In the game you may be asked to donate. Here’s why — and, just as importantly, why it’s entirely optional.

The short version

Mexican Train is free to play and completely ad-free. Keeping it that way costs real money every month, and donations from players are what covers it.

Where the money goes

It costs around $230 a month to keep the game running — servers, email, the usual unglamorous things. That’s paid for personally by Corey, who built the site so that families, friends and players of all ages could stay connected over a game from home.

Donations go straight into keeping mexicantrain.online online and free for everyone. There’s no company behind it and nothing is being upsold.

It really is optional

The prompt you saw in-game isn’t a paywall and it isn’t spam. Nothing is locked, no feature is held back, and no game is interrupted if you’d rather not.

• Donate now — if you’d like to chip in.
• Send me a reminder email — think about it later.
• Hide this modal for 30 days — snooze it for a month.
• Or just close it and carry on playing. That’s fine too.

If you do chip in

Thank you — genuinely. Every contribution helps keep the servers on for everyone else playing tonight. See How to donate for the ways to do it.