The Official Lechner Hall 42 Rules
I. Games that can be played
A. Sevens: First person to play domino closest to seven wins
B. Low / Nillo / No Catchem:
1. Doubles can be called:
a) high in suit
b) low in suit
c) a suit of their own (double six high)
d) a suit of their own rank inverted (double six
low double blank high)
C. No Trump / Follow Me:
1. Doubles can be called
a) High
b) Low
D. Straight 42:
1. You must call trumps
2. Only one trump can be called
3. Double are high in their suit
E. Plunge:must have four
doubles
F. Splash: Must have three doubles
II. General Rules and Rules of the games:
A. Bidding
1. Bidding minimum at all times
a. 1 mark follow me, sevens, nillo
b. 30 for straight 42
c. 4 marks for plunge
d. 3 marks for splash
2. You may pass, unless you have last bid and no one has bid
3. The winner of the bid calls the game to be played (except when a plunge
or splash is called) see rules II.B.l
4. To call "sevens" or "Nillo,"
you must bid at least one mark
5. No one can raise a bid by more than two marks at a time unless they are
plunging or splashing where they must raise the bid by 4 or 3 marks
respectively. For example-a player bids 30, the most
the next player may bid is two marks, the next four marks, and so on.
B. Rules of Splash and Plunge
1. The bidder's partner (without table talk) must call trump and lead
(unless Nillo is called)
a. Any suit can be called trump
b. Sevens can be called
c. No trump can be called
d. Nillo can be called (as well as what doubles
are) by the bidder's partner and the original bidder must lead. Play continues
like normal Nillo.
C. Sevens:
1. Place dominoes in order of the following formula:
let x= total # of dots on domino y=|x-7|
Play dominoes in order of smallest to greatest y (In other words play
dominoes in order of you closest domino to seven)
2. Bidder or his partner must be First to play closest domino to
seven.
D. Low / Nillo / No Catchem:
1. The bidder plays the game w/out his/her partner's help
a. The partner simply lays his/her dominoes down throughout the game
2. The person playing "Nillo" leads on
the first trick
3. All players must follow suit at all times
a. If you can't follow suit, play anything
b. if doubles are a suit of their own:
1. When a double is led, everyone must playa double if they have one.
2. In doubles are a suit of their own, the double
six is the biggest in the suit and the double blank is the lowest
3. In doubles are a suit of their own, rank
inverted, the double six is the lowest and the double blank is the biggest.
4. If the person playing Nillo catches any trick,
he is set and the other team gets however many marks were bid in Nillo
E. Follow Me / No Trump.
1. Everyone must follow suit
2. No trump exists. Biggest domino played in the suit win
3. The person bidding and his partner must win every trick
4. Doubles are highest i.e, double six bigger
than the six:five
5. If doubles are called low in their suit then they are lowest i.e, the double six would be lower than the blank:six domino
6. Doubles can't be a suit of their own
F. Straight (forty-two):
1. The winning bidder calls trump and leads.
2. Trumps are a suit of their own i.e, if one's
are called trump and the blank:one
is led, you must play a domino with a one on it unless you have none.
3. Every Player must follow suit that is led (the highest number on the
first domino played in the trick is the suit, unless the lower number was
called trump)
a) If you can't follow suit you may play any domino including a trump
4. The bidding team must catch(win) at least the
number of points they bid based on the following scoring system:
a) Each domino whose dot total is a multiple of 5
(e.g. the 1:4 and 5:5) is worth its dot sum
b) Each trick (collection offour dominoes) is
worth 1 pt
5. If the bidding team does not catch at least their bid, they are set and
the opposing team gains the bidder's bid. (Bids ranging from 30-42 are each
worth one mark on the scoring sheet)
III. Game Set up
A. The game is played with a standard set of doubles six (28 count)
dominoes.
B. Players will rotate shaking the dominoes
C. The Person to the left of the shaker has first bid and bidding (as well
as playing) proceeds in a clockwise manner.
D. As a courtesy, the
shaking team will refrain from drawing their dominoes until the other
team has each drawn their seven dominoes.
E. The winner must win the game by two marks.
IV. Outlawed Games
A. Low Boy
B. Inverted Low Boy-also Big Bertha
C. Multiple trumps 42
D. Cajun Hokey Pokey
E. West Texas Rules
F. East Lansing deferred style Nillo
G. Eagle eye
H. Naperville Onesies
These rules were created by Matt Hurt and
<a href::="mailto:eliot@cyberdude.com>Eliot
Williams at Lechner Hall, Texas A&M University for use in the Lechner
Hall 42 Tournament for the 1992-1993 academic year.
This information is NOT Copyrighted and is
deemed to be in the Public Domain.
