Mexican Train on Your iPad or Tablet

You do not need an app to play Mexican Train on an iPad. It runs in Safari or Chrome, and you can add it to your home screen so it opens full-screen with its own icon — which is everything an app would have given you, without the app store. Here is exactly how.

Just open it

Open Safari on the iPad, go to mexicantrain.online, and sign in. That is the whole setup. It is the same on an Android tablet in Chrome.

The board is designed for touch: you tap a domino to pick it up and tap where it goes. There is no dragging required, which matters on a tablet, and the tiles are large enough to hit comfortably.

Add it to your home screen

Worth doing, and it takes about ten seconds. Afterwards it opens full-screen with no browser bar, from an icon just like any other app.

On an iPad or iPhone (Safari)

1. Open mexicantrain.online in Safari. This only works in Safari — not Chrome on iOS.
2. Tap the Share button — the square with an arrow pointing up. On an iPad it is at the top of the screen; on an iPhone it is at the bottom.
3. Scroll down the list of options and tap Add to Home Screen.
4. It will suggest the name MexicanTrain. Tap Add at the top right.

On an Android tablet or phone (Chrome)

1. Open mexicantrain.online in Chrome.
2. Tap the three dots menu at the top right.
3. Tap Add to Home screen, or Install app if that is what it says.
4. Confirm the name and tap Add.

You will now have a Mexican Train icon on your home screen. It opens straight into the game, full-screen, and stays signed in.

Why a browser beats an app here

	This site in a browser	A typical app-store game
Download	None	Tens or hundreds of megabytes
Updates	Always current, nothing to do	Update prompts
Storage used	Effectively none	Space on the device
In-app purchases	None	Common
Adverts	None	Common
Same on every device	Yes — one account, any browser	Depends what is published for your platform

The practical version: everyone in your game can be on something different — an iPad, an old laptop, an Android phone — and it is the same game for all of them, with nobody stuck because their device is not supported.

One honest limitation. This is a browser game and it needs an internet connection; there is no offline mode. If you specifically want to play alone against the computer on a plane, a native app is a better fit than this site.

Tips for playing on touch

• Turn up Element Size if the tiles feel small — it is in Display settings and scales the whole board, not just the text.
• Landscape is easier than portrait on a tablet. More of the table fits.
• Turn on Safe Mode while you learn: it stops you drawing from the pot when you actually had a playable tile.
• Arrange your hand if you like your tiles in an order — you can drag them into place and it is remembered.

New to the game itself? how to play Mexican Train covers the rules.

Keep reading

• How to play Mexican Train — the whole game
• Playing on a Mac, PC or Chromebook
• For seniors and senior groups
• Playing with friends and family