Domino Basics of Texas 42

42, otherwise known as Texas 42, is a game of trick-taking played with a regular 6-6 domino tiles. It was introduced in 1887 in Trappe Springs (presently Garner), Texas, by a 12-year old and 14-year old boys namely William Thomas and Walter Earl respectively. They belonged to a firm traditional Southern Baptist sect banned from playing cards.

42 is often called the "national game of Texas," and still remains to be very popular in Texas - within and around College Station and Austin, specifically, in the region of Fort Worth-Dallas. Most towns hold tournaments, and the State Championship tournament annually played in Hallettsville during the principal Saturday of March.

Lets take a look at the rules:

Object

Four people, subdivided into two teams with two members per team, who sit across each other. The game is played towards the goal of becoming the first team to score seven points. The game contains a number of hands, with individual worth equal to more than a mark, highly dependent on the bid. But, it is vital to remember that 42, just like any other game, has in most cases, been changed by certain groups or families, which results to many variations on the initial name.

The Bid

Before the start of play, individual players place a "bid" on the number of points they will attempt to win by "catching" tricks. The lowest possible bid is 30. A pass may also be allowed (that is no bid is made). When all players pass, the dealer has no choice but to bid. Because the maximum number of points in a single game is 42, the highest bid is 42. A player may bid 84, but is assumed that the bidding player needs to catch all the tricks, and the outcome will be piled up on one another as the game progresses, in order to keep the player from being shown what has already been shown. When the bidding winner declares the trump, a strategy that is used is to bid as high as possible if a player has majority of the dominoes in one specific suit.

Scoring

One trick has a value of one point. Count pieces (tiles whose spots total five or ten) are equivalent to that number of points: the 0-5, 1-4 and 2-3 scores five points each; the 5-5 and 6-4 are has a value of ten. The accumulated score of all the count pieces (35) and the additional seven tricks totals 42, which signifies the number of points in a single hand, thus the name of the domino variation.