Dominoes are not playing cards. They are thick tiles you can stand on edge. Texas 42 uses them like a deck for a four-player partnership trick-taking game.
The physical tiles
- Domino (domino tile, piece)
- A small, stiff rectangle, usually plastic or bone in the old days, divided into two square ends. Each end shows a pattern of round dots or is blank.
- Bone, rock
- Informal names for any domino tile. You may hear “wash the bones” for shuffle.
- Pip (spot, dot)
- One round mark on an end of a tile. Pips are arranged in standard patterns so you can read the value at a glance, like the pips on a die.
- End (side, half)
- One square half of a domino. A tile always has exactly two ends. The two ends can show the same count of pips or different counts.
- Bar (center line)
- The shallow groove or printed line down the middle of the tile that separates the two ends.
Sets and numbers
- Double (doublet)
- A domino whose both ends show the same number of pips, such as 3-3 or 6-6. In ordinary “train” domino games, doubles are often played across the line; in 42 they behave like the top card of a suit.
- Non-double
- A tile with two different values on its ends, such as 5-2. In 42 it belongs to two different “suits” at once until trump is chosen.
- Blank (zero, white, naught)
- An end with no pips. In 42, blanks are still a real value: they form the “blanks suit” alongside ones through sixes.
- Double-six set
- The standard set for Texas 42. It contains one tile for every pair of numbers from blank through six, including all doubles. That is 28 tiles total.
- Rank (value 0–6)
- The seven possible counts on an end: blank (0) through six. Texas 42 never uses sevens or eights on the tiles.
Shuffle, deal, hand
- Shuffle (wash, shake, stir)
- To mix all tiles face down on the table so nobody knows who holds what. Players draw or are dealt from the mixed pile.
- Deal
- To give each player their tiles for the hand. In 42, every tile is dealt: four players each get seven dominoes. There is no leftover “boneyard” in standard 42.
- Hand
- The set of tiles you currently hold, hidden from opponents. Your partner also cannot see your tiles unless a special rule says otherwise.
- On edge
- How you usually hold dominoes in 42: standing so you see your faces and others see only the backs.
- Dealer (shaker, shuffler)
- The player who shuffles (or supervises the shuffle) and distributes tiles for that hand. The turn to deal usually rotates.
- Forced bid (force)
- A house rule: when all four players pass, the dealer must bid 30 rather than reshuffling. This prevents a "pass-out" stall.
- Redeal (throw in, pass out)
- When all four players pass, the tiles are reshuffled and redealt with a new dealer. The tournament-standard alternative to a forced bid.
Table and partnerships
- Partnership
- Two fixed teams of two players. Partners sit across from each other so they never sit side by side.
- Partner
- Your teammate for the whole game. You share the score; you do not share tiles.
- Opponents
- The other partnership, the two players who are not on your team.
- North–South vs East–West
- A common way to describe seats on paper: one opposite pair is a team, the other opposite pair is the other team. Your living-room table works the same way once partners face each other.
Tricks, suits, trump
- Trick
- One round of play where each of the four players plays one tile in turn. The trick has a winner who takes those four tiles (usually stacked as a won trick) and leads the next trick.
- Lead (lead the trick)
- To play the first tile of a trick. The lead sets the suit others must follow when they can.
- Suit (in Texas 42)
- One of seven families of tiles defined by a number: blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes. Any tile showing that number on at least one end belongs to the suit. A non-double belongs to two suits at once, but when trump is named, every tile showing the trump number leaves its other suit and belongs only to trump.
- Trump
- A suit (or special call) named by the high bidder that beats non-trump tiles for the rest of that hand. If sixes are trump, every tile showing a six is a trump for that deal.
- Follow suit
- To play a tile that belongs to the led suit when you have one. If you cannot follow, you may play another tile legally (often including trump).
- Play (lay, pitch)
- To put one tile face up on the table on your turn as part of a trick.
- Discard (slough, throw off)
- To play a tile that is not in the led suit because you are out of that suit. It usually cannot win unless it is trump.
- Win the trick
- Your tile takes the trick according to the rules: highest trump wins if any trump was played; otherwise highest tile in the led suit wins.
- Trump in (cut, ruff)
- To play a trump tile when you cannot follow the led suit, stealing the trick from higher non-trump tiles. A key defensive and offensive tactic.
- Void
- Having zero tiles of a particular suit in your hand. Being void lets you trump in or discard freely when that suit is led.
- Walker (free trick)
- A tile guaranteed to win its trick because every other tile of its suit has already been played or is accounted for as trump. Walkers are "free" tricks that need no protection.
- Pull trump (draw trump, run trump)
- Leading trump tiles early to force out opponents' trumps, so your off-suit winners cannot be cut later. A fundamental opening strategy.
