Mexican Train is a friendly, family domino game for 2 to 8 players. If you’ve never played, this is the place to start — it explains the goal and the pieces, and everything else in these rules builds on it. You don’t need to memorise anything: the app handles the fiddly parts for you.

The goal

Be the first to play all the dominoes in your hand. A game runs over several rounds, and the winner is whoever has the lowest total score at the end — so low numbers are good.

What you play with

• A double-12 domino set — 91 dominoes, from 0-0 (blank-blank) up to 12-12.
• Train markers, which show when a player’s train is open for everyone to play on.
• A scorepad — the app keeps score for you automatically.

How a game is shaped

A game is a series of rounds. Each round starts with a big domino in the middle called the engine, and everyone builds their own line of dominoes — their train — out from it. When someone plays their last domino, the round ends and everyone else counts up what’s left in their hand as points.

Play enough rounds and the person with the fewest points wins. That’s the whole game.

What the app does for you

• Deals the dominoes and sets out the engine.
• Turns each domino the right way round so the numbers match.
• Shows you exactly where you’re allowed to play.
• Counts the score after every round.

Next: read How a round is set up to see what happens at the start of each round.