Yes, It Is Free — and There Are No Adverts

Free games usually are not, so the question behind the question is fair: what is the catch? The short version is that there is no advert anywhere on this site, no paid version, nothing you can buy, and nothing held back until you pay. This page explains what free covers, the one time you will be asked for anything, and how the bills actually get paid.

What free covers

• Every game, as many as you like. There is no daily limit, no energy meter and no waiting to play again.
• Every player. Two to eight in one game, and each of them free.
• Every rule setting. The starting double, the double-blank penalty, train branching, how doubles must be satisfied, hand size — all of it, from the first game you create.
• Every display setting. Larger tiles, colour-coded numbers, light or dark, hints, Safe Mode.
• Your history. Past games and scores stay where you left them.
• Every device. One account, any browser, as many devices as you want to sign in on.

There is no feature list with padlocks on it, because there is no paid tier to unlock.

What you will never see

• Adverts. Not a banner, not down the side, not between rounds, and never a video you have to sit through before you can carry on.
• Purchases. Nothing to buy — no coins, no tile designs, no board themes.
• A subscription. There is no premium plan, so there is nothing to cancel.
• A trial that ends. Nothing expires and nothing degrades after a fortnight.
• Strangers. Not a money thing, but worth saying here: there is no matchmaking and no public lobby. You play with people you sent a code to.

This matters more than it sounds. An advert between rounds does not just take fifteen seconds; it breaks the specific thing the game is for, which is an unhurried hour with people you like. That is the reason there are none, and it is why there is not going to be a version with them either.

So how is it paid for?

Personally, and by players chipping in. Somebody pays for the servers every month, and that somebody is the person who built it. Players who enjoy the game and want it to keep running contribute towards the bill, entirely voluntarily. That is the whole business model.

It is a modest way to run a website and it has an obvious drawback, which is that it depends on goodwill. It also has the advantage you are currently benefiting from: nobody needs to be sold anything, so the game can be built to be good rather than built to keep you scrolling.

The one time you will be asked

Being precise about this, because “we’ll occasionally ask” is exactly the sort of promise that turns out to mean every five minutes:

• A small window appears at the start of the fifth round of a game — so not until you have played four.
• It appears at most once per game you have open. It does not come back later in the same sitting.
• It has a Hide this modal for 30 days link. Use it and the window stays away for a month.
• You can also just close it — the X, the Escape key, or a click outside all dismiss it.
• If you would rather think about it later, there is a button that emails you a reminder. Nothing is sent unless you press it.

Nothing changes if you never donate. No feature switches off, no nag escalates, and nobody can tell from the board who has contributed and who has not. One caveat worth knowing: the 30-day setting is remembered by the browser you clicked it in, so if you play on both a laptop and a tablet you may see it once on each.

What the free account costs you

An account is required, and it is fair to ask what that is for. It is what makes a game still be there tomorrow, what lets someone invite you, and what keeps your settings and scores attached to you rather than to one browser.

Signing up asks for a first name, an email address and a password. There are Continue with Google and Continue with Facebook buttons if you would rather not manage another password. No payment details are ever requested, because there is nothing to charge you for.

Your email address is used to send game invitations, the account mail you would expect — verifying your address, resetting a password, signing in on a second device — and occasional news about the game, which you can unsubscribe from at any time from the bottom of one of those emails. Notably, it is not used to tell you it is your turn: there is no such email. The only live nudge is a browser notification, which needs your permission and the tab left open.

And if you decide you are done, you can delete your account from your account page. It is not a support ticket and there is no retention offer.

Compared with the alternatives

Most free domino apps are free in the advertising sense: the game is the bait, and your attention is what is being sold. Some are genuinely good and simply have to pay for themselves that way. If you are weighing up options, the comparison of Mexican Train apps and sites is honest about where this one is the wrong choice — most obviously if you want to play against the computer, which this does not do.

If you want to know how a game actually gets going, the overview of playing online covers it, and how to play Mexican Train covers the rules themselves.

Keep reading

• How playing online works
• Nothing to download, nothing to install
• Built for players who want it simple
• Mexican Train apps and sites compared