Mexican Train on Your Own

Mexican Train is a game for a table of people, which is a problem at eleven at night when there is no table and no people. The short answer is yes: you can play on your own, against computer opponents, as many games as you like. This page is about what a solo game is good for — and honestly, what it is not.

What “on your own” means here

You start a game, choose between one and five computer opponents, and play. Nothing is waiting on anybody. Every turn comes back to you within a few seconds, so a round takes as long as it takes you to think, and a whole game can be a coffee break rather than an evening.

It is free, it is unlimited, and there is nothing to install — the same as every other game on the site. There is no daily limit, no energy meter, no advert between rounds, and nothing that asks for money once you are enjoying yourself.

The two kinds of alone

It is worth separating them, because the site answers them differently.

• Nobody to play with at all. A solo game against the computer is the whole answer — see playing against the computer for what the opponents are like.
• People to play with, but not right now. This is the more common one, and it has a better answer than a solo game. A game with real people has no turn timer: you take your turn when you get to it, they take theirs when they get to theirs, and a round can happily run across a weekend. So you do not have to get four adults in the same room at the same time — you just have to get them into the same game.

Plenty of people keep both going: a slow game with family that moves a few turns a day, and a quick solo game while they wait for it to come round to them.

What a solo game is genuinely good for

• Ten minutes. One round against two opponents is short, and you can shut the tab mid-round without stranding anybody.
• Learning the game without holding anyone up — there is a page on exactly that.
• Trying the rule options. Branching trains, the double blank penalty, doubles that must be satisfied: much easier to understand by playing a hand than by reading about them.
• Playing at an odd hour, in a waiting room, or anywhere a game with other people is not going to happen.

And what it is not

It is not a substitute for the game with your people in it. Mexican Train is a social game and most of what is good about it is the table — the groaning when somebody plays a double, the running commentary. Computer opponents do not talk, and they are the same every time.

So treat the solo game as what it is: somewhere to play when the alternative is not playing. When you do want the real thing, how to play Mexican Train has the rules, and getting people in is a six-letter code you send them.

How long a game takes on your own

Shorter than you would think, because nothing is waiting on anybody else. A full game runs from the 12-12 down to the double blank — thirteen rounds, which is a long sitting even alone. Most people do not play a full one in a go, and you do not have to: you choose which double the game starts on when you set it up.

• Start at the 12-12 for the full thirteen rounds.
• Start at the 6-6 for seven rounds — an evening.
• Start at the 3-3 for four rounds — a coffee break.
• One round against two opponents is ten minutes or so, and you can stop after it.

Fewer opponents also means a faster game: with one opponent there are three trains on the board instead of six, and your turn comes round twice as often. And you can close the tab in the middle of a round without stranding anybody — the game is exactly where you left it next time.

Two players is also an option

If there is exactly one other person, you do not need the computer at all. Mexican Train with two people is a sharper, faster game than it is with six, and it works properly — see playing with two people.

Keep reading

• How to play Mexican Train — the whole game
• Playing against the computer
• Playing with just two people
• Practising before you play other people