"Long before the days of the automobile," residents of South Butler, New York, played 42. Cited sources indicated the game might have come to South Butler via travellers from Galveston and/or Houston sometime after 1845, possibly before 1886.

"Some sources say that the game was first played about 1885, near the resort city of Mineral Wells, Texas ... where the lobbies of the great tourist hotels were crowded with 'Texas 42' players."