Mexican Train rules

Mexican Train as it is played at the family table and on PlayElephant: a double-12 set, a hub in the middle, a train for every player and a shared Mexican Train.

1. The set, players and seats

• The double-twelve set has 91 tiles: every pair of numbers from 0 to 12 appears once, from 00 to 1212. A tile's value is the sum of its two halves. 1211 is worth 23, and 00 is worth 0.
• 2 to 8 players. Everybody plays for themselves. There are no teams.
• Play goes clockwise. A game has 13 rounds.
• In the middle of the table is the station (the hub). The tile in it is the engine. Every round has its own engine: 1212 in round 1, 1111 in round 2, and so on down to 00 in round 13.

2. The deal

• Before each round the engine is taken out of the set and placed in the hub. The other 90 tiles are shuffled and dealt.
• The number of tiles each player gets depends on the table:

• The tiles that are left stay face down. This is the boneyard.
• The player who starts changes from round to round, moving clockwise. The first starter is picked by lot.

3. Trains and markers

• Every player has one personal train: a line of tiles that grows out from the hub. It may not be started yet.
• There is also one shared Mexican Train. Anyone may start it or add to it, at any time.
• A train is started with a tile that has the engine number on one half. After that, each new tile must match the free end of the last tile, as in ordinary dominoes.
• Your personal train is closed at first: only you can add to it.
• If you cannot play on your turn, a marker is put on your train. It is now open, and any player may play on it as well as you.
• The marker comes off when you play a tile on your own train. Tiles that other players add to it do not remove it.
• A train that has not been started can also be open. Another player may then start it with a tile that has the engine number.

4. Taking a turn

On your turn you play one tile, with a few exceptions you will read below. You may put it on:

1. your own train (starting it if it is not started yet);
2. any other player's train that has a marker on it;
3. the Mexican Train.

• A tile goes on a train only if one of its halves matches the open number of that train.
• If you can play, you must play. You may not draw instead.
• The first turn of a round is an ordinary turn: one tile only. You may even start the Mexican Train with it.

5. Doubles

• A double is placed crosswise. When you play a double, you must play one more tile in the same turn, and it has to satisfy the double: it goes on the double and matches its number.
• A double that has not been satisfied yet is an open double. While there is one on the table, every player's next move must satisfy it, wherever it lies, even on someone else's closed train. All the other trains are frozen until then.
• Cannot satisfy it? Draw one tile. If it fits, you play it on the double. If not, you pass and a marker goes on your own train. The duty then moves to the next player.
• The boneyard is empty? You pass at once and your marker goes on.
• A satisfied double takes no more tiles. Trains do not branch.
• A double as your last tile. The round ends immediately. Nothing has to satisfy it.
• The last double of a number. If every other tile with that number is already on the table, nobody could ever satisfy the double. The game counts it as satisfied at once, so no train is frozen. You still play your extra tile, though.
• The engine of the round is not an open double. It takes up to nine trains.

6. Drawing and passing

• No legal move? Draw one tile from the boneyard. If it can be played, you must play it.
• If it cannot be played, or the boneyard is empty, you pass. Your marker goes on your train, or stays there if it was already there.
• You never draw more than one tile in a turn.
• If you played a double and cannot place the extra tile, you also pass and your marker goes on.
• When you satisfy a double on somebody else's train, your own marker does not come off.

7. End of a round

• The round ends the moment a player plays their last tile. This is called going out.
• The round also ends when it is blocked: the boneyard is empty and nobody can play any more. An open double that nobody can satisfy does not change this.
• Then the next round starts, with the next double as the engine.

8. Scoring and the winner

• At the end of each round every player gets points for the tiles still in their hand. The value of a tile is the sum of its halves. Whoever went out scores 0.
• The double-blank 00 is worth 0.
• A block changes nothing: everyone just counts what is left. There is no bonus for the smallest hand.
• The game lasts 13 rounds. The lowest total wins. Places go in order of the totals, from the lowest up.

Ties

1. The player who went out in more rounds ranks higher.
2. If that is equal too, the smaller hand at the end of the last round ranks higher.
3. If it is still equal, the place is shared.

9. Fair play

• The server checks every move. You cannot play a tile that does not match, ignore an open double or move out of turn.
• The shuffle is fair, every deal is random, and the deal can be checked afterwards.
• Everyone can see how many tiles each player holds.
• A bot, clearly marked as one, only ever takes the seat of a player who has left.

10. Variants

There is no single official rulebook, and families play Mexican Train in slightly different ways. These are the common differences. Our default table plays the first column.

11. Examples

12. Glossary

Play Mexican Train