42.exe is a challenging domino game for 1 player (the computer plays the other 3 positions), similar to the card game of Spades.
When you run the game, press any key at the title screen and then you'll see the playing field and a list of active keys. These keys are:
d - Displays or hides the trump suit. This can be pressed at any time during the game. h - Hint key. When it is your turn to play, this gives you a hint. The suggested domino will turn red, and the cursor will be placed on that domino. q - Quit 42. c - Turns "Cheat mode" on or off. This will display each player's hand (when it is their turn to play) so that you can check the program logic (or just to cheat). This can be pressed at any time. f - Causes the dominoes to be dealt Faster. s - Causes the dominoes to be dealt Slower. p - Allows you to play for Points instead of marks (see "Scoring" below). This can only be pressed when you are shown the list of keys at the beginning of a game. arrow keys - Use the arrows to select a domino, then press Enter to play the selected domino.
Trick - A trick is made up of 4 dominoes, 1 from each player. Hand - A hand consists of 7 tricks (since there are 28 dominoes in a deck). "Hand" can also refer to the dominoes that you have drawn. Suit - When a person leads off with the first domino, the higher of the 2 numbers on the domino is the suit. The other 3 players must follow suit by playing a domino that has the suit number on either side of their domino. For example, if the 2-4 domino was led then the suit is 4. If possible, the other players must play a domino which has a 4 on either side of the domino (such as the 1-4, the 4-5, etc.). The double of a suit (such as the 4-4 domino) is always the highest domino in that suit. So if the suit is 4 then the 4-4 domino will beat all other dominoes, and the 4-6 will be the next-highest domino, then the 4-5, the 3-4, the 2-4, the 1-4, and the 0-4.
See "Trumps" (below) for the exception to this rule.
"Count" dominoes - If both sides of a domino add up to 5 or 10 then the domino is called a "count" domino. The "count" dominoes are the 0-5, 1-4, 2-3, 4-6, and 5-5, and they add more points to the winning team's score (see "Scoring" below). Trumps - The player who bids the highest amount at the beginning of each hand gets to choose a trump suit for that hand. The trump suit is higher than any other suit, and it doesn't change until all 7 tricks in that hand have been played. For example, if you have a lot of dominoes in your hand with 1's on them, you can call 1's as trumps after you win the bid (see "Bidding" below). Imagine that at some point during that hand, someone leads the 4-5 domino. The suit for that trick is 5, and everyone must play a 5 if they have one. If a player does not have a domino with a 5 on it then he or she can play a 1 domino (such as the 0-1) to trump that trick. If only one player played a trump domino then that player wins the trick. If more than one player played a trump domino then the player who played the highest trump wins the trick.
In the above example, notice that although 5's were led, the 1-5 is not considered to be a 5 because it is a trump.
If a trump is led, then all players must follow suit by playing a trump (if they have one).
Offs - If a domino is not a trump or a count or a double or in the suit which was led, that domino is called an "off."
After the dominoes are turned face down and shuffled thoroughly, the other players get to draw 7 dominoes each, leaving the last 7 dominoes for the dealer (the player who shuffled). The player to the dealer's left bids first, and bidding continues clockwise around the table. The smallest bid is 30, and bids can go up to 42 (the maximum number of points in a hand - see "Scoring" below) and even higher.
Each player can only bid once for that hand, and the player who bids the highest gets to choose which suit will be the trump suit for that hand. The team that won the bid must win at least the same number of points for that hand as the bid that was made (see "Scoring" below).
Any player can say "Pass" instead of bidding.
If a player has a very strong hand and can possibly win all 7 tricks in the hand, he or she can bid 84, 126, 168, or 210 (i.e. multiples of 42). However, 126 cannot be bid unless 84 has been bid, 168 cannot be bid unless 126 has been bid, and so on. If 84 or higher is bid, then the team who won the bid must win every trick for that hand.
Check if you have several dominoes in the same suit, especially if you have the double in that suit. Let's say you have the 2-2, 2-6, 2-5, and 0-2 dominoes. If you win the bid and call 2's as trumps, then the 2-2 (the double in the trump suit) is unbeatable, so when you play the 2-2 you will automatically win that trick and any "count" dominoes in that trick. Then the 2-6 (the next-highest in the trump suit) will be unbeatable, and after that the 2-5 will be unbeatable. So you are guaranteed to win several tricks with this hand (if you call 2's as trumps), which will influence how high you bid.
