Domino & Texas 42 Definitions

If you have never handled dominoes, start here. Each entry builds toward Texas 42. For full rules, see How to play.

Dominoes are not playing cards. They are thick tiles you can stand on edge. Texas 42 uses them like a deck for a four-player partnership trick-taking game.

The physical tiles

Domino (domino tile, piece): A small, stiff rectangle, usually plastic or bone in the old days, divided into two square ends. Each end shows a pattern of round dots or is blank.
Bone, rock: Informal names for any domino tile. You may hear “wash the bones” for shuffle.
Pip (spot, dot): One round mark on an end of a tile. Pips are arranged in standard patterns so you can read the value at a glance, like the pips on a die.
End (side, half): One square half of a domino. A tile always has exactly two ends. The two ends can show the same count of pips or different counts.
Bar (center line): The shallow groove or printed line down the middle of the tile that separates the two ends.

Sets and numbers

Double (doublet): A domino whose both ends show the same number of pips, such as 3-3 or 6-6. In ordinary “train” domino games, doubles are often played across the line; in 42 they behave like the top card of a suit.
Non-double: A tile with two different values on its ends, such as 5-2. In 42 it belongs to two different “suits” at once until trump is chosen.
Blank (zero, white, naught): An end with no pips. In 42, blanks are still a real value: they form the “blanks suit” alongside ones through sixes.
Double-six set: The standard set for Texas 42. It contains one tile for every pair of numbers from blank through six, including all doubles. That is 28 tiles total.
Rank (value 0–6): The seven possible counts on an end: blank (0) through six. Texas 42 never uses sevens or eights on the tiles.

Shuffle, deal, hand

Shuffle (wash, shake, stir): To mix all tiles face down on the table so nobody knows who holds what. Players draw or are dealt from the mixed pile.
Deal: To give each player their tiles for the hand. In 42, every tile is dealt: four players each get seven dominoes. There is no leftover “boneyard” in standard 42.
Hand: The set of tiles you currently hold, hidden from opponents. Your partner also cannot see your tiles unless a special rule says otherwise.
On edge: How you usually hold dominoes in 42: standing so you see your faces and others see only the backs.
Dealer: The player who shuffles (or supervises the shuffle) and distributes tiles for that hand. The turn to deal usually rotates.

Table and partnerships

Partnership: Two fixed teams of two players. Partners sit across from each other so they never sit side by side.
Partner: Your teammate for the whole game. You share the score; you do not share tiles.
Opponents: The other partnership, the two players who are not on your team.
North–South vs East–West: A common way to describe seats on paper: one diagonal pair is a team, the other diagonal is the other team. Your living-room table works the same way once partners face each other.

Tricks, suits, trump

Trick: One round of play where each of the four players plays one tile in turn. The trick has a winner who takes those four tiles (usually stacked as a won trick) and leads the next trick.
Lead (lead the trick): To play the first tile of a trick. The lead sets the suit others must follow when they can.
Suit (in Texas 42): One of seven families of tiles defined by a number: blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes. A “six” tile is any tile that shows a six on at least one end. A non-double belongs to two suits at once (both numbers on it) until trump is named.
Trump: A suit (or special call) named by the high bidder that beats non-trump tiles for the rest of that hand. If sixes are trump, every tile showing a six is a trump for that deal.
Follow suit: To play a tile that belongs to the led suit when you have one. If you cannot follow, you may play another tile legally (often including trump).
Play (lay, pitch): To put one tile face up on the table on your turn as part of a trick.
Discard (slough, throw off): To play a tile that is not in the led suit because you are out of that suit. It usually cannot win unless it is trump.
Win the trick: Your tile takes the trick according to the rules: highest trump wins if any trump was played; otherwise highest tile in the led suit wins.

Bidding and scoring

Bid: A number or “mark” call that promises how many points or tricks your side will take if you win the auction. Higher bids outrank lower ones in the one pass each player gets.
Pass: To decline to bid higher. After you pass you are out of the auction for that hand.
Declarer (bidder, high bidder): The player who wins the auction. That player names trump (or the agreed contract) and leads the first trick unless a variant says otherwise.
Contract: The obligation created by the winning bid: your side must take enough points or tricks to “make” it.
Make (make the bid): To succeed: your partnership captures at least the points (or all tricks) you promised.
Set (got set): To fail the contract: the opponents kept enough points or tricks that you did not reach your bid.
Mark: A unit on the score line in a marks game. First side to seven marks (often tallied as the letters ALL) wins the match.
Point (in 42 scoring): A scoring unit inside a hand. Each trick is worth one point toward the 42 available, and five special tiles add extra “count” points.
Count domino (counter, count tile): One of five tiles whose pips total five or ten; they are worth 5 or 10 points to whoever wins them in tricks. Together with seven trick points they sum to 42.
Trick point: One point awarded to the side that wins a trick, regardless of which dominoes it contains. Seven tricks, seven trick points.
Forty-two points: The total value in every hand: 35 from count dominoes plus 7 from tricks. The game is named after that total.

Calls and variants

Follow Me (no-trump): A contract with no trump suit—it is not a trump call and not an eighth suit next to blanks–sixes. Tricks are won by the highest tile of the suit led, with doubles ranking highest in their own suits. Not every tournament allows it on every bid level.
Doubles as trump: A home-table option where only the seven doubles are trumps for the hand. It is not N42PA tournament play; Follow Me 42 plans to offer it only in unranked social games.
Nello (Nil-O, low): A house-rule contract to lose every trick. It is barred in N42PA tournaments. Follow Me 42 may add it later for casual tables only.
Renege: To play illegally when you could have followed suit. It forfeits the hand and awards the marks at stake to the other side.

Table slang

These names vary by county. Treat them as color, not law; always confirm house rules.

Aces, deuces, treys, …: Spoken names for the ones, twos, threes (and so on) on the tile. Blanks are often “windows,” “nils,” or “zeros.”
Shooter, shooting: A bold high bid, or the player who made it. “Double shooter” sometimes means a very high mark bid.
Spite bid: A bid made mainly to deny an opponent the trump they want, not because the hand is strong.
Off (offs): Tiles in your hand that are not trump and may be weak or awkward for the contract.
Bull, cow, calf: Nicknames tied to the double of a trump suit and the tiles just under it in local jargon.
Dime, nickel: Slang for count worth ten or five points.
Grease, sugar, money: Colorful names for count dominoes or the points they carry.
Lay down, walk: To expose your remaining tiles because you believe they cannot lose. A mistake here costs the game on most tables.