How to play 42

The Basics (Why is it called 42?)

Fourty-two is played by four players divided into two teams, where the player opposite you is your partner. There are 28 dominoes in a pack, which gives each player 7 dominoes. As a result, each "hand" is divided into 7 "tricks", where each player plays one of his/her dominoes. Whoever played the highest domino wins the trick and takes all the dominoes for his/her team.

The most important thing about 42 is how the points are scored. Each team gets one point for every trick they get, making the most number of points you can get (so far) 7 points. In addition to that, some dominoes are worth a special bonus. If the dots on the domino add up to a multiple of 5, it scores that many points. So, the 5-5 and 6-4 score 10 points while the 5-0, 4-1, and 3-2 score 5 points. These dominoes are called "count" because they count for extra points.

Those points go to the team that gets them in a trick. So, the highest possible score you can get is 7, plus 20 for the two 10-point dominoes, plus 15 for the three 5-point dominoes. 7 + 20 + 15 = 42. For example, look at the following list of tricks and how they are scored:

This gives Team A 24 points (6 + 16 + 1 + 1) and Team B 18 points (6 + 11 + 1).

Game Play (Is it my turn already?)

As mentioned earlier, each game of 42 is split up into a number of hands, or deals of the dominoes. Each hand goes something like this:

1. One player, designated the dealer, "shuffles" the dominoes facedown. After the dealer is done, the dealer's opponents each get 7 dominoes, followed by the dealer's partner, and then the dealer himself.
2. After each player has 7 dominoes, a round of bidding begins, starting with the player to the dealer's left. We will talk more about bidding later, but basically each player bids how many points he thinks his team can get in that hand. If a player doesn't want to bid, he/she can "pass." Bidding only goes around once, so the dealer is always the last to bid.
3. Whoever bids the highest then gets to announce trumps (more on that later) and play the first domino.
4. For each trick, the person who wins it gets the "lead", which is just a fancy word for playing the first domino.
5. After the hand is over, if the bid-winner's team made their bid, they get one point (called a "mark"). If they didn't make their bid, their opponents get a mark.
6. The game is played until one team reaches seven (or more) marks.

The two most important things to remember about game play is that (1) the player to the left of the dealer always bids first and (2) the player to win the trick gets to lead in the next trick.

Winning Tricks (How do I know what domino is highest?)

Determining who won a particular trick can be difficult to learn at first. Here we are just going to consider ordinary "Plain Jane" 42, but remember that there are exceptions to these rules. They will be covered under the section called "Special Contracts."

Whenever a domino is lead, it has a particular "suit", like the suits in a deck of cards. The suit of a lead domino is the largest number on it. For example, 6-4 is a six, 4-3 is a four, and 1-5 is a five.

After that domino is lead, every domino after it must be the same suit if possible. This is called "following suit." For these later dominoes, the number doesn't have to be the highest, it just has to be there. For example, if a 1-1 was lead, the suit for the trick is ones, so a 1-5 would be a one, not a five. If that 1-1 was lead and you had 1-5, 6-6, 5-5, 3-2, 3-0, 4-2, and 5-0, you would be forced to play the 1-5 since that is your only one. You must follow suit.

The winner of the trick is the person who plays the highest domino in that suit. The order goes by the other number on the domino. So if you lead a 4-3 and the other dominoes played are a 4-2, 4-1, and 6-4, the 6-4 will win it since 6 is higher than 3, 2, or 1. There is one exception: doubles. Doubles are always the highest domino in a suit, so if the 4-4 was played it would win, even if the 6-4 or 5-4 was played.

In every hand, there is a special suit called trumps. The person who wins the bid always says which suit it is (whether it's fives, threes, or whatever). Trumps are valued higher than dominoes in the suit. So, going with our previous example, if 4-3 is lead and somebody plays 4-2, 4-1, and 6-4, and if twos are trumps, then the 4-2 wins it even though it's not highest.

Trumps are always trumps, even if they happen to match the suit that is played. So, if the player that played the 4-2 also had a 2-1 (with twos as trumps), he/she isn't required to play the 4-2. The 4-2 isn't a four in that case --- it's a trump. Also note that if that player had another four, he/she would be forced to play it instead since you have to follow suit when you can. Playing the 4-2 would not be following suit.

If more than one trump is played, the highest trump (using the rules for regular suits) wins the trick. The double-trump can never lose a trick since there is nothing higher.

You can also choose to call no trumps (also known as "follow me") and to call doubles as trumps (meaning that doubles are not in any suit - all of them are trumps - so the six is highest in every suit).

These rules make a lot more sense when you actually start playing. :-)

Bidding Rules (What should I bid?)

