How to play Mexican Train

What you need

A double-12 set of dominoes (91 tiles), a center hub if you have one, and a marker for each player — a coin will do.

Setup

• Play 13 rounds. The first round's engine is the double-12, the next the double-11, and so on down to the double-blank.
• Shuffle the tiles face down and deal — 2–4 players: 15 each; 5–6 players: 12 each; 7–8 players: 10 each; 9–10 players: 8 each; 11–12 players: 7 each. The rest is the boneyard.
• Whoever holds the round’s engine double puts it in the center and plays first. If nobody has it, take turns drawing one tile from the boneyard until someone finds it.

Your turn

• Every train starts from the engine: its first tile must match the engine’s number.
• On your turn, play one domino onto a train you’re allowed to: your own train, the Mexican train, or any train marked open. One end must match that train’s open end.
• Can’t play? Draw one from the boneyard. If it still won’t go, your train is marked open for others and your turn passes.
• Your marker comes off — and your train is closed to others again — as soon as you play on it.

Doubles

• Play a double and you must play again to cover it with a matching tile.
• If you cannot cover it, even after drawing, your turn ends and the double stays open. Each player after you must cover it before anything else can be played, until somebody does.

Ending a round and winning

• A round ends when someone plays their last domino, or when nobody can play and the boneyard is empty.
• Everyone then adds up the pips left in their hand and adds that to their score. The player who went out scores zero.
• After the double-blank round, the lowest total score wins.