Texas 84 Rules

The basics

Texas 84 is 42 played with two double-six sets shuffled together. Every domino has an identical twin, the hands are longer, and the game takes its name from the points at stake in every hand: 84. Two teams sit in alternating seats, so each player has an opponent on either side.

Texans play it two main ways:

• Four-player 84: all 14 tiles with a blank come out, leaving 42 tiles. Each player draws 10 and two are left face down as the kitty. Tricks score nothing; each double scores 2 points. This is the version in the Sun City Texas club rules from Georgetown.
• Six- or eight-player 84: all 56 tiles are used. Six players draw 9 each with a two-tile kitty; eight players draw 7 each with no kitty. Every bid names its trump suit out loud. This is the version in Keith Mack's book Texas 42: State Domino Game.

Texas 88 is the six-player sibling that scores 2 points a trick instead of points for doubles. The section on where the 84 points come from shows how each total adds up, and the Texas 84 history covers the rest of the two-set family.

The two-set deck

Mix two complete double-six sets face down as one. Keith Mack calls for two identical sets so nobody can tell one copy from the other. The Sun City Texas club does the opposite on purpose: it uses two sets of different colors, and each player draws a fixed number from each color (five and five with four players, five and four with six).

Six or eight players use all 56 tiles. Four players remove both copies of every tile with a blank, from 0-0 through 6-0. That takes out 14 tiles and leaves 42.

Kept in four-player 84: 21 faces, two copies of each (42 tiles)

Removed for four players, kept for six or eight: 7 blank faces, two copies of each (14 tiles)

Without blanks there are six suits, ones through sixes, with 12 tiles each. With all 56 tiles there are seven suits of 14 tiles.

Where the 84 points come from

The count dominoes are the same as in 42: the 5-5 and 6-4 are worth 10 points, and the 5-0, 4-1, and 3-2 are worth 5. With two sets there are two of each, so the full 56-tile deck holds 70 count points. Taking out the blanks removes both 5-0s and leaves 60.

The count dominoes (two copies of each)

The rest of the total comes from tricks or from doubles, and that choice is what names the game:

When doubles score, the 5-5 becomes the heaviest tile in the box: 10 count plus its double bonus makes each copy worth 12 points in four-player 84 and 11 points with six players.

Dealing, seating, and the kitty

Teams alternate around the table: two teams of two with four players (partners sit across from each other), two teams of three with six, and two teams of four with eight. Every player sits between two opponents.

Keith Mack picks the first shaker by having everyone draw one tile; the most pips shakes first. Pagat and the Sun City rules simply say to choose at random. After each hand the shake passes one seat to the left. The shaker mixes the tiles, everyone draws, and the shaker draws last.

Four players draw 10 each and six players draw 9 each. The two tiles left over stay face down in the middle as the kitty until the bidding is over. Eight players draw 7 each, which uses all 56 tiles, so there is no kitty.

Four-player layout

Six-player layout

With eight players the pattern continues, A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B, with 7 tiles each and no kitty.

Bidding and the kitty

As in 42, bidding starts with the player to the shaker's left and goes around the table once. Each player bids or passes one time, and every bid must top the one before it. Pagat's rule for an all-pass hand: the tiles are thrown in and the next player shakes. The two forms of the game differ in what a bid says and in how the kitty works.

Four-player 84

• Bids start at 50. Point bids run up to 84 and promise at least that many points.
• Above 84 you bid marks. In the Sun City rules the first mark bid can be one or two marks, later players raise one mark at a time, and a mark bid means taking all ten tricks.
• The kitty: the high bidder takes the two kitty tiles, keeps them or swaps them for tiles in hand, and must discard two tiles before play starts. Failing to discard forfeits the bid.
• Agree on two things first. The Sun City sheet does not say when trump is named or whether count may go into the discard. In Keith Mack's four-player game (Seventy), nobody names trump during the auction: the high bidder names it after the discard. Mack also bars discarding count or trump unless there is no other choice; a discarded trump is turned face up, and discarded count goes to the opponents.

Six- and eight-player 84

• Bids start at 60 and go up by at least 2 (Mack; Puremco's Texas 88 rules allow even numbers only). The Sun City six-player game opens at 50.
• Every bid names a trump suit along with its number, such as "64 in sixes." You must hold at least one tile of the suit you name. Hearing your teammates' suits is how a team of three or four finds its best trump.
• 84 means every trick. Pagat's general rule: a bid equal to the hand total promises to win all the tricks, and later players can only raise to the next multiple (168, 252), each also an all-tricks bid.
• The kitty (six players): the high bidder looks at the two tiles without showing them and may swap one, both, or neither. A count domino in the kitty must be kept and replaced with a non-count tile from hand (Mack; Puremco). Pagat lifts that limit when the bid is to win every trick. Trump stays the suit named in the winning bid.

