Built for Players Who Want It Simple

A lot of online games are exhausting: adverts between turns, things flashing for attention, a countdown hurrying you along, and a sign-up that wants more than you feel like giving. This one is deliberately none of that. Here is what makes it workable for older players and for the groups that run games together.

Nothing is trying to sell you anything

There are no adverts. Not between rounds, not down the side, not a video before you can carry on. There is no paid version, so nothing is withheld from you and nothing needs upgrading.

The site is free because it is paid for personally and players chip in when they want to. You will occasionally see a note asking whether you would like to help with the server bill. It can be dismissed, snoozed for a month, or ignored entirely, and nothing changes either way.

You can make it bigger

The board has an Element Size setting with four steps, and it scales everything — the dominoes, the numbers, the buttons — not just the text. If the default is too small, turn it up once and it stays that way for that game.

There is also a setting that gives every number its own strong colour, which many people find easier to read at a glance than counting dots. And a Light or Dark theme, whichever is kinder on your eyes; that one is saved to your account, so it follows you to every device you sign in on.

You cannot make a wrong move

The board only accepts legal plays. If a tile does not fit where you are trying to put it, nothing happens — you have not broken anything and nobody has to correct you. There is an optional hint setting that marks the spots where you could play, which is on by default.

There is also Safe Mode, which stops you drawing from the pot when you actually had a tile you could have played. It is off by default and worth switching on while you are learning.

There is no clock

Nothing hurries you. There is no turn timer, no countdown, and no penalty for thinking. If you need to put the kettle on in the middle of your turn, the game will be exactly where you left it. A game can sit for a day and carry on fine.

No app store, no password gymnastics

You do not install anything. You open a browser — whatever is already on the device — and go to the site. There is no app to update and nothing taking up space on a tablet.

Signing up takes a name, an email and a password. If you would rather not manage another password, you can use the Google or Facebook button instead. And if you play on a phone as well as a tablet, there is a code you can scan on the account page to sign in on the second device without typing anything.

Playing with grandchildren in other states

This is what a great many people use it for. You create a game, send a six-letter code, and whoever has the code is in. Nobody else can join — there is no matchmaking and no strangers. It works well alongside a phone call, and because there is no clock, a game with a busy family can be played across a whole weekend.

For senior centres and activity programmes

If you run activities, a few practical notes. Every player needs their own free account and their own device — it is not designed as a single shared screen. Up to eight can play in one game, so a room of sixteen runs as two tables. There is nothing to install on centre computers, which usually matters, and nothing on the screen is unsuitable for a public room.

A full game is thirteen rounds and too long for a one-hour session. Set the starting double lower — beginning at the 6-6 makes seven rounds, and at the 3-3 makes four, which fits an hour comfortably.

If your group is new to the game, how to play Mexican Train is written to be read aloud.

Keep reading

• How to play Mexican Train — the whole game
• Playing on an iPad or tablet
• Playing with friends and family
• Playing with a big group