Playing Mexican Train Against the Computer

You do not need to find three other people to play a game of Mexican Train. Choose Play against the computer and you are playing in about fifteen seconds, against one to five computer opponents, on the same board and under the same rules as a game with friends. Here is what that game is actually like.

Starting one

1. Sign in and click New Game.
2. Choose Play against the computer.
3. Pick how many opponents you want — anywhere from one to five.
4. Set the rules if you want to change them, then press Start.

There is no invite code and nothing to send anybody, because there is nobody to send it to. That is the only part of the setup that differs from a normal game.

It is the same game, not a cut-down one

This matters, because “vs computer” in a lot of games means a simplified mode. It does not here. You choose the same rule options you would choose for a table of people — which double the game starts on, how the double blank scores, whether doubles have to be satisfied, whether trains branch — and the board behaves identically. Every player gets a column, the Mexican Train sits at the end, train markers go up when somebody passes, and the pips are counted at the end of each round.

If you are not yet sure what any of that means, how to play Mexican Train covers the whole game, and the board refuses illegal moves anyway.

How the computer players play

They are decent company rather than a serious challenge, and they are honest. What they do, in rough order of priority:

• They shed their heaviest domino first. Unplayed tiles are points against you at the end of a round, so a computer player would rather get rid of the 12-11 than the 2-1.
• They look after their own train, especially once it has opened up to everybody — closing it again is worth a lot to them.
• They cover doubles when they can.
• They avoid stranding themselves on a double they have no way of following up.

If a computer player has no legal move it draws, and if it still has none it passes and puts its train up — the same choices, in the same order, that the game offers you.

They cannot see your dominoes

The question everybody asks, so: no. A computer player is given its own tiles and whatever is already on the board, which is exactly what you can see. It does not know what you are holding, it does not get better tiles, and it does not get a second look at the pot. It draws when it cannot go, like you do.

There is also only one skill level — no easy or hard setting to hunt for. They will punish you for sitting on heavy dominoes, and they will not out-think you.

You can take as long as you like

There is no clock, and a game against the computer cannot be joined by anybody else, so it is entirely yours. Leave one half-finished for a week and it is exactly where you left it — the computer players take their turns in your own browser, so nothing happens while the tab is shut, and nothing is waiting for you when you come back.

Each computer player does pause a couple of seconds before moving, so you can see what it did. If you would rather not wait, press Shift + F at the board and they move the moment it is their turn.

When you would rather play people

The computer is good for right now. It is not the point of the site, which is playing with your own people wherever they live — see playing with friends and family for how that works. Plenty of people do both: a game against the computer while they wait for their turn to come round in the game that matters.

Keep reading

• How to play Mexican Train — the whole game
• Playing on your own, with nobody else around
• Practising before you play other people
• Playing with friends and family
• Help: playing against the computer