42
42 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Players and Equipment
42 is played by four players in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit across the table from each other, so that the seating order alternates between the two teams.
The game uses a double-six domino set: 28 tiles, one for every possible pairing of the numbers 0 (blank) through 6, including the six "doubles" (0-0, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6).
Rank and Suit of Dominoes
Each domino belongs to one or two of seven suits, corresponding to the numbers 0 through 6. A domino showing two different numbers (for example the 5-2) belongs to both the suit of its higher number and the suit of its lower number, depending on how it is used in play. A double (such as 4-4) belongs only to its own suit and is normally the highest-ranking member of that suit.
One suit is chosen as trump for the hand (see Bidding, below). Every domino bearing that number becomes a trump, taken out of its ordinary suit entirely. Among the trumps, the double of the trump number ranks highest, and the rest rank according to the other number on the tile. For example, if 3s are trump, the trump suit from highest to lowest is: 3-3, 6-3, 5-3, 4-3, 3-2, 3-1, 3-0.
Dominoes that are not trump keep their ordinary suit membership and, within a suit, rank by the other number on the tile below the double. For example, if 3s are trump, the 5s suit (5-3 having been removed into the trumps) ranks from highest to lowest: 5-5, 6-5, 5-4, 5-2, 5-1, 5-0.
When a non-trump domino is led to a trick, it is considered to belong only to the suit of its higher number. For example, if 3s are trump and the 6-5 is led, it counts only as a 6, not as a 5. However, when a player must follow suit to a lead, a non-trump domino in that player's hand may be played to follow either of the two suits it touches: the same 6-5, held in a player's hand, can be played to follow a lead of 6s or a lead of 5s. A domino containing the trump number is always trump and never counts as its other suit for any purpose, whether led or held.
A double that is not trump is the highest member of its own suit, but it can only win a trick by being led, since any other domino of that number which is led counts as the lower, non-double suit member for matching purposes — for instance, if blanks are not trump, the 0-0 in hand is the top blank, but a blank domino led by an opponent (such as 6-0) is treated as a low member of the 6s suit, not as an entry into the blanks suit.
Values of Dominoes
Certain dominoes carry point value in addition to winning tricks:
- Each domino whose two ends total 10 pips (5-5, 6-4) is worth 10 points to whichever side captures it in a trick.
- Each domino whose two ends total 5 pips (5-0, 4-1, 3-2) is worth 5 points to whichever side captures it in a trick.
- Every trick won, regardless of which dominoes it contains, is worth 1 point to the side that wins it.
There are two 10-point dominoes (6-4 and 5-5) and three 5-point dominoes (5-0, 4-1, and 3-2), for 35 points of counting dominoes in total. Added to the seven 1-point tricks, this brings the total points available in a hand to 42 — hence the game's name.
The Deal
The first dealer is chosen at random; afterward the deal passes to the left (clockwise) after each hand.
To deal, the dealer turns all 28 dominoes face down and mixes them thoroughly on the table (colloquially "shuffling" or "washing" the dominoes). Each player then draws seven dominoes and stands them on edge, arranged so their own values are visible only to their owner. By custom, the dealer's two opponents draw their dominoes first, then the dealer's partner, and the dealer draws last.
The Bidding
Bidding proceeds once around the table, starting with the player to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise. Each player gets exactly one turn to bid or pass, and each bid must exceed the previous bid.
The minimum opening bid is 30, meaning the bidder's partnership commits to winning at least 30 of the 42 available points in tricks. Bids continue upward one point at a time: 31, 32, 33, and so on through 41. Above 41 come bids in marks: 1 mark (equivalent to committing to all 42 points), 2 marks, 3 marks, and so on.
Any bid of 1 mark or higher obligates the bidding side to win every trick (all 42 points) — unless the bidder instead elects one of the special contracts (Nello, Plunge, or Sevens) described below.
The highest bid a player may open with, or reach by ordinary raises, is 2 marks — except when a player intends to bid Plunge, which requires opening at 4 marks (or jumping to 4 marks over any lower bid, or to 5 marks if 4 has already been bid). Once someone bids 2 marks, later players may continue bidding 3 marks, 4 marks, and beyond in the normal sequence.
If every player passes without a bid, the hand is abandoned (the dominoes are "thrown in") and the deal moves to the next player.
The Play
The winning bidder ("declarer") announces which suit is trump, or, if their bid was 1 mark or higher, may instead announce one of the special contracts described below.
