Mexican Train Strategy: 8 Tips to Empty Your Hand First

Mexican Train rewards one habit above all: knowing, before you lay your first tile, how you plan to empty your hand. Players who plan a long run on their own train and protect it tend to win more rounds than players who play whatever fits.

The tips below fit the common rules: a double-12 set, every player builds their own train from the engine double in the middle, there’s one shared Mexican Train anyone can play on, doubles must be covered, and the lowest pip total over the match wins. You can try every one in Dominoes on HulaGames, free in your browser, against Dot, Rex and Lulu.

1. Plan your train before you play

When the round starts, look for the longest chain in your hand that starts with the engine’s number. Count it: the longer it is, the more turns you can play without help. That chain is your plan: it’s the run of turns where you’ll always have a move on your own train.

Tiles that don’t fit the chain are your spares. Those are what you play on the Mexican Train and on other players’ open trains.

2. Play your spares first, your chain last

Your own train is the one place nobody else can block (until it opens). So spend your turns on spares while you can, and keep the chain in hand. Each spare you play elsewhere is a tile that would otherwise be stuck in your hand at the end of the round.

Tables differ on how the Mexican Train starts. On HulaGames its first tile is any double, so a spare double is a good way to open it.

3. Dump heavy tiles early

A round can end suddenly: someone plays their last tile and everyone else counts what’s left. A 12-12 left in your hand costs 24 points. Spend early turns on high tiles that fit, especially when the choice is between two tiles that both fit the same train.

4. Use doubles, but have the cover ready

A double you lay must be covered before anyone plays anywhere else. Lay one when you hold a tile that covers it, and you get two tiles out in one turn.

On HulaGames, covering the first double on a train also opens both its ends as side branches, so that train has three ends to play on. A double early on your own train gives you more ways to keep playing; the same double on someone else’s open train gives everyone those ways.

Lay one without a cover and you have to draw. If the drawn tile doesn’t fit, your turn ends, your train opens to everyone, and the table plays on your double instead of you.

5. Watch what the others can’t cover

When another player lays a double and can’t cover it, everyone must cover it before playing anywhere else, and that includes you. Keep one tile of each common number when you can, so an open double never forces you to draw.

6. Keep your train closed

Your train opens when you can’t play, even after drawing. While it’s open, anyone can play on it, and their tiles may change the end your chain was waiting for. Play on your own train as soon as you can to close it again.

7. Use other players’ open trains

The flip side: an open train belongs to the whole table. If another player’s train is open and you have a spare that fits, play it there. It costs you nothing and saves your own chain.

8. Count the boneyard

Late in the round, check how many tiles are left to draw. With an empty boneyard, a player who can’t play just passes, so a round can end with everyone stuck. Then the lowest pip count wins it. When the boneyard is nearly gone, shed points, not just tiles.

Try it at three tables

Dominoes on HulaGames plays Mexican Train on a double-12 set against Dot, Rex and Lulu, at Casual, Sharp or Shark. Every tile they draw shows on the table, so you can see the deal is fair. Turbo Train caps each round at three minutes, and Today’s Daily gives everyone the same draw against Rex. Play Dominoes free.