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," and continues to be very popular in much of the state.
The Rules
The game is played by four people, in teams of two each, who sit facing each other across the table. The object of the game is to be the first team to reach seven "marks" (points). The game consists of a number of hands, each of which is worth one or more marks, depending on the bid. However, it is important to note that 42, much like any other game, has in many cases been modified by particular groups or families, resulting in innumerable variations on the original game according to particular preference, habit, or family lore and legend.The Bid
Before commencing play, each player will bid the number of points they are going to try to win by catching tricks (see scoring, below). The bidder determines what to bid by estimating how many tricks will be lost along with the number of count dominoes (see below) that will be lost. The minimum bid is 30. A player may also pass (make no bid). If all players pass, the dealer is sometimes forced to bid. As there are 42 points in the game (one point for each of the 7 tricks, plus 35 points from the 6-4, 5-5, 3-2, 4-1, and 5-0 dominoes), the maximum bid possible is 42, with one exception: a player may bid 84, which means (like 42) that the player must catch all tricks, and the results of the tricks will be stacked atop another as they are played, so as to prevent the players from seeing what has already been introduced into play. The benefit of bidding "84" versus only "42" is that if successful, the bidder wins two points for the game instead of only one. As the trump is declared by the winner of the bid, one strategy is to bid high if one has most of the dominoes in one particular suit. Another variation of bidding "42" and "84" is to bid "high" or "low". Bidding "42 (or 84) high" indicates the bidder intends to "catch" all of the tricks in the game; bidding "42 (or 84) low" indicates the bidder wishes to catch none of the tricks; in this game the bidder's partner folds their hand and the bidder plays against the opposing pair. The bidder plays their first domino (usually a domino with a blank), such as deuce/blank. In this case, the two becomes trump; if the opponents have a deuce, they are obligated to play it, and since the value of that domino is higher (for example, one player would play deuce/trey and their partner would play deuce/six), the highest deuce would win the trick and then be "in the lead" for the next play.
The Hand
The winning bidder then designates his trump, which can consist of calling a particular suit trumps; doubles as trumps, or "follow me" (also known as "no trump," in which there is no trump suit). Play then proceeds to the left of the person who played. Each player must follow suit, if possible. When led, each domino is considered to belong to the suit of its higher end, unless that domino contains the number of the trump suit, in which case it is considered a member of the trump suit. The double of any suit is the highest-ranking member of that suit, followed by the highest number on the non-suit side. The highest number of the leading suit wins, unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner of the trick takes the dominoes into their possession and leads on the next trick. Play continues until the bidding team has made their contract, or else is "set" (denied the possibility of winning) by the non-bidding team. At that time, the appropriate team is awarded one or more marks.
Scoring
Each trick is worth one point. There are a number of "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. A game is typically played for seven marks, as seven marks on paper can form the capital letters ALL.
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