Bidding and scoring
- Bid
- A number or “mark” call that promises how many points or tricks your side will take if you win the auction. Higher bids outrank lower ones in the one pass each player gets.
- Pass
- To decline to bid higher. After you pass you are out of the auction for that hand.
- Declarer (bidder, high bidder)
- The player who wins the auction. That player names trump (or the agreed contract) and leads the first trick unless a variant says otherwise.
- Contract
- The obligation created by the winning bid: your side must take enough points or tricks to “make” it.
- Make (make the bid)
- To succeed: your partnership captures at least the points (or all tricks) you promised.
- Set (got set)
- To fail the contract: the opponents kept enough points or tricks that you did not reach your bid.
- Mark
- A unit on the score line in a marks game. First side to seven marks (often tallied as the letters ALL) wins the match.
- Point (in 42 scoring)
- A scoring unit inside a hand. Each trick is worth one point toward the 42 available, and five special tiles add extra “count” points.
- Count domino (counter, count tile)
- One of five tiles whose pips total five or ten; they are worth 5 or 10 points to whoever wins them in tricks. Together with seven trick points they sum to 42.
- Trick point
- One point awarded to the side that wins a trick, regardless of which dominoes it contains. Seven tricks, seven trick points.
- Forty-two points
- The total value in every hand: 35 from count dominoes plus 7 from tricks. The game is named after that total.
- ALL
- The seven-stroke word traditionally drawn to track marks on a score sheet: A (3 strokes) + L (2) + L (2) = 7. The first team to finish writing "ALL" wins the match.
Calls and variants
- Follow Me (no-trump)
- A contract with no trump suit; it is not a trump call and not an eighth suit next to blanks-sixes. Tricks are won by the highest tile of the suit led, with doubles ranking highest in their own suits. Not every tournament allows it on every bid level.
- Doubles as trump
- A home-table option where the seven doubles form their own trump suit, ranked 6-6 (highest) through 0-0 (lowest). Not part of N42PA tournament rules. Available in Follow Me 42 under Custom game settings.
- Nello (Nil-O, low)
- A house-rule contract to lose every trick. The bidder's partner sits out (tiles face down), and the remaining three players play seven tricks with no trump. The lowest tile in the led suit wins each trick. Barred in N42PA tournaments. Available in Follow Me 42 under Custom game settings, with configurable double-ranking options (own suit, high, or low).
- Plunge
- A special contract requiring four or more doubles in hand, bid at 4 marks (168 points). The bidder's partner names trump and leads the first trick. The bidder stays silent. Available in Follow Me 42 under Custom game settings.
- Splash
- Like Plunge but requires only three doubles. Worth 2 marks (84 points). The partner names trump and leads. Available in Follow Me 42 under Custom game settings.
- Renege
- To play illegally when you could have followed suit. It forfeits the hand and awards the marks at stake to the other side.
Table slang
- Aces, deuces, treys, …
- Spoken names for the ones, twos, threes (and so on) on the tile. Blanks are often “windows,” “nils,” or “zeros.”
- Shooter, shooting
- A bold high bid, or the player who made it. “Double shooter” sometimes means a very high mark bid.
- Spite bid
- A bid made mainly to deny an opponent the trump they want, not because the hand is strong.
- Off (offs)
- Tiles in your hand that are not trump and may be weak or awkward for the contract.
- Bull, cow, calf
- Nicknames for the top three tiles in the trump suit. The bull is the double (highest trump), the cow is the second-highest trump, and the calf is the third-highest.
- Dime, nickel
- Slang for count worth ten or five points.
- Tops (boss)
- The highest remaining tile in a suit after higher-ranking tiles have been played. Tracking tops is essential for expert play.
- Grease, sugar, money
- Colorful names for count dominoes or the points they carry.
- Feed (grease the partner)
- To discard a count tile onto a trick your partner is already winning, transferring points to your team safely.
- Indicating (signaling)
- When void in the led suit, deliberately discarding a tile whose high end matches a double you hold. The discard is a silent message to your partner that you can win that suit if they lead it. Tournament-legal; physical signals like table-tapping are not.
- Helping hand
- A low bid (often 30 or 31) made not because your hand is dominant, but to signal to your partner that you have useful support (doubles, counts, or trump depth), encouraging them to raise if they are strong.
- Partner rescue
- Bidding 30 specifically to prevent your partner (the dealer) from being forced into a bad 30 bid on a weak hand.
- Run the board (sweep, run it)
- Winning all seven tricks in a hand. Required for any bid of 42 or higher.
- Lay down (show)
- To expose your remaining tiles face up because you believe they are all winners. If you are wrong, most tables award the hand to the opponents.