The winner of the bid gets to play the first domino, so if you play the 2-2 domino then you will pull in some 2's from the other players. Then if you play the 2-6 you will pull in some more 2's. When the number of 2's that have been played plus the number of 2's in your hand equals 7, then you know that nobody else has a 2 to trump a trick with. At this point you can safely play a double (the 3-3 for example), and you know that nobody else can beat it because nobody else has any trumps. Therefore, the number of doubles in your hand will also influence how you bid.
Notice in the above example that if you did not have the 2-2 domino (the double in your trump suit), you could lead the 0-2 domino and it might pull the 2-2 domino from another player's hand. Now your 2-6 and 2-5 dominoes are the highest trumps. Therefore you don't necessarily need to have the double in your trump suit in order to have a strong hand.
At some point you will probably need to play an "off" (a useless domino) as your lead domino, but you have a partner opposite you who might be able to win the trick, so as you gain experience you can take chances by bidding on weak hands.
There are 2 other possible trump suits to consider as well. These are called "doubles" and "no trumps" (also called "follow me"). If you call doubles as trumps, then when you lead a double of any suit (such as the 3-3 domino), all of the other players must follow suit by playing a double if they have one. If they don't have a double, they are not required to play a domino that contains the number which matches the double you led with (a 3 in this case). If you call "no trumps" as your trump suit, it means that all other players must simply follow the suit that is led (in other words, there are no trumps for that hand).
There are 5 "count" dominoes (0-5, 1-4, 2-3, 4-6, and 5-5) whose values are 5 or 10 points each (see "Count dominoes" above), for a total of 35 points. Each of the 7 tricks in a hand counts for 1 point, so there are a total of 42 points per hand (which is where the game gets its name).
At the end of a hand (when all dominoes have been played), the team that had won the bid for that hand adds up the points that they won. Points are scored by adding up the points for all of the "count" dominoes they won, and then adding 1 point for each trick they won.
For example, imagine that you bid 31 and you win the bid for that hand. When the hand is over, you add up all of the "count" that you and your partner won (by adding 5 or 10 points for each "count" domino you won), then you add 1 point for each trick that you or your partner won. If you and your partner have at least 31 points then you win the hand and you get a mark for winning the hand (if you bid 84 and you win the hand then you get 2 marks). The first team to get 7 marks is the winner. People often keep track of the marks by spelling part of the word ALL for each mark (because the word ALL is written using 7 straight lines).
Now, imagine that you bid 31 and you win the bid for that hand. If you and your partner get LESS than 31 points for that hand then you are "set" and your opponents win the hand and get the mark. If you bid 84 and you and your partner lose just 1 trick then you are set (and your opponents get 2 marks).
In the normal game of 42, the first team to get 7 marks wins the game. However, an alternate way to play is that the first team to win 250 points wins the game.
Imagine that you win the bid and then you and your partner win the hand. You keep score by adding the amount of your bid to your total score. But if you win the bid and the other team wins the hand, then they get the amount of your bid plus the points that they won added to their score. However, if you had bid 42 or more then the other team only gets to add the amount of your bid to their total score (they don't get to add their own points to their total score). The first team to reach 250 points wins.
All 28 dominoes are turned face down and someone (called the "dealer") shuffles them to mix them up. The other 3 players choose 7 dominoes each, leaving the remaining 7 dominoes for the dealer. The player to the dealer's left bids first (or passes) by calling out the amount of his or her bid (or "pass"), but he or she does not specify what the trump suit will be. Bidding continues clockwise until it reaches the dealer. If everyone has "passed" then the dealer is stuck with the bid (which must be at least 30, although the dealer can bid 84).
The player who bid the highest gets to announce what the trump suit for the hand will be, and then he or she leads the first domino. Play continues clockwise with each person following suit, if possible. If a player is not able to follow suit then he or she plays some other domino (a trump, a count, or an off).
