How to Play Texas 42

The basics

Texas 42 is a trick-taking game played with dominoes instead of cards. Four players sit in fixed partnerships: North and South versus East and West. Each hand uses seven tricks; every tile belongs to exactly one trick. The partnership that wins the bid tries to make its contract by capturing enough points in tricks; the defenders try to set the bid by keeping points away from them. Most games go to seven marks. Some tables play to 250 points instead. The guide covers the marks-style structure common across Texas.

If you already play Spades or Bridge, think of 42 as whist with tiles: there is usually a trump number (blanks through sixes), you must follow the led suit when you can, and the highest legal tile wins the trick. Many tables also allow doubles as trump, where only the seven doubles are trumps (not an eighth pip suit besides blanks-sixes). Doubles as trump is a popular house rule, not part of N42PA tournament play. The twist is that each domino has two ends, so suit membership follows the numbers on the tile.

The domino set

Texas 42 uses a full double-six set: 28 tiles. Each integer from blank (0) through six appears paired with every integer including itself. The seven doubles (0-0, 1-1, …, 6-6) sit at the top of most boxed sets; the remaining twenty-one tiles are the non-double combinations.

Seven doubles

Twenty-one non-doubles

Count dominoes

Five tiles are called count dominoes because they add weighted value toward the 42 points in a hand. A tile’s count value goes by its total pips: dominoes whose ends sum to 10 are worth 10 points (6-4 and 5-5). Dominoes whose ends sum to 5 are worth 5 points each (5-0, 4-1, and 3-2). Together those five tiles contribute 35 points. The other seven points are one point per trick. Hence 35 + 7 = 42, the name of the game.

Old-time Texas players call these the count bones: five count bones, 35 points, hiding in the set.

When the bidding side wins a trick, it adds both the trick point and any count on tiles in that trick to its scoring total for the hand. Defense scores the same way on tricks it wins.

Dealing and seating

Partners sit across from each other. Shuffle the 28 tiles face down, then deal seven tiles to each player. You may look at your own hand only. Bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left and moves clockwise; each player bids once or passes, and each bid must be higher than the last.

Partnership layout

Bidding

Bidding starts low and climbs. Bids from 30 through 42 are point contracts: you promise your partnership will take at least that many of the 42 points in the hand (trick points plus count on tiles you win). A bid of 42 is a promise to take every point. Under standard marks scoring, every successful contract in this 30–42 range scores exactly one mark for the bidding side. If set, opponents score marks as described under Scoring below.

At some tables, players don’t say “forty-two” as a bid. The top of the point-bid range is spoken as “one mark,” which carries the same obligation as a 42-point bid: take every point. Forty-one is simply the bid just below that ceiling. Above one mark, the auction moves to multiple marks: you must take all seven tricks and all 42 points, and you score several marks at once if you make it. Bids are spoken as 2 marks, 3 marks… In much of Texas you’ll hear 84 for two marks, 126 for three, then 168, 210, 252, and 294 (seven marks). Those multiples name how deep the contract is, not extra points beyond 42.

N42PA tournament play has no opening-bid cap; you can open at any legal level. Some home-rule tables limit the opening bid to two marks (84), and some cap how high you can jump. After any opening, later players raise one mark at a time. Always confirm the bidding rules before you sit down.

Follow Me 42 supports Nello, Plunge, and Splash as optional house rules. Ranked tournament mode follows N42PA straight 42 with no special contracts.

If all four players pass, most tables throw in the hand and redeal. Some tables force the dealer to bid 30 instead. Agree on one rule before the first deal.

Bid ladder: two layers of the auction

Trump

Whoever wins the bid names the contract for the hand. In N42PA-style tournament play there are exactly seven ways to name a trump suit: the seven pip numbers (blanks through sixes). Tournament play uses only those official trump options.

