How to Play Mexican Train

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Mexican Train is a domino game played with a double-12 set, in which each player builds a personal line of tiles called a train, while everyone shares access to a communal Mexican Train in the centre. The game is easy to learn in minutes, yet rewards careful hand management and forward planning across multiple rounds.

It is a favourite at family gatherings, holiday tables, and games nights precisely because the rules are simple enough for children and the strategy deep enough to keep adults engaged. It scales smoothly from two players up to eight, and a full multi-round session typically fills a comfortable evening.

A little history

Mexican Train is a modern derivative of the broader family of domino train games. Its precise origins are unclear, but it became widely popular in the United States during the 1990s and spread quickly to the United Kingdom and elsewhere through commercially produced sets. The core mechanic of building branching trains from a central hub appears in several related games, and no single inventor or originating country has been definitively documented.

Setting up

1. Decide how many rounds you will play. The standard game runs 13 rounds, one for each double from double-12 down to double-blank.
2. Shuffle all 91 tiles face-down in the boneyard (the central draw pile).
3. Place the hub in the middle of the table. In round 1 the starting double is double-12; in round 2 it is double-11, and so on.
4. Deal tiles from the boneyard according to player count: 2 to 3 players take 15 tiles each; 4 players take 13 each; 5 players take 11 each; 6 players take 10 each; 7 to 8 players take 9 each.
5. Players stand their tiles on edge so only they can see them.
6. Leave the remaining tiles face-down as the boneyard; players draw from here during play.
7. Each player takes a personal marker in their colour to flag their train as open or closed.
8. The player who holds the starting double for the round goes first. If nobody holds it, players draw one tile at a time from the boneyard until it is found.

How to play

1. The player holding the starting double places it in the hub to begin the round. This tile is the engine.
2. That player must then start their personal train by playing a tile whose matching end connects to the engine. If they cannot, they draw once from the boneyard and play it if possible; otherwise their train is left open (marked with their marker) and play passes left.
3. On each subsequent turn, a player may play one tile to their own train, to the communal Mexican Train, or to any other player's train that is currently marked open.
4. A player's train is open (available to others) when it is marked with their marker. A train starts closed; it becomes open when the player cannot play on their turn.
5. When a player successfully plays on their own train, they remove their marker and the train is closed again.
6. If you cannot play anywhere on your turn, draw one tile from the boneyard. If the drawn tile plays, place it immediately. If it does not play, place your marker on your train to mark it open and end your turn.
7. When the boneyard is empty and you cannot play, simply mark your train open and pass.
8. Doubles require immediate attention: when you play a double, you must play a second tile (called satisfying the double) onto that double before play can move on. If you cannot satisfy it, draw one tile; if that satisfies it, play it; otherwise mark your train open and end your turn. The next player must satisfy the double before doing anything else, and this obligation passes around the table until it is satisfied.
9. The communal Mexican Train is started by the first player who wishes to use it. They play a tile from their hand whose matching end connects to the engine, placing it in the Mexican Train slot of the hub. The Mexican Train is always open to all players.
10. A player who plays their last tile calls out to signal it and the round ends immediately.
11. Each player counts the total pip value of all tiles remaining in their hand. That total is added to their running score. The player who went out scores zero for the round.
12. Rotate to the next round, reducing the starting double by one (double-11, then double-10, and so on down to double-blank).
13. After all 13 rounds, the player with the lowest cumulative score wins.

Winning and scoring

The winner is the player with the lowest total score across all 13 rounds. Scores are calculated at the end of each round: every player counts the pips on the tiles remaining in their hand and adds that total to their score. The player who empties their hand scores zero. A double-blank counts as zero pips. The double-12 counts as 24 pips (each end counts separately). After the final round (double-blank as engine), totals are compared and the lowest score wins. In the event of a tie after 13 rounds, tied players play one additional sudden-death round and the lower scorer of that round wins.

The fine points

The most common dispute involves the obligation to satisfy a double. The rule is strict: once a double is played, every subsequent player must attempt to satisfy it before placing anywhere else. If the entire table fails to satisfy it (all players draw and cannot play), the double remains unsatisfied and the game continues with that double frozen in place; players may now play normally on other trains, treating the frozen double as the end of that train until it is eventually satisfied. A second common dispute concerns drawing from the boneyard: you draw exactly one tile per turn, not until you find something playable. There is no option to draw multiple tiles voluntarily.

When a player goes out on a double, they must have satisfied it themselves on the same turn; they cannot leave an unsatisfied double as their final play unless house rules explicitly permit it, which most standard rulings do not. On the question of marking trains open: a marker is placed only when a player fails to play, not when they choose to skip. You cannot voluntarily open your train to make it available to others while holding playable tiles.

How to win more often

• Build length early. A long personal train in the first few turns limits what others can add to it when it is open, because their tile must match the current open end.
• Hold your doubles back until you can satisfy them in the same turn. An unsatisfied double you cannot cover immediately costs you control and gifts other players a turn obligation that may clear tiles from their hands.
• Watch the boneyard count. As it empties, the odds of drawing a useful tile shrink. If you are carrying high-pip doubles late in the round, find a way to play them before options close.
• Keep your marker off your train. An open train is an invitation for every opponent to extend it in directions that suit them, not you. Clear your train the moment it goes open.
• In later rounds (low doubles), starting tiles become scarcer. Players who have held several low tiles from the early deal are better placed; plan your discard order across rounds accordingly.

Variations

Chicken Foot

A close relative of Mexican Train in which every double played must be satisfied by three tiles fanning out from it before normal play can resume, creating a foot-like pattern on the table. Personal trains still exist, but the obligation to fill each double is more demanding and the layout sprawls significantly. It uses the same double-12 set and scoring system.

Short Game (Single Round)

Players simply agree on one starting double, deal the standard number of tiles, and play a single round. The player who goes out first wins outright, with no cumulative scoring. This works well as a quick introduction to the rules or when time is limited.

No-Hub Variant

If a dedicated hub is unavailable, the starting double is simply laid flat in the centre of the table. Players position their trains outward from each end and side of that tile. This makes no difference to the rules and is how the game is commonly played with a basic domino set and no accessories.

Draw-Three House Rule

Some groups allow a player who cannot play to draw up to three tiles from the boneyard before marking their train open. Any drawn tile that plays must be placed immediately. This variant extends rounds and produces lower scores, so group agreement before the game begins is essential.

Mexican Train: frequently asked questions