42, also known as 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.[1] Tournaments are held in many towns,[1] and the State Championship tournament is held in Hallettsville, Texas the first Saturday of March each year.[2] In 2011 it was designated the official State Domino Game of Texas.[3]
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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.
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 either forced to bid or the dominoes are reshuffled by the next dealer. 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 marks 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.
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.
Each trick is worth one point. There are five "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.
84: The bidder's team must win all the tricks. Dominoes are played trick atop trick to avoid revealing what has been played thus far in the hand. If the bidder's team succeeds in catching all the tricks, the team earns two marks.
42: The bidder's team must win all the tricks. The hand is played as per usual.
30: The minimum bid. Successive bids must be higher than this bid, or the player must pass (make no bid).
The highest bid wins the auction and that player has the right to name the trump suit and lead.
There are a number of special terms in the game of 42:
The bidder bids three marks, and their partner calls trump without discussion with the bidder. The bidder must have three doubles to do this. Some variants have a "Splash" worth two marks.
Exactly like Splash, except four (or in some variants, three) marks are bid and the bidder must have four doubles.
Jump bids are allowed for Splash and Plunge.
There is an optional house rule that allows players to bid "nello" (also known as nillo, nil, low, or low-boy). All players must agree to allow nello bidding before the game begins.
A player may choose to bid nello, instead of bidding a number or passing, if they have particularly low dominoes in a hand (the -blanks and -ones of several suits). This means they intend to win the hand by not catching any tricks at all. Their partner then turns their dominoes face down, and does not participate in that hand. The opposing team will play their lowest dominoes, trying to force the nello bidder into catching a trick.
The nello bidder's team scores a mark if they catch no tricks. If the nello bidder catches even one trick, the hand is immediately over, and the opposing team scores a mark.
Other variations of nello treat doubles in a special way. Doubles may be weighted either as the high of their suit, as a suit of their own, or least commonly as the low of their suit. If any of these variants are used, a declaration is required and all players must agree to allow them before play begins.
Nello rules may also be used in the domino game "Shoot the Moon."
Another, less common, rule is to allow a player to bid Sevens. Instead of the highest domino winning each trick, the domino whose sum is closest to seven wins. Dominoes are classified as "sevens" (the 4-3, 5-2, and 6-1), "one away" (dominoes adding to six or eight), "two away" (adding to five or nine), etc. When more than one domino of the same distance from seven is played, the first domino played is considered the winner. A player must bid at least 42 (one mark) to go in sevens, and losing even one trick will set the bidder.
Bid and played exactly like "Sevens", each player plays their domino whose sum is closest to six to win each trick.
Each variation of the original "Sevens" allows for the bidder to determine the starting value for each player to play closest to. In all cases, a player must bid at least 42 (one mark) to bid in this way, and losing even one trick will set the bidder.