board must match it. If you can follow your own double immediately, you must. If you cannot, the double stays open, and the next player is obliged to satisfy it before doing anything else. A double nobody can answer will sit there marking the board until somebody draws the tile for it.

Scoring

A round ends when one player plays their last tile, or when nobody can play at all.

Everyone else adds up the pips on the tiles still in their hand, and that total is added to their score. The player who went out scores nothing for the round.

Low score wins, which is the opposite of most games here — you are accumulating penalties, not points. Being caught with the double-12 alone is 24 against you.

Ending the game

The game runs thirteen rounds by default — one for each engine double from the double-12 down to the double-0. Scores accumulate across all of them, and the lowest total at the end wins.

The round count is set at the table if you want a shorter game.

Variants we implement

1. Standard Mexican Train on a double-12 set, which is what this page describes.
2. Player count — 2 to 8, with the hand size adjusting automatically per the table above.
3. Round count — 13 by default.

Where we differ from the common rules

1. No double-9 or double-6 sets. The double-12 set is the only one implemented.
2. No "train" tokens to buy back, and no penalty tiles beyond the pips in your hand.
3. The Mexican Train is open from the start, rather than requiring somebody to start it on a later turn.
4. No first-turn requirement to start your train with the engine number beyond the ordinary matching rule.
5. No bonus for going out — the player who goes out scores zero for the round, but there is no additional reward.

Ready to play? Start a Mexican Train table — bots fill the empty seats, so a game starts whenever you do.

For the wider game, including the set sizes and house rules above that we do not implement, see Mexican Train on Wikipedia.

Common questions

How many dominoes do you start with in Mexican Train?

It depends on the player count — 15 each in a two-player game, 10 each with four players, and as few as 6 each with eight. The full table is above.

Can you play on someone else's train?

Only while it is marked open, which happens when its owner has to pass. It closes again as soon as they play on it themselves. Your own train and the Mexican Train are always available to you.

What happens when you play a double in Mexican Train?

It must be satisfied — the next tile played anywhere on the board has to match it. If you can answer your own double you must, and if you cannot, the next player is obliged to before making any other play.

What happens if you cannot play in Mexican Train?

You draw one tile from the boneyard. If it plays, you may play it. If not, your turn ends and your own train is marked open for everyone else to use.

How do you win Mexican Train?

By having the lowest total at the end. You accumulate the pip values of tiles left in your hand each round, so the game is about avoiding penalties rather than collecting points.