Has your college friend group become boring?

Are y’all tired of the same old going out every weekend? Or maybe you are tired of the same old staying in every weekend? In any case, fear not, for I am here to bless you and your motley crew with a perfect new activity to do on weekend nights. It’s called Mexican Domino Train, and it’s a classic game that THRIVES in families, but I’ve recently discovered that the game is even more exciting amongst college friends. Let me tell you more about this resurfacing game.

The Game

By now, you may think your group already has a decent collection of games for game night: Poker, Catan, darts, etc. But I’m here to convince you that your collection is incomplete without Mexican Domino Train, which will spark a whole new culture within your group.

One reason this game thrives in families (and even more in college friend groups) is that the game is like Uno…kinda. Ya know how for Uno, there are defined rules that the game-makers wrote and put on the back of the box, nevertheless, every family/group seems to have their own set of weird and quirky rules that they have added over the years? Mexican Dominoes is the same way; every household has their own unique way of playing that works best for them—and it makes it great.

Another reason this game is perfect for college students is that it is easy to learn, and easy to become good at. Let’s be real, none of us are going to convince that one group of friends to sit down and spend hours to learn how to play Risk, even though you know they would have so much fun. You don’t have to worry about that with Mexican Domino Train. After the first round, everyone knows how to play, and everyone knows how to strategize. Stay with me, I need to teach you how to play…

Playing the Game

Like I said, there are several different household versions of this game; but generally, this is how you play:

Setup:

Using a standard domino set ranging from 0-15:

First find the double 15 domino and place it in the center. Next, shuffle the dominoes face-down on the table. Once shuffled, every player grabs the same number of dominoes, usually anywhere from 8-15 dominoes (depending on your player size). Every player should look at their dominoes, and their dominoes only. All extra dominoes can be split into piles and put aside; these are the “boneyards”.

Structure:

Each round, players will take turns going in a clockwise rotation where they will attempt to place down one of their dominoes on a “train” in the center. Once they place down their domino, it goes to the next person. This happens until a player has zero dominoes left, in which all players will count how many points they have on their remaining dominoes, and their score will be added to the scorebook for round 15. Then round 14 will begin, starting with the player who just went out.

Objective:

Your objective is to get rid of as many domino points as you can, ultimately aiming to get rid of all your dominoes and be the player who goes out. At the end of the night, all players’ points for each round will be totaled and, like golf, low score wins.

Rules:

Choose someone to go first at the beginning of the first round. For all rounds following, the player who goes out in the previous round will start.

That first player will now attempt to place down one of his/her dominoes. This player has two options: Option 1 is to start his/her own train, by connecting a domino with a 15 on one side to the center double-15 domino (a train is made by connecting like-to-like sides of two dominoes together). Option 2 is to start a community train, which is also done by placing a 15 on the center domino.
A community train is a train that any player can play on, as opposed to your own train, which only you can play on.
If the first player does not have a 15, that player will have to draw a domino from the “boneyard”, and if they still cannot play, they have to put their train up, and their turn is over.

Putting your train up:

When you cannot make a play, even after drawing, your train goes up. This means that any player can now play on your train, similar to the community train. To distinguish between whose train is up and whose isn’t, there are Mexican Domino Train sets you can buy online that have small trains that you can put on top of your train towards the center. If you don’t have this, you can use any small object like pennies, erasers, chips, etc.

Taking your train down:

Once you can successfully play on YOUR train while your train is up, your train comes down and other players are no longer allowed to play on your train.

Each turn, the player going is trying to get rid of as many points as possible. They can play on their own train, the community train, or on someone else’s train who is up.

Uno:

When a player has one domino left, like in the game Uno, the player must do something to signify that they are down to one domino. This can be loudly tapping their domino on the table, saying “Uno”, etc. as long as it is something to alert the table that they only have one domino left. If they forget to do this, and another player calls it before they do, then they can be penalized (penalty decided by the house rules).

Doubles:

Doubles: If the player going has a double-x domino (e.g. double-6), and they find a train where they can place that domino, that player must make another play afterwards. If they cannot, they must draw.

Satisfying the double:

Satisfying the double: If a player places a double domino and then makes another play besides playing on that double domino, the next player must first play on the double until he/she can play elsewhere. If that player cannot play, they must draw and if they still cannot play, their train goes up and the next player must do the same thing. This happens until a player can satisfy the double by playing on it.

Now again, this is generally how the game is played. But you and your posse can (and should!) make your own rules if you decide that someone’s family has a better way of playing it. All the different combinations of rules are what make this game great.

Making it Fun

Alright, so you see the general layout and should have a pretty good idea of how to play. But now, let me tell you what makes this game really fun. Whenever my family and I or my college friend group and I play Mexican Dominoes, we play some music in the background. And when someone wins, or someone starts going on a hot streak, we play the song “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)”. This is a great song to play when someone wins because the whole group starts dancing and getting hype. Another great one to play when the game is getting intense is “Freight Train” by Aaron Watson. It is also fun to make funny train puns at the table. For example, I always call the community train MARTA (the Atlanta Metro system).

Like all great things, this game becomes so much more fun when you have a fun group of people that just wants to have a good time and be in each other’s presence. The more your group is committed to making it fun, the more of a memorable experience it will be. So, next time you want to try something new with your friend group or family, I strongly urge you to play Mexican Domino Train! I hope y’all try it out and it gets added to your list of fun group activities!

Be Well, Auburn.