Domino games is a popular past time hobby not just for children, but also for the kids at heart. I bet you can remember instances when you’ve enjoyed playing this game with your friends. And inspite the competitiveness of this game, still you want to play more.

Dominoes have existed since the 12th century. Based on some archives, the first set of dominoes was recovered in China. However, there are actually continuing debates that it has actually been discovered in Egypt and in the Mediterranean. Believe it or not, domino set was also found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. Either way, it’s only in the 1200s that this game became a trend in Europe particularly Italy.

Mexican Train Dominoes

Because of its appeal, many countries around the world have adopted their own version of this game. One of the more well-liked versions of this game is Mexican train dominoes in addition to draw, block, chicken foot, and all-fives. Mexican train dominoes game got its name from its layout’s resemblance to trains. In this game, all the tiles seem to connect and extend from a single central station.

There are several versions of the Mexican train dominoes game. Sadly, there’s no record or evidence to support the origin of this game. Nobody knows about where it came from or how it started. However, according to several accounts, the exclusive rights of this domino game were registered to Roy and Katie Parsons.

The goal of Mexican train dominoes is to lay out all dominoes drew in the start of each and every round. Dominoes can be put on your train or in the Mexican train (if there is one) or in another player’s train.

Typically, Mexican train dominoes are played with a double twelve set of dominoes and several markers. In the old games, the participants use a nickel. Today, different markers are used to mark their trains.

To start the game, all domino tiles has to be shuffled first. After, each of the players must select 15 dominoes each (if there are 4 players). All that remains are left in the boneyard faced down.

Whoever has drawn the double twelve domino begins the first game. The player must place the double twelve on the center. The next player to the left should place a matching domino tile and build their own trains. If the required domino to start the game is not available, all the players should equally draw from the boneyard.

Each player have to start building a train after the initial player has placed the 12-12. All the ends must be matched. If any player is not able to start their train, or does not possess a 12-12, a marker is positioned in that post where in their train should’ve started. This means that any future player can play a domino in that position.

Mexican Train Dominoes: Scoring

Game comes to an end if a player runs out of dominoes or if all trains are blocked. The player with no dominoes left shall have no penalty score. As for anyone players with dominoes, their penalty points are the number of pips. To succeed Mexican train dominoes, you should have the lowest score.