I’ve never really played a lot of tile placement games. Before moving to Portugal I played online Mahjong Solitaire, the occasional game of Carcassonne, and Upwords (which feels more like a word game). Andrew generally favors games like Blokus more than me. We didn’t own dominoes and none of our fellow board gamers in the States ever brought them to game nights.

In Olhão we were introduced to Mexican Train which is a simple, low stress, but very popular dominoes game for 1-8 players. There are tons of rule variations, and almost as many house rules as Hand and Foot. I’ll cover a couple of the different versions we have played and which ones we prefer.

Set Up: Place all dominoes from a double-12 domino set face down, this becomes the “boneyard” aka the draw pile. Have a marker for each player plus a marker for the Mexican Train. Any dominoes drawn during the game are placed on their edge and are secret from other players.

Starting Player: Our rulebook says the oldest player goes first. Other rules advise players to draw dominoes and the person with the highest pip value starts. We have never played with either of those rules. Back in Olhão our friends preferred to draw initial dominoes (15 for 2-4 players, 12 for 5-6 players, or 11 for 7-8 players), and if no one has the double-12, all players keep drawing until someone draws it and they then becomes starting player. We find this a bit clunky and unnecessary. For us, a more streamlined way to play is whoever has the highest double starts the game.

Domino Placement: The starting double domino is placed in the middle and becomes the engine from which trains are built outward. Each player has a private train and there is also a public/shared Mexican Train. Dominoes are matched end to end (i.e. if the engine is a double-12, you must have a 12 to start a train).

In Olhão we played one domino at a time and your first turn has to be to open your own train before you can play anywhere else. Other rulesets have the Mexican Train being the first requirement and after it is opened by any player everyone can then start their private train.

We currently play with a large opening 1st turn. This allows you to place as many dominos as legally possible at the beginning of the round for your private train. If you are not able to play, draw from the boneyard or play on the Mexican Train until you can take your “1st turn” and then place all possible dominoes. This big turn occurs only once per round for each player.

If you are not able to play a legal move, you must draw from the “boneyard”. You should play the domino you just drew if possible. If you are not, your train becomes public or “open” for other players to play on. You can close your train by playing on your own track. Player’s private trains frequently become open and closed as the game progresses, and the Mexican Train is always public.

Doubles: In addition to acting as the engine, when a double is played on any train, there are special rules. Playing a double affords players an extra turn, but all players must play on the double before placing dominoes anywhere else. For instance, if I play a double-6 and don’t have another 6 to play, I must draw from the “boneyard”. If I draw a 6 I can play it, but if I can’t the 6 requirement passes on to the next player.

There are some exceptions to the double requirement. It does not need to be fulfilled if it is the last domino of its pip value (i.e. if all 6’s other than the double-6 have been played, there is no possible way to fulfill it). Also, we play that if a double is your last domino for the round, the round ends without the need for fulfilling it.

The Olhão group also had special rules for doubles. They allow players to build in either direction from a double. This usually resulted in a crazy, sprawling game space with trains going in every direction. In my opinion this extends the game because although there are more open spaces to play, identifying all of your options takes a considerable amount of time. Andrew and I currently omit this rule and only play one domino extending from a double.

Turn Options: Play on your private train, play on any other open player trains, or play on the .

Subsequent Rounds: Our Olhão friends play in descending order starting with the double-12 and ending with the double-0 for a total of 13 rounds. Andrew and I keep track of which doubles have been played and continue until we have completed 13 rounds in any order. How many rounds you play, and in which order, is up to your group. You can do just a few rounds which may result in a 20 minute game, or play all 13 rounds which may take several hours.

Scoring: The objective is to get rid of your dominoes first. After one player is out of dominoes, all other players add up the pip values of their remaining dominoes and you start a new round. The player with the lowest overall score at the end of the game wins.

We purchased Mexican Train after moving to Urgezes and we have played it quite a few times. It comes in a compact box which makes transport and play on the go super easy. It doesn’t come to the table often, usually if we have a non-gaming friend who wants something easy and breezy and doesn’t want to think too much. Every now and again Andrew and I play a 2 player game in the morning with coffee before we are fully awake.

In short, Mexican Train feels like a generic classic most people would have in their collection. I don’t think we’ll cull it because I can still see specific times that it will come to the table. Although it seems like it would be a game that would foster casual chatting, the times we have played, everyone just focuses on setting up their own dominoes and it ends up feeling like a bunch of people playing solitaire at the same time. Depending on the combination of rules used, rounds can drag on seemingly forever.

It will probably never be a Finazzo favorite because we have other tile placement games, including Rummikub – which we’ll discuss in a separate post, that are much more satisfying plays. I honestly can’t remember any personal wins or losses that even register in my memory – they are just bland, time passing rounds of dominoes that all blend together. What does register in my memory are the people I have played Mexican Train with. For me, the memorable people part is way more important, but I will generally pick a different game to pass time with in order to enhance the memories.