The remaining dominoes are termed 'sleeping' tiles or 'the boneyard'. In friendly games, players normally just place their dominoes on edge in a row facing them. Up to 4 players take 15 dominoes each, 5 or 6 take 12 each, 7 or 8 take 10 each. Depending on the number of players, each player draws a set number of dominoes. To begin, the dominoes are shuffled face down in circles with the flat of the hand - producing an attractive sound that has been well-known for centuries.

The shape of the domino chain develops snake-line at random according to the whims of the players and the limitations of the playing surface. So unlike the other dominoes, a double can never turn a corner. A tile played to a double must also be placed accordingly - perpendicular to the double touching at its middle. However, doubles are always placed perpendicularly across the end of the domino that is already on the table to make a 'T'. A Double too, can only be placed adjacent to a matching end of a domino already on the table. Unless the tile is a double, the tile can be placed square in any one of the three directions as long as the two matching sides are touching fully.Ī domino with the same number at either end is called a 'Double'. The domino must be placed so that one end is touching the end of a domino already on the table and such that the end of the new domino matches (shows the same number of dots) the end of domino it is adjacent to. This applies to all domino games - if you've played any type of dominoes before, skip to the Preparation section.Įach time a player places a domino on the table in Mexican Train, it must conforms to normal domino play. Sets specifically marketed for the play of Mexican Train Dominoes usually have differently coloured little plastic trains that are used to mark each player's train. These can be anything but coins are commonly used - say a penny for each player's train and a 20 pence coin or a 'nickel' for the Mexican Train. Secondly, two types of marker are required for the game. Hubs range from expensive manufactured items that go 'Toot Toot' when pressed to home-made efforts that take only a couple of minutes to cut out from a piece of cardboard. Firstly, a special hub is used that has a slot in the middle for the starting double and 8 slots around its edge to start each domino train. Unlike most other games of dominoes, Mexican Train requires some other equipment. Each set has 91 dominoes and we recommend that dominoes with coloured spots are used because otherwise it becomes difficult to match dominoes at a glance. Mexican Train Dominoes are played with a standard set of Double Twelve dominoes.

The dominoes