Declarer leads to the first trick. Every other player must follow suit if able — that is, play a domino belonging to the suit that was led. A player with no domino of the led suit may play any domino from their hand, including a trump. A trick is won by the highest trump played to it; if no trump was played, the trick is won by the highest domino of the suit that was led. Whoever wins a trick leads to the next one.
Completed tricks are kept face up on the table to one side, in front of a member of the team that won them, arranged in the order they were played so any player can review them. When declarer's contract calls for taking every trick, declarer may choose to stack the tricks — placing the third trick atop the first, the fourth atop the second, and so on — so that only the two most recent tricks for that side remain visible at once, saving table space and making it harder for opponents to review earlier tricks.
Special Contracts
A player intending to play a special contract does not announce it as part of the bid itself — they simply bid the required number of marks as usual. Only after the bidding is finished does the winning bidder name the special contract, if any.
Nello
A declarer who bid 1 mark or higher may declare Nello: a contract to lose every trick rather than win them. Declarer's partner takes no part in the hand — that player turns all seven of their dominoes face down and sits out. There is no trump suit in Nello. Instead, doubles form their own suit, ranking from the 6-6 (highest) down to the 0-0 (lowest). Play otherwise follows the normal rules: a lead of a double must be followed with a double if the player holds one; a lead of a non-double is followed according to its higher number, and a player may not play a double to such a lead unless they hold no domino of the suit led.
Plunge
To declare Plunge, declarer must hold at least four doubles. Rather than declarer choosing trump, declarer's partner names the trump suit, judging only from their own hand and with no hint from declarer about which suit to pick. Once the partner announces trump, declarer leads to the first trick. The partnership must take all seven tricks to succeed.
Bidding Plunge requires a bid of at least 4 marks — this is the one case in which a player may open the bidding above 2 marks, or jump straight to 4 marks over a lower bid (or to 5 marks if 4 marks has already been bid). A later player may still outbid a 4-mark Plunge bid with 5 marks and choose to play a normal all-tricks contract or Nello instead; that 5-mark bid can likewise be overcalled by 6 marks, and so on.
Sevens
Sevens is another special contract available to a declarer who bid 1 mark or more. Declarer leads to each trick, and every player, in turn, must play whichever domino from their hand has a pip total closest to seven. The trick is won by whoever played the domino closest to seven; if there is a tie, the first such domino played wins. The winner of each trick leads to the next. Declarer's side must win every trick to succeed. Because every player is required to play their closest-to-seven domino, there is no decision-making in Sevens — the outcome is fixed once the dominoes are dealt.
The Scoring
Scoring for the standard game is kept in marks, not raw points.
- If the winning bid was between 30 and 42 (1 mark), and the declarer's side makes its bid, that side scores 1 mark.
- If the winning bid was higher than 1 mark (2 marks, 3 marks, etc.), and declarer's side makes its bid, that side scores that number of marks.
- If declarer's side fails to make its bid, the contract is said to be "set," and the opposing side scores the same number of marks the declarer's side would have scored had they succeeded.
The game ends as soon as one partnership's total reaches seven marks or more.
By tradition, marks are recorded by drawing the letters of the word "ALL" one stroke at a time — the first mark is the left stroke of the "A," the second the right stroke, the third the crossbar, the fourth the first stroke of the first "L," and so on — so that the first side to complete the word "ALL" is the winner. Some players mark the final point by saying, "That's it, that's ALL, there ain't no more."
When played for stakes, it is customary for the losing side to pay the winners an agreed amount for every mark by which they fell short of seven, plus an additional amount for every hand in which they were set. Marks above seven for the winning side are not counted for payment purposes, and the number of times the winning side was set (if any occurred before they reached seven) does not reduce their winnings. For example, if the stakes are $0.25 per mark short and $1.00 per set, and the winners finish 7 marks to 4, having been set once themselves along the way, the losers owe the winners 3 marks short × $0.25 plus 1 set × $1.00 = $1.75.
Variations
No Trump (Follow Me)
Instead of naming a trump suit, the winning bidder may choose to play with no trump suit at all, in one of two forms:
- Doubles high — each double remains the highest domino of its own suit, as in the standard game.
- Doubles low — each double becomes the lowest domino of its own suit; for example, the double six would then rank below every other domino in the six suit, including the 6-0.
Play proceeds as usual, except that since there is no trump suit, every trick is won simply by the highest domino of the suit that was led. Some groups only permit a No Trump declaration when the bid requires taking all the tricks (1 mark/42 or higher); others allow it on any bid of 30 or above.
