How many tiles does each player get?
With two, three or four players everyone takes 15 tiles, with five or six players 12, and with seven or eight players 10. The rest stay in the boneyard for drawing. The engine goes to nobody: in round one it is the double twelve in the middle of the table, in round two the double eleven, and so on down to the double blank. A full game has 13 rounds, a short one 7.
How does a round start?
Players take turns to start the rounds, so someone different leads each time. Everyone has their own train starting at the engine, and the first tile must match the engine's number. On the first turn of a round you may lay several matching tiles in a row on your own train, and only then end your turn. It is the most important move of the round, because a long train gets rid of a big part of your hand at once.
What is the Mexican Train, and when can you play on another train?
Next to the players' trains runs the public train, the Mexican Train itself. It is open to everyone from the start of the round. After your first turn you may add one tile per turn to your own train, to the Mexican Train or to a rival's train that carries a marker. When you play on your own train, your marker goes away and the train is yours alone again.
What do you do with a double?
Whoever plays a double plays again: they add a tile that satisfies it straight away. If they do not have one, they draw one tile from the boneyard, and if it still does not fit, they pass and a marker goes on their train. Until the double is satisfied, every following player may only play on it.
When you cannot play
If no tile fits, you draw one tile from the boneyard. If it fits, you can play it at once. If not, you pass and a marker goes on your train: from then on anyone may add tiles to it. The round ends when a player gets rid of all their tiles, or when the boneyard is empty and nobody can play.
How do you score Mexican Train?
After each round every player adds the pips on the tiles left in their hand. The double blank counts as 50 points, because otherwise it would be the safest tile to keep. Whoever finished the round adds zero. After the last round the lowest total wins.
How to win more often
- On your first turn build the longest train you can from your own hand, even if heavier tiles wait for later.
- Get rid of high pip tiles first, because at the end of the round they count against you.
- Hold the tile that satisfies a double before you play the double, or you open your train to everyone.
- Take your marker off quickly: play on your own train whenever you can, so rivals cannot unload tiles on it.
- The Mexican Train helps when nothing fits your own train, so do not leave every end needing the same number.