Four-player 84 bid ladder (Sun City Texas club rules)

Six- and eight-player 84 bid ladder (Keith Mack)

Twin tiles: first played wins

Every tile has a twin. When both copies of the same tile land on one trick and nothing beats them, the copy played first wins. Every two-set source we have found that covers ties agrees on this: Puremco's Texas 88 rules, Keith Mack's book, Pagat, and Paul Proft's texas42.net.

Example trick (sixes are trump)

Result: North's 6-6 hit the table first, so it beats West's identical 6-6 and North takes the trick. In four-player 84 that trick is worth 4 points, 2 for each double.

The same rule settles a tie when two players trump in with the same tile, or when both copies of the top tile in a suit fall on a trick with no trump. It also changes what a double is worth: holding one copy of the top trump is not the sure winner it is in 42, because it only beats its twin when it is played first.

Trumps and contracts

Any suit can be trump, and every trump suit is twice as long as in 42: 14 tiles with all 56 tiles in play, 12 in the four-player game where the blanks are gone. The order inside a suit is the same as in 42, double first and then down by the other end, with the two copies of each tile side by side.

Beyond a plain trump suit, the contracts vary from table to table:

• Follow Me (no trump): allowed in the Sun City rules. The higher end of the led tile sets the suit, and doubles rank highest in their suits.
• Low: the Sun City rules allow a "low" bid of one mark or more, in which the bidder "must play the lowest domino in order to keep the lead"; if an opponent plays a lower domino, the bid is lost.
• Pistol: Wikipedia notes that in eight-player 84 the bid called nello in 42, a promise to lose every trick, is called "pistol."
• Special contracts in 88: Evelyn Walton reports on Pagat that some groups let a player who bids 88 or more play Follow Me, Nello, or Sevens instead of naming trump. Puremco's 88 rules allow no Nello, Plunge, or forced bid.
• Doubles as trump: the Sun City sheet lists only suits and Follow Me. If your table allows doubles as trump in four-player 84, know that the 12 doubles carry 44 of the 84 points on their own: 24 in double bonuses plus 20 for the two 5-5s.

Playing tricks

The high bidder leads to the first trick with any tile. Play goes clockwise, one tile from each player, and following suit works exactly as in 42:

• If a trump is led, you must play a trump if you have one.
• If a non-trump is led, its higher end sets the suit. A tile showing the trump number is only a trump. Pagat's example: fours are trump and the 5-3 is led, so fives are led. Holding 6-5, 5-4, and 5-0, you must play the 6-5 or the 5-0, because the 5-4 is a four (a trump), not a five.
• If you cannot follow suit, you may play any tile, including a trump.

The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest tile of the led suit if no trump was played, with twins settled by who played first. The winner leads the next trick. A hand runs 10 tricks with four players, 9 with six, and 7 with eight.

Scoring: 7 marks or 500 points

Marks are how most of the rule sheets we found keep score. A made bid earns the bidding team one mark (or the number of marks bid), and a set gives those marks to the opponents. Marks are tallied in strokes spelling ALL, and the first team to 7 marks wins. The Sun City rules score marks only.

Points are the other way. Puremco's Texas 88 rules play to 500, and Pagat spells out how the points work. On a point bid that is made, both teams score the points they took. On a set, the bidding team scores nothing and the opponents score their points plus the amount of the bid. On an all-tricks bid, the bid value goes to the bidders if they take every trick and to the opponents if they don't.

Scoring worked example

Eight players, tricks worth 2 points, with the same four hands scored both ways:

On hand 2, Team A scores the 24 points it took plus Team B's bid of 66. In marks, the set 168 bid gives Team A two marks.

Starter strategy

• Count in pairs. Every important tile has a twin, so track whether none, one, or both copies have been played. Seeing one 6-4 fall does not mean the ten points are gone.
• Lead a lone double early. If you hold one copy of the top trump and its twin is still out, play it while you have the lead. If an opponent leads the twin first, yours loses to it.
• Protect the 5-5 in four-player 84. Each copy is worth 12 points. If the other team takes one, the most your team can reach is 72, so any bid above 72 is already lost.
• Use the kitty to shape your hand. With six players you cannot discard count, so use the two discards to empty a short side suit you can then trump. In four-player 84, check your table's rule before discarding count: under Mack's rule it goes to the opponents.
• Let your bids talk. When every bid names a suit, your bid tells your teammates where your strength is. Joyce Talbott shared a bidding code on Pagat for a four-player two-set game called 80: 50 long suit, no double; 54 one double and three trumps; 55 one double and four trumps; 60 two doubles; 63 two doubles and three trumps; 59 "partner go marks." In a Follow Me bid, the second digit names the double held: 55 Follow Me shows one 5-5, 65 shows both.