Mexican Train Dominos is a great game that we’ve recently been introduced to, but we found the rules in the game we bought to be a little confusing.

These are the Mexican Train Domino rules we learned to play that seems to best suit our younger kiddos.

The dominos themselves are different than regular dominos because they go up to double 12’s. One cool thing is that if counting dots is hard for your little ones, you can buy these dominos that have numbers instead of dots. The game go basically like this – each person takes a number of tiles based on how many are playing. Then starting with the double 12 tile (or the closest double someone has in their pile) it is placed in the middle. Every round goes down 1 number. Everyone then must start their leg (think spider here) with the same number that was the double. If you don’t have that number on your tiles, you pick one from the bone pile. If you can play you do, if not the next person plays. You then only play on your leg until 1 of 2 things happen.

1st – If someone, who has their leg going, cannot play a domino on their leg after they pick from the bone pile, you can play on their leg. They place a plastic train (that comes with most domino sets) on their leg so everyone knows it is open to play on. As an added treat – we use M&M’s instead of train. Then when the person whose leg is open can play on it again, they can chose to remove the train (or eat the M&M!) to close it off from other players.

2nd – You can start a Mexican train. You do this by using a tile that has the same number as the doubles you started with and starting a leg separate from the main game. Only one person can start a train per round but anyone can play on it at anytime.

A few nuances – if you play a doubles tile during the round (like 3’s), the doubles tile must be “satisfied” before regular play can continue. How this is accomplished is that either the person who plays the doubles tile must play another tile with the same number or it goes around the table for each person’s turn until someone can satisfy it. You must draw if you can’t play. You can however play the drawn tile if it matches. This can mess up the best laid plans! Also, it is not uncommon for someone to get stuck for the whole round without getting their leg started. The upside here is if you play rounds down to double 1’s, this evens out.

The winner of the round is the one who gets rid of all his tiles first. Everyone else has to add up all their dots (only area little ones may need help) on all their tiles. This is their score for that round. Winner of the game is the person with the lowest score.

Mexican Train Dominos. Easy dominos rules and a fun family game! Great for family Christmas gifts!

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