Texas 42 HD

Welcome to the Official State Domino game of Texas! Texas 42 is a trick taking game similar to bridge or spades. Invented in the late 1880s, it has become a tradition across generations of players.

Category	Price	Seller	Device
Games	$2.99	Mike Emery	iPad

The sole motivator for the development of this app has been to create an AI that doesn't make the users wish they spent their 2 dollars on a soda instead of frustrating computer play. Much work has been made into creating an AI that makes the same moves you would. Since you don't have the same play style as everyone else, you can set each computer player to have one of 3 specified play styles "Conservative", "Normal", or "Aggressive". You can mix and match these styles as you see fit and can change them at any time in the game.

A conservative player will tend to bid lower than the rest of the players. Its main focus when it has the lead is to draw all the trumps in play before moving on to non-trumps. If the conservative player does not have the highest trump, it will tend to lead with a junk/punt tile to draw out the higher ones, while holding on to tiles with count until it knows it can win with them.

A normal player will tend to bid higher than a conservative player. Its main focus is holding on to its trumps for cases where count is on the table. If it does not have the highest trump it will tend to attempt to punt to its teammate.

An aggressive player is a mixture of the two. It tends to push the bid to 31 or 34-36 with weaker hands than the other two and is more willing to bid marks if it has a strong hand. It is also willing to lay down trumps with 5 counts in an effort to draw out the ones covering the 10 count. Its more willing to play count at risk of hoping its partner will win the trick.

For bidding purposes, your partner will respond to your bid. If you bid 30, you are indicating to your partner that you have a helping hand and it will be much more likely to outbid an opponent win the bid.

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Here's what some beta testers have had to say about the app:

"The AI has been impressive for me so far, not a single play that I've seen has been stupid yet and I've probably played around 10 games. Very solid game for my experience"

"I really like your idea of the different styles of play and I think you are pretty close to that reality."

"To date it is the best one out there. I have never felt like I was playing true 42 on the other apps."

Reviews

42 suggestion
WayneO

Would like to make doubles high or low when we go nellow. Ready to bid in sevens. Thanks.

Best 42 game bar none
Golfar

42 players: this is the app you've been waiting for!

Finally!!!!
TOBriant

There is finally a Texas 42 game for my iPad. Hallelujah! This is a great beginning. Hopefully more features will follow like changing backgrounds, dot colors, decorations on the domino backs and, best of all, game variations like nello and 7's. Still, this is a wonderful start. (Really thought Curtis Cameron would have done this long ago, but oh we'll.)

Great to play again
DrWho4PM

I wish we had Plunge in this game though. But overall,it is Great to play 42 again.

Reminds me of my days in Aggieland
Robert Gillette

Gig Em! I've been looking for a good 42 game for iOS for a couple of years. Just played my first match and it was great. Smart design. Good AI. The only thing that would make it better would be some pizza rolls from Double Dave's to eat while I play.

Good game bit for one thing
senkiyoshi

Really like the game, however, there is no option to bid low(nilo). I am sure this is a standard rule. It seems that this rule would have been included in the game since it is a paid app. please add this option?

Awesome game
MicklPickl

This is a fun version of the dominoes game "42" - a game similar to Spades or Bridge. There are some missing gameplay options, but extra stars for a very responsive developer.

Texas 42
Fred's Texas

This is the best 42 game that I have found. I had this app before you had to pay for it. Worked great and hoped at some time they would come out with one where you could actually play a real person instead of a computer. Finally they did, and it froze up on me when another player somehow played out of turn. With no home button you are locked in the game. I had to delete the app and when I went to reload it I had to pay. $3 bucks definitely won't break the bank but I don't want to have to do that again. I've heard of Aggie math, this must be Aggie programming...

Very Good But Could Be Improved
waltonwannabe

I love playing Texas 42, but play it so much that I tire of playing the same hands repeatedly. Wish the hands could be changed up every so often so as not to get bored with playing the same ones over and over again. With the latest version the opposite teammates win a whole lot moe than me and my partner do. I don't mind losing a hand every now and again, but most of the time gets bothersome. Even when I decide to play with tiles face up and see that the opposing team almost always gets the better hands. Kind of funny that whatever domino/dominoes the one player doesn't have, the other one usually does. I think the graphics and sound are fantastic. It would be a plus if there were a way to slow down or speed up how fast you play the game. That way it would be much easier to teach a newbie how to play. It's kind of hard for someone that doesn't know how to play the game to follow along as I explain it, because it moves so fast. I don't mean to sound like I'm totally knocking the whole game, because I'm not. I like the game a lot and play it an awful lot. Playing this is how I improved my game and play much better with family members now. I can hardly wait to attend my family reunion this year. LOOK OUT!!