Mexican Train

Mexican Train is the game for a crowd: two to eight players. It needs its own set, a double-twelve set of 91 tiles, since each tile end goes up to 12. It runs 13 rounds, and like golf, the lowest total wins.

It doesn't play in one line. Each round, a double called the engine sits in the middle of the table, and trains run out from it like spokes: one for each player, plus one shared train, the Mexican Train.

1. 1Before anyone draws, take the round's engine out of the set and put it in the middle. In the full game it's the 12-12 in round one, then 11-11, all the way down to 0-0. For a shorter game, start at the 6-6 and play 7 rounds.
2. 2Mix the other tiles face down. There's no dealer: everyone draws their own hand, 15 each with two to four players, 12 with five or six, 10 with seven or eight. The rest stay face down to draw from.
3. 3In round one, pick who goes first any way you like (a common way: everyone flips a tile, and the highest goes first). Each new round, the first turn moves one seat to the left. Play always moves clockwise.
4. 4On your turn, play one tile: on your own train, on the Mexican Train, or on any train with a marker. Your own train starts with a tile matching the engine, and anyone can start the Mexican Train the same way.
5. 5Can't play? Draw one tile, and play it if you can. If you still can't, pass and put a marker on your train (a coin works, or the little train that comes with many sets). It comes off when you play on your own train again.
6. 6Play a double and you play again right away: put a tile that matches the double on it. That's covering it. If you can't, draw one tile; if that doesn't fit either, put a marker on your train. Then the next player must cover the double before anyone plays anywhere else. If they can't, even after drawing one tile, they put a marker on their own train and the next player tries.
7. 7The round ends when someone plays their last tile, or when nobody can play and the draw pile is empty. Whoever went out scores 0 for the round. Everyone else adds up the pips left in their hand, and those points count against them: a 12-12 left over adds 24.

Read the full rules: Mexican Train rules