42 (dominoes)

42, also known as Texas 42, is a trick-taking game played with a standard set of double six dominoes. 42 is often referred to as the "national game of Texas". Tournaments are held in many towns, and the State Championship tournament is held annually in Hallettsville, Texas on the first Saturday of March each year. In 2011 it was designated the official State Domino Game of Texas.
History.
According to a 1985 news article written by Christopher Evans of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the game originated in Garner, Texas. Two local boys, William Thomas and Walter Earl, developed the game in response to a general disapproval of card-playing games held by many Protestants at that time. William and Walter were able to incorporate dominoes in their game, which mimicked the mechanics of a trick-taking card game like pitch. The game they developed, which was the precursor to today's 42, found acceptance since dominoes did not carry the negative stigma of card-playing. From there, the game spread throughout Texas.
Rules.
Object.
The game is played by four people, in teams of two each, where the partners sit across from each other. The object of the game is to be the first team to reach seven "marks" or 250 points. The game consists of a number of hands (a maximum of 13 hands when playing for marks).
Bid.
Before each hand, and based on the seven dominoes drawn by each player, the first person clockwise from the dealer will either pass or bid in order to win the right to choose the trumps and style of play for that hand. Typically, the bidder determines what to bid by estimating how many of the forty-two (42) total points the team will win based on those seven dominoes. The minimum bid is 30. If all players pass the dealer must bid 30. In some variations the dominoes are reshuffled and the hand restarts. The 42 points consist of one (1) point for each of the seven tricks, plus 35 points from the five "count" dominoes whose total pips are a multiple of 5 (the 6-4 and double-5 for 10 points each, as well as the 4-1, 3-2, and 5-blank for 5 points each). The reward for attaining the bid is typically a tally mark, or in numerical scoring, the reward is the point total the player bid in a race to 250. The bids can occasionally be stated in "marks", signifying the tally mark awarded to a winning hand. The maximum opening bid under standard bidding is two marks, or "84", with each successive bid being one additional mark. Each player outbidding the opening maximum bid would result in a bid of 5 marks. There are many variations and exceptions to standard bidding, which are covered in Special Contracts, below.
Hand.
After each player gets one chance to bid, the highest bidder chooses the trump for that hand, which can consist of designating as the trump one of the following: a particular "suit" (blanks through sixes, i.e. all tiles containing a six on one or both sides behaves as a trump when played); doubles (any tile containing the same number of pips on each of the two halves of the marked surface of that tile will behave as the trump in that hand when played); or may play with no trump, also known as "follow me".
Play then proceeds in a clockwise fashion with the high bidder having the first play of the first trick. All players must follow the lead with the same suit if possible, known as "following suit". If they do not have a domino matching the suit of the lead, they may play any domino. When led, each tile is considered to belong to the suit of its higher number, unless the tile is a trump. For example, the 4:3 domino is a 4 unless threes are trumps. The highest valued domino of the leading suit wins, unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins. In any suit, the double of that suit is highest, and then the tiles are ranked by the off-suit pip.
The winner of the trick usually moves the played dominoes to an area near their hand, face up. The winner then plays first on the next hand. If playing for marks, play continues until the bidding team has scored enough to match their bid ("made their contract"), or else is "set" by not winning enough tricks and points to match their bid. At that time, the team with the highest score and who has made their contract is awarded the correct number of marks. When playing for points, play continues until all seven tricks have been won. The high-bidder receives the points they win if they make their bid. If not, the team that sets them wins their bid plus any points they took during the hand. Example, if a team with a winning bid of 30 wins 31 points, they add 31 points to their total. If that team does not reach their bid (30 in this case), they get zero points. The other team receives the bid amount plus the points won during the hand.
In some cases, when playing for marks, if the player leading has no chance of losing (e.g., their hand holds the remaining most valuable tiles still in that game), that player may "lay down", meaning they show why they can't lose by exposing the remaining dominoes. A miscalculation here (a domino not being a certain winner) will usually result in the automatic loss of the game. However, it is usually done as a time-saver for experienced players.
Scoring.
Each trick is worth one point. There are five "count" pieces (those whose spots total five or ten) that are worth that number of points: the 0-5, 1-4 and 2-3 are worth five points each; the 5-5 and 6-4 are each worth ten. The total of all the count pieces (35) plus the seven tricks equals 42, which is the number of points in a hand, hence the name of the game.
Special contracts.
The highest bid wins the auction and that player has the right to name the trump suit and lead.
Terminology.
There are a number of special terms in the game of 42:
Optional Rules.
Nel-O.
Also known as nillo, nil, low, nello, or low-boy, nel-o is an optional house rule that allows players with an otherwise low-scoring hand to bid. All players must agree to allow nel-o bidding before the game begins. Sometimes nel-o is only allowed by the dealer, if the first three players all passed.
A player may choose to bid nel-o, instead of bidding a number or passing, if they have particularly low dominoes in a hand (the -blanks and -ones of several suits). This means they intend to win the hand by not catching any tricks at all. Their partner then turns their dominoes face down, and does not participate in that hand. The opposing team will play their lowest dominoes, trying to force the nel-o bidder into catching a trick.
The nel-o bidder's team scores a mark if they catch no tricks. If the nel-o bidder catches even one trick, the hand is immediately over, and the opposing team scores a mark.
Other variations of nel-o treat doubles in a special way. Doubles may be weighted either as the high of their suit, as a suit of their own, or least commonly as the low of their suit. If any of these variants are used, a declaration is required and all players must agree to allow them before play begins.
Nel-o rules may also be used in the domino game "Shoot the Moon."
Splash.
The bidder bids three marks, and their partner controls the game as if the partner won the bid, without discussion with the bidder. The bidder must have three doubles to do this. Some variants have a "Splash" worth two marks.
Plunge.
Also called Crash, this variation is exactly like Splash, except four (or in some variants, three) marks are bid and the bidder must have four doubles. Jump bids are allowed for Splash and Plunge. All tricks must be won for a successful plunge bid. If the opponents win even one trick the plunge bid fails and the opponents get the marks.
Sevens.
Another less common rule is to allow a player to bid Sevens. Instead of the highest domino winning each trick, the domino whose sum is closest to seven wins. Dominoes are classified as "sevens" (the 4-3, 5-2, and 6-1), "one away" (dominoes adding to six or eight), "two away" (adding to five or nine), etc. When more than one domino of the same distance from seven is played, the first domino played is considered the winner. A player must bid at least 42 (one mark) to go in sevens, and losing even one trick will set the bidder. When a bid of "sevens" wins the contract, all players reveal their dominoes face-up and order them from sevens to maximum-away. Dominoes must be played in this order by all players.
An even less common version of Sevens is looper, where the bidder takes it for less than 42 points (one mark) and can lose a trick. Looper is not widely played and is rarely allowed by legitimate 42 players.
Stacking.
In some houses of play, no stacking of dominoes is allowed regardless of the winning bid. In others, a bid of one mark entitles the contract-winning team to stack the won tricks in two stacks of equal height, where a bid of two or more marks entitles them to stack the won tricks in a single stack.