Bidding is by far the most difficult skill to master. Knowing how much to bid and what to call as trumps can only be learned through experience. The actual rules themselves are fairly simple:

• The lowest bid anyone can make is 30. The second-highest opening bid is 42, meaning that you think your team can get all the dominoes in this hand. You can actually go higher than that by bidding 84 (also called "two marks"), where you have to get all the dominoes and the hand counts double. (So, if you win you get two marks, but if you lose your opponents get two marks.)
• As the bid goes around the table, it must increase. (Why would you bid lower? You know you're going to lose! You can't bid the same, either.) So, if you are not prepared to go over the highest bid so far, you can "pass", which means you're not going to bid.
• If everyone has passed when the bid gets around to the dealer, the dealer must bid so that the hand can continue. This is called a "forced bid." The dealer can bid anything at all, but it's smart to only bid 30.
• If the bid reaches marks, you can outbid it only by increasing the number of marks by one. So, only a "3 mark" bid can outbid a "2 mark" bid. "3 marks" would mean that the winner of the hand gets three marks instead of just one.
• No trumps are announced until everyone has bid or passed. Then the bid-winner, and the winner only, announces what the trumps will be for this hand.

A good way to know what to bid is to think about how many points you can afford to lose. If you bid 30 you can lose up to 12 points. If you bid 32, you have to catch the 5-5 and 6-4 because you can only lose up to 10 points. (Losing those dominoes gives your opponents 11 points --- 10 points for the count plus one for the trick.) If you bid 37, you have to catch all the count, etc.

Special Contracts (What the #@%$ is that?)

There are some additional rules that can be added to the game for variation. Most people play with some of these rules. Some people play with all of these rules. It is good to know them in case they ever come up. Special contracts are announced in lieu of announcing a trump at the beginning of a hand, and they are always played for marks (a 42 bid or higher).

Nelo:

When you go "nelo" (aka "going low"), you try to lose all of the tricks instead of win them. If you catch a single trick, you lose the mark. Your partner doesn't play any dominoes, so you don't have to worry about them messing it up for you. There are no trumps, and you lead the first trick.

Traditionally, you are able to change the rank of doubles in a suit whenever you call nelo. You can leave doubles normal ("doubles take the trick" or "doubles high"), make them the lowest domino in the suit ("doubles low"), or make them not in the suit at all ("doubles are a suit of their own"). Not everyone plays with each of these options. Not too many people play "doubles low", and some will only allow doubles as a suit of their own. Make sure to ask before you start the game.

Plunge:

When you call plunge, you must have four doubles in your hand. Without you saying anything about what you have, your partner picks the trumps and leads the first domino. If you plunge, you have to bid four marks (or higher if that's already been reached). This is the only exception to the two mark limit on bids. This is usually an act of desperation, like blind nil in Spades.

Note: some people will limit plunge (and splash - see below) to two marks instead of four so as to keep the normal two mark limit.

Splash:

This is the same as plunge, except it only requires three doubles in your hand and only a three mark bid. Many people will play plunge but not splash, so be certain it's okay before you call it.

Sevens:

When you call sevens, forget all the rules of normal 42. In each trick, each player will play the domino in their hand whose pip total (number of "dots") is closest to 7. The player that plays the domino closest to 7 wins the trick and gets to lead the next one. If there's a tie, the player that played theirs first wins. Note that the total itself doesn't matter -- only how close it is to 7 matters. So, a 6 and an 8 count the same since they are both "one away."

I never play sevens if I can help it.

Table Manners (but this ain't no Emily Post!)

There are some unwritten rules that you are expected to follow when you play. They have nothing to do with the rules of the game itself, but are more of a manners issue.

• Don't "talk across the table." --- In other words, don't reveal what you have in your hand until the hand is over. You can do this without realizing it, so watch what you say.

• If the hand is over, "lay it down." --- If you've already met your bid or you're guaranteed to win the rest of the dominoes, stop playing. If you haven't already met your bid, you need to lay your dominoes face-up so that everyone can see them, just to prove you will win it no matter what. For example, if all the trumps have been played, you have nothing but doubles, and you have the lead, there is no possible way you can lose. Just show the doubles to the rest of the players so the game can go on. Or, if you only need one more point to make your bid and you have the highest remaining trump, just show that trump to prove you will make the bid. The purpose of this is to stop the game from dragging on unnecessarily.

• Don't "renig." --- The old saying goes, "a domino laid is a domino played." If you realize that you could have played a better domino, you can't take back your domino. If you realize you failed to follow suit and it's correctable, you can switch them out, but otherwise it's an automatic forfeit of that hand.

• Don't change your bid. --- Some players will increase their bid if the person that bids after them takes a long time to think. It's used as a pressure tactic. It's rude - don't do it.

• Don't bid out of turn. --- Some players will pass before it gets to be their turn, or they'll say "one over (some player)". Bid on your turn only.

• Stack two marks and above --- If a bid gets to be two marks or higher, stack the dominoes in the middle so that only the last two tricks are showing. This is usually optional. Similarly, for bids under two marks, always let everyone see what dominoes you've already won.