Doubles Trump
Rather than naming a numbered suit as trump, the winning bidder may declare doubles as trump. In this case the six doubles form their own suit, ranking from 6-6 (highest) down to 0-0 (lowest). If a double is led, the other players must follow with a double if they hold one; a player holding no double may discard any domino at all, even one that would otherwise belong to the suit matching the lead (for example, discarding a 3-2 on a leading 6-6 even while still holding other sixes). If a non-double domino is led, a player may not play a double to it (trumping) unless that player holds no domino of the suit actually led — so, for instance, if the 6-5 is led and a player holds the 6-6 and 6-4 but no other six, that player must follow suit with the 6-4 and cannot trump with the double; but if that player held no sixes at all, any double could be played to win the trick.
Rank of Doubles in Nello
Some groups let the Nello declarer choose among several ways of ranking doubles, announced before the first trick is led:
- Doubles high — each double is the top domino of its own suit.
- Doubles low — each double is the bottom domino of its own suit.
- Doubles take doubles — doubles form a separate suit ranking from 6-6 (high) to 0-0 (low).
- Doubles take doubles, inverted — doubles form a separate suit ranking from 0-0 (high) to 6-6 (low).
Options 1 and 2 are played exactly like No Trump (Follow Me) above. Options 3 and 4 require a led double to be followed with a double when possible, but there remains no trump suit. Different groups permit different subsets of these four options — some allow only option 3, others options 1 and 3, others 1, 2 and 3, and some allow all four.
Plunge and Splash
One reported variation values Plunge at 3 marks rather than 4, and has declarer's partner lead to the first trick after naming trump (rather than declarer leading). This variation also adds a further special contract called Splash, worth 2 marks: identical to Plunge except the bidder needs only three doubles rather than four, and again the partner names trump and leads, with all seven tricks required to win. Under this variation, some groups let the partner in a Plunge or Splash choose No Trump, Sevens, or one of the Nello rankings instead of naming a trump suit — if Nello is chosen this way, declarer leads and declarer's partner sits out face down as usual.
Forced Bid
Many groups require that if the first three players all pass, the fourth player (the dealer) must bid rather than allow the hand to be thrown in.
Without Special Contracts
Some groups do not permit Nello, Plunge, or Sevens at all. Others permit Nello only when the dealer was forced to bid after the other three players passed.
Opening Lead — Small End Opening
Some groups allow "small end opening": on the very first trick only, declarer may lead a non-trump domino and declare that, for this lead, it counts as belonging to the suit of its lower number rather than its higher number. For example, holding the 1-1 and the 6-1 while trump is 5s, declarer could lead the 6-1 and declare it a one — a lead that cannot be beaten except by a trump. Most players agree declarer may lead a non-trump to the first trick in the ordinary way (counting by its higher number, as usual); a minority require the opening lead to be a trump.
42 With Bidding and Scoring by Points
In this variant, bids run from 30 up to 42, then jump to 84, then 168 (a bid of 168 is only permitted once someone has already bid 84).
For any bid below 42: if declarer's side makes its bid, both sides score the number of points they actually captured in tricks. If declarer's side falls short, declarer's side scores zero, and the opposing side scores the points they captured plus the full amount of declarer's bid.
For bids of 42, 84, or 168: if declarer's side succeeds, that side scores the full bid; if declarer is set, the opponents score the amount of declarer's bid, but nothing extra for whatever tricks they themselves captured.
In this scoring form it is not possible for all four players to pass — if the first three players pass, the dealer is required to bid.
This version also has a contract called Low-No, equivalent to Nello in the marks-based game, but with two restrictions: only the dealer may bid it, and only after the other three players have all passed. If successful, declarer's side scores 42 points; if declarer is forced to take even one trick, the opposing side scores 42 points instead.
The special contracts Plunge and Sevens are not used in this scoring form. Instead of naming a trump suit, the winning bidder has two further options, in each case still needing to reach the number of points bid (or take every trick, if the bid is 42 or higher):
- No trumps — exactly as in the standard No Trump variant: doubles remain the highest domino of their suit, and every other domino belongs to two suits depending on how it is led or followed.
- Doubles — the six doubles form a trump suit ranking 6-6 (high) down to 0-0 (low). A led double must be followed with a double if possible; doubles do not belong to their ordinary suits, so a domino such as the 4-2 cannot be beaten by the 4-4 as trump unless the follower is out of dominoes containing a 4, in which case any domino may be played.