How to Play

• A double-12 domino set (91 tiles). Double-9 works for fewer players.
• A train station / hub (optional but traditional).
• Score paper (or this app).
• One marker per player (coin, bead or token) to flag public trains.

1. Shuffle all dominoes face-down.
2. Each player draws tiles based on player count (counts vary slightly by rule set, so check your box):

3. Remaining tiles form the boneyard (draw pile), face-down in the center.
4. The starting engine is the highest double for that round, placed in the center to start every train.

Mexican Train is played in a series of rounds, one for each double, from highest to lowest: Double-12 → Double-11 → … → Double-0. That's 13 rounds with a double-12 set. The double for the current round is the engine placed in the center.

On your first turn only, you may play as many tiles as you can chain together, as long as each one connects end-to-end (matching pips), starting from the engine. Keep playing tiles until you can't extend the chain any further, then your first turn ends.

From your second turn onward, play exactly one tile per turn onto:

• Your own train (always allowed)
• The Mexican Train (communal; anyone can play here anytime once started)
• Another player's train, only if it's marked public

A tile matches if one of its numbers equals the open end of the train you're playing on.

If you truly have no playable tile, draw one from the boneyard. If it's playable, you must play it. If it's not, your train becomes public and play passes to the next player.

• Trains start private each round.
• A train becomes public the moment its owner can't play on it (even after drawing).
• Once public, anyone can add to it, until the owner plays on it again, making it private once more.
• The Mexican Train is always public.

Any player may start the Mexican Train at any time by playing a matching tile onto the center engine double. Once started, it stays open to all players for the rest of the round.

• You (the player who played it) must immediately follow up with another tile matching that double's number. This is called closing or satisfying the double.
• Can't close it? Draw one tile from the boneyard. If it closes the double, play it.
• Still can't close it? Your turn ends, your train goes public, and the next player must close that same double before they can do anything else, including playing elsewhere.
• This obligation keeps passing to each next player until someone finally closes the double. Only then does normal play resume.

A round ends when either:

• A player plays their last tile, or
• No one can play and the boneyard is empty (a blocked round).

After each round, add up the points on all tiles remaining in your hand:

• Each domino's value = sum of both sides (e.g. 5-3 = 8 points).
• Blanks: each blank side = 12 points (so 5-0 = 17 points; double-blank = 24 points).
• The player who went out that round scores 0.
• Add each round's score to a running total.

• Use your first-turn chain wisely. Dump as many tiles as you can, especially doubles and blanks, before the one-tile-per-turn limit kicks in.
• Watch which trains are public. Dumping high-value tiles onto someone else's public train is a great way to unload points.
• Keep an eye on the boneyard running low. Once it's empty, trains lock up fast and the round can end suddenly.