Mexican Train Apps and Sites Compared

There are a lot of ways to play Mexican Train on a screen, and they are good at different things. This page compares the main ones honestly — including the places where this site is the wrong choice. Everything below was checked against the live listings in August 2026.

The short version

  • Want to play alone against the computer? Use an app. This site does not have computer opponents at all.
  • Want to play with people in the same room? Use an app with pass-and-play. Handing one iPad round is genuinely nicer than four devices.
  • Want to play with people who are somewhere else? A browser game. This site or MexiTrain.org.
  • Want no adverts and no upsells? A paid app, or this site.

The comparison

Cost Adverts Download Play with remote people Play vs computer
MexicanTrain.Online (this site) Free None No — browser Yes, people you invite by code No
MexiTrain.org Free Not declared No — browser Yes, private rooms and public games Yes, AI bots
Mexican Train Dominoes Gold
Glowing Eye Games
Free + IAP (upgrade $3.99) Declared: "Contains Advertising" Yes Same-WiFi only Yes
Mexican Train Dominoes Classic
Glowing Eye Games
Free + IAP (upgrade $3.99) Not declared Yes No — pass-and-play only Yes
Mexican Train Dominoes 2
Scott Slocum
$2.99 None, per the description Yes No Yes
Original Mexican Train
Scott Slocum
Free Declared: "Contains Advertising" Yes No Yes

A note on how that table was built, because it matters. "Declared" means Apple’s own advertising flag on the listing, not a guess from the reviews — where a listing does not declare it, the table says so rather than assuming. In-app purchase prices are the ones Apple lists. Multiplayer descriptions are the developers’ own wording.

Where this site loses

Three things, plainly.

  • There is no computer opponent. None. If you want a quick game on your own, this site cannot give you one and an app can. This is the single biggest reason to use something else.
  • There is no offline play. It is a website, so it needs a connection. On a plane, an app wins.
  • Everyone needs their own device and their own free account. For four people on a sofa, an app’s pass-and-play is less faff than four logins.

If any of those describe you, take one of the apps above. Several are good, and the paid one at $2.99 has no adverts or upsells at all, which is a fair deal for a game you will play for years.

Where the apps lose

The app-store versions are, almost without exception, built around playing by yourself against computer opponents. Where they offer multiplayer it is local: passing one device round the table, or in the case of Dominoes Gold, players on the same WiFi network.

That is a real limitation if the people you want to play with live somewhere else, which for a lot of families is the entire problem. Same-WiFi means same house. Pass-and-play means same sofa.

The other one is monetisation. Two of the four apps above carry Apple’s "Contains Advertising" flag, and three offer in-app purchases — including, on the Glowing Eye titles, buying your way out of a round you are losing for $0.99. Whether that bothers you is a matter of taste, but it is worth knowing before you install.

The browser options

If playing with distant people is the point, there are two serious free browser games and it would be dishonest of us to pretend otherwise.

MexiTrain.org does real-time multiplayer with up to eight players, private rooms as well as public games you can join, and AI bots to fill empty seats. It needs no download. If you want to drop into a game with strangers, or you want bots to make up the numbers, it does things this site does not.

This site is narrower on purpose. There are no public games and no matchmaking — you send a six-letter code and only the people you sent it to can join. There are no adverts and no paid tier. And a good deal of the design goes into being readable and unhurried: a four-step size control that scales the whole board, optional high-contrast colours on the tiles, and no turn timer anywhere, so a game can sit half-played for a day.

Which of those two suits you is genuinely a matter of what you want. Private and calm, or open and busy.

How to choose

If you want to… Use
Play solo against the computer An app — any of the four above
Play solo with no adverts at all Mexican Train Dominoes 2 ($2.99)
Pass one device around a table Dominoes Gold or Classic
Play with people in other houses This site, or MexiTrain.org
Play with strangers, or with bots MexiTrain.org
Play privately with invited people only, ad-free This site

And if you are not sure of the rules yet, how to play Mexican Train covers the game itself regardless of where you end up playing it.

Checked August 2026. App pricing, advertising and features change often — if you spot something out of date here, we would rather know than have it sit wrong.

Keep reading

If this site is the right fit

Free, no adverts, no download, and only the people you invite. No computer opponents, though.

Start a free game