game
Mexican Train online — rules, facts, and a live table
Mexican Train is a double-12 domino game. The double twelve starts as the engine. Each player owns a personal train; a public Mexican train is open to everyone. Play a matching end or draw from the boneyard. First player to empty their hand wins; leftover pips score against you.
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Good to know
- A double-n set has (n+1)(n+2)/2 tiles. Double-12 therefore has 91 tiles.
- Tilehaus deals 16 tiles to 2 players, 15 to 3, and 12 to 4 or more, matching common double-12 schedules.
- A player's train becomes public (open) after that player cannot play and draws.
- The Mexican train is always public. Any player may add to it when they can match its free end.
- Dominoes descend from Chinese bone tiles; Western double-six sets were standardized in 18th-century Italy and France, with double-12 a later American party-game expansion.
What you are looking at
Mexican Train is a double-12 domino game. The double twelve starts as the engine. Each player owns a personal train; a public Mexican train is open to everyone. Play a matching end or draw from the boneyard. First player to empty their hand wins; leftover pips score against you.
Bone or ivory dominoes with inset pips, a dark wood hub, and branching trains. Tiles are thick rectangular prisms, not playing cards.
Origin
Mexican Train It is associated with United States (domino family from 13th-century China / 18th-century Italy in ancestry). Dating: Late 20th-century American domino variant; popularized in the 1990s hobby market.
Equipment
Double-12 set: 91 dominoes. The [12|12] is the engine. Train markers and an optional hub.
Players: 2–8. Typical duration: 30–60 minutes.
Questions
How many dominoes are in Mexican Train?
A double-12 set has 91 tiles. That is the usual Mexican Train set.