When all 4 players have played a domino, the winner of that trick is the player who played the highest domino in the suit that was led, or the highest trump (remember, the trump suit is always the highest suit). Then the player who won the trick starts the next trick by leading a domino.
When each trick is over, the team that won the trick places all 4 of the dominoes next to one of the players on that team. All of these dominoes must be visible to all players so that everyone can work on his or her strategy. There is just one exception to this rule, which occurs when someone bids 84 or higher. In this case, for the first trick, each domino is played next to each other in the middle of the table. For the second trick, each domino is played next to each other just below the first 4 dominoes (making 2 rows of 4 dominoes). For the third trick, each domino is played on top of the first trick's dominoes, covering up the first trick's dominoes. For the fourth trick, each domino is played on top of the second trick's dominoes, covering up the second trick's dominoes. For the fifth trick, each domino is played on top of the third trick's dominoes, covering up the third trick's dominoes, and so on. This prevents everyone from seeing the dominoes which were played in earlier tricks.
When all 7 tricks have been played, points are totaled to see if the bidding team made their bid, and the score is adjusted accordingly.
If you won the bid and called the trump suit, it is usually best to lead the double of your trump suit in order to pull some trumps out of the other team's hands. Now you can lead whatever is currently the highest domino in the trump suit, if you have it, so that you pull in more trumps. If you don't have the highest trump, play the lowest domino that you have in the trump suit in order to pull the highest trump domino from another player. If it works out right, then one of your trump dominoes will now be the highest trump.
When the number of trump dominoes in your hand plus the number of trump dominoes that have been played equals 7, then you know that no-one else has any trumps.
If you have pulled in all of the other trumps and you have some trumps remaining in your hand, save at least one of them so that later on you will be able to trump a trick that contains some "count" dominoes (if you can't follow suit on that trick, that is). If you have more than one trump remaining, you might want to play the highest trump domino so that your partner knows that you will automatically win the trick, and your partner will (hopefully) play a "count" domino, if possible.
If you don't have a trump or a double to lead off the trick with, be careful about which domino you lead with. You don't want to lead with a "count" domino (except maybe the 5-5, since it is a double), because the other team might win that "count" domino. You also don't want to lead a domino which has a 4, 5, or 6 as its highest value because when the other players follow suit it might mean that the 4-6 or 5-5 gets played, and the other team might win those 10 points.
Keep an eye on what has already been played, because after several tricks a seemingly small domino such as the 3-6 may in fact be the highest domino remaining in its suit (if the 6-6, 5-6, and 4-6 have already been played in earlier tricks, in this case). Also, if the 4-6 or 5-5 have already been played in an earlier trick, then it would be okay to lead a domino with a 4, 5, or 6 as its highest value (especially if the 1-4 or the 0-5 have been played, since they are worth 5 points each).
If you have some trumps in your hand and you are hoping to catch the 4-6 or the 5-5, then if you can't follow suit in a trick, play an "off" (a useless domino) which has a 4, 5, or 6 on it. Otherwise, if 4's are led (for example) and someone plays the 4-6, then you will be forced to play a 4 if you have one and you won't be able to trump the trick to win the 4-6.
If you have the 4-6 or 5-5 in your hand and you need to play an "off" because you can't follow suit, play an off that doesn't have one of the same numbers as your 4-6 or 5-5. That way, if you are forced to play a domino with a 4, 5, or 6 on it (because you have to follow suit), then you won't be forced to give up your "count" domino to the other team.
When playing an 84 (or higher) hand, the team that won the bid has to win all 7 tricks, so don't be concerned about when to play "count" dominoes. This is an all-or-nothing situation. The way to play is to follow suit with the lowest domino in that suit, and save the highest dominoes to try to win the last trick. This is because most 84 hands will have an "off" domino in them which the player hopes will end up being the highest domino in the trick by the end of the hand (or else the player hopes that his or her partner will win that last trick). Dominoes that have a high value on both sides are the best to keep until the end of the hand, such as the 5-6, 4-6, 4-5, etc., because they have the potential to end up being the highest remaining domino in 2 different suits.
For more helpful hints, tips, and ideas, use the Hint key and the Cheat mode to see what the computer plays, then try to figure out why it played what it did.
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