Follow Me (often called no-trump) is not a trump suit and not “trump number eight.” A Follow Me hand has no trump suit. Tricks are won in the suit led, and doubles rank high in their own suits; the double is always highest in its suit, just as in standard trump play, except no suit outranks another. Doubles as trump is a separate call where only the seven doubles are trumps. Texas players use that house rule all the time, but standard N42PA tournament play does not.

The everyday structure rests on seven pip suits: blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes. The bidder may name one of those numbers as trump; every tile that shows that number on an end is a trump for that hand, and the double of that number is the highest trump in that suit.

Dual membership

Before trump is set, a non-double tile belongs to two pip suits at once (for example, the 6-3 is both a six and a three). The miniature tiles below show the same 6-3 before and after threes are named trump.

Trump exclusivity is absolute. Once a pip number is named trump, every tile showing that number belongs only to the trump suit for the entire hand. Every trump tile loses its other suit. A player holding the 6-3 when threes are trump cannot use it to follow sixes; that player is void in sixes unless they hold another six-end tile that is not trump.

Rank within a numbered trump suit

Suit ranking has no ties: the double of the trump suit is always highest, followed by the other trumps ranked by their non-trump end from six (high) down to blank (low).

Seven trump suits in tournament play (example tile each)

Doubles as trump

At many Texas tables you will hear doubles as trump: it is not another pip suit. Only the seven double tiles are trumps, ranked 6-6 (high) down to 0-0 (low), with special rules for following a double lead. Although not part of N42PA tournament rules, doubles as trump is extremely popular at Texas home tables and in many local events.

Playing tricks

The high bidder (declarer) leads the first trick. Later tricks are led by whoever won the previous one. On a non-trump lead that is not a double, the tile belongs to the suit of its higher number (blanks count as zero). When a non-trump double is led, the suit is simply that double's number - leading the 4-4 means fours are led, and all players with a four must follow.

When you must follow, a tile in your hand normally counts as belonging to either suit on it, provided that suit is not trump. For example, if sixes are led and threes are not trump, you may follow with the 6-3 using the six on that tile. If threes are trump, the 6-3 is exclusively a trump tile. The 6-3 cannot be used to follow a sixes lead under any circumstances; you would need a different six (or play off if you have no legal six).

When threes are trump

With threes named trump, the 6-3 is a trump only. A lead of the 6-2 counts as sixes (higher end is six). Holding only the 6-3 among “six” tiles, you do not have sixes to follow; the 6-3 does not count as sixes for follow purposes. If you have no plain six, you may discard or trump according to the usual rules.

If you have no tile in the led suit, you may play anything, including trump. When doubles are named trump, a double lead requires any player holding a double to follow with a double. Non-double tiles cannot follow a double lead; if you hold no doubles, you may play any tile.

When a suit is trump, trump beats non-trump. Among trump tiles, the one that ranks highest for that trump suit wins. In a Follow Me (no-trump) hand there is no trump suit, so that rule does not apply.

Example trick (sixes are trump; first tile is not trump)

Result: South's 6-5 outranks East's 6-4 in the sixes trump suit (non-trump end 5 > 4). South wins the trick for the N-S team, capturing 16 points: 10 from the 6-4, 5 from the 4-1, and 1 trick point.

You must follow suit if you are able to. Playing a tile from a different suit when you hold a tile in the led suit is called reneging and results in the immediate loss of the hand; the opposing team scores all marks at stake. After any hand ends, players may review played tiles to verify no renege occurred.

Scoring

Matches are usually played to seven marks. A classic Texas tally draws the seven marks as strokes that spell ALL: the first three marks form the letter A, the next two form the first L, and the last two finish the word. Some groups use plain tally bundles (four verticals plus a diagonal for five) or play to 250 points instead; confirm locally.

For point bids (30–42), a made contract earns one mark for the bidding side. For mark bids (84 and up / two or more marks), a made contract scores the number of marks bid.

If the contract is set: for point bids (30–42), a set always costs the bidding team exactly one mark: the opponents score one mark regardless of how high the bid was. For mark bids, the opponents score the full number of marks that were bid.

Trump reference card