Last updated on December 17th, 2025 at 01:22 pm
Texas 42 HD – Card Game Review
Texas 42 HD is a Card/Family game from Mike Emery, first launched in 1st August 2012.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 18+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Texas 42 HD Stand Out
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.
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.
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."
This Card game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Texas 42 HD is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 11th April 2020
Recent improvements include:
More multiplayer tweaks
Download & Availability
Texas 42 HD is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 / iPad Mini 3 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 4 / iPad Mini 4 (Cellular) or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We probably spend too much time on this game. But it is a great way to relax. It keeps you from getting bored in a day when youre at home with nothing to do. Especially when you are an old fart. Old University Professor Joe Boy in Beautiful Colorado, with plans for more Fun before going home! We have traveled much of this earth. But our wife and we still have not seen everything! So we are looking for other places to visit. So give us some enjoyable places that you have visited.
You can't expect a computer game program to never make mistakes. We have been playing 42 for about 42 years, and we have tried every program we have found. To us, this is BY FAR the best of them. Yes, we would say about 1 game in 20 our partner seems to make a fairly obvious playing error. Then again, a human partner might also make errors. The opponents rarely seem to err, but one would tend to notice that less. We have had and continue to have so much fun with this app that we can only rate it five stars. However, there is one important issue: it's supposed to work over the Internet, which would allow our son and we to be partners; but we have never succeeded in making that work. It would be really nice if that did work. We want to end on a positive note. This is a brilliant app.
Enjoy playing this game but not when our dominoes are revealed before they are in our hand when drawing. Not fair that opponents can see what dominoes Im drawing.
Love playing this game, but have constant issues with it locking up.
A beautiful game and a real shame that u prefer the outer to win all the time . We get junk every hand and our components get lay downs ! Sad Sad ! Love playing 42 but not !! With this handicap Dont understand ! You are treated this way after paying for the game , our left side and right side players gets a handful of high numbers every time : we very seldom get a double and very low if we get two dominos that matches, we are done ! We like a challenge but like to get a decent hand to work with some of the time! Please send refund.
We threw a trump the player next to us did not throw a trump, our partner threw a trump and the guy next to him did not throw a trump. On the next hand we threw a double 5 knowing our partner was the only one with trumps when the the guy to our left threw a trump taking the hand. So yes the game cheats.
Excellent game! The reviews that speak negatively about the game are very wrong.
Of all of the Texas 42 apps, this one has the best game logic. One place it could definitely improve however, relates to a partners play when count is added early in a hand. For example, twice when the opponents get high bid, then lead a low trump, we have played a count domino in hopes our partner had a high trump. Both times our partner had high trumps, but played lower ones instead, thus forfeiting the count we should have won. We agree with others who suggest the shuffles seem not to be purely random, but overall, this is the best 42 app we have tried.
This is the only game we have on our iPad. Very enjoyable to play. We enjoy the bidding process, playing nello, and we like the way the score, the trumps, and the points earned are displayed. We sharpen our skills every time we play. We would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys playing 42 , nello, or splash.
Well designed and authentic to the real game. Competitive levels are nice. In other apps your partner is liable to miss nuances, but this app knows when to throw count and cover 10-counts. Haven't used the add-a-player feature yet.
We must admit that we are not pro status playing 42. However, we have played enough years to know the auto shuffle is not truly random. For instance, at least 80 to 90% of the time the single player opponents will always have the double to each others off. The default player Phillip will win his bid some 90% of the time. It would be like two partners glancing at each others hand before bidding. The only real good we see in this App, it is good for teaching new players. Otherwise, it is a waste of time and money.
Dont waste money on this. It is rigged against your team no matter what hand you play.
We have been using this app for years. Recently, play by our AI partner has slipped, such as making silly bids. We had been impressed by the how well the AI played, but not so much lately. Has negatively affected our interest in the using the app.
Our partner is an idiot! The game is rigged against you. We want a new partner, or maybe we'll simply delete the app.
Player to Left wins bid with 84 and goes nello doubles. He leads 1-4, partner plays 4-4, we play 0-4 thinking we just set him. Wrong. Partner wins trick. Partner actually had 3-4 and should have been forced to play it, but wasn't. Not sure if similar to previous review.
Love the game, but would love to have one text correction. When we bid in fives text says "five are trumps" instead of " fives are trumps" and it niggles at us! We know it's ridiculous, but please could you fix it? It is only for us; the text is correct when the other players bid in fives. Thanks.
Great app. It brings back tons of memories of family gathered around our grandparents table playing late into the night. The only thing missing for us relates to scoring. Maybe Im missing something, but it seems that the only scoring/winning system is by marks. Would love to be able to opt for playing a game for straight points to 250.
Good game Has a glitch when you play hello doubles and does not recognize doubles as a trump.
One issue to be aware of is that they didnt make this app a dual platform app. We paid $2.99 for this app on the iPad..and have discovered we have to pay $1.99 for the same app on the iPhone? Mmmm, not a good way to garner good gaming will. $2.99 is expensive for a game with simplistic graphics that need a bit more polish.
Partner won the bid, blanks trumps. On 2nd trick, leads 55, last player plays 50 but trick awarded to our team. We took a screenshot if developer wants to see. Otherwise a fun game with good customizations.
We love 42 and this is overall a good version, easy to play and fun. The only issue is there is never anyone online to play against. Playing single mode is fine, but we would like to play against real humans.
Love this game. How about adding sevens as an option along with nello and splash/plunge.
We grew up playing 42 with our great uncles and really enjoyed the pastime. We had not played the game in 30 years, until we recently found this app. It seems to be a good way to get back into the game, and we hope it helps us get up to speed so that we are ready to challenge the old timers soon! We would like to see an ability to re-deal a particular hand over again. This could prove valuable to someone, especially while learning, so that it could be seen how slight changes in bidding, or variations in the order dominoes are played, can effect the game. Thanks for a great app at a very good price. We would highly recommend it.
Great game, we love to play, but sometimes our partner make some really stupid moves. There is room for improving the logic, but overall a great way to spend some unneeded hours.
Overall the game is fun, but at least once a day we get frustrated by our computer partner making a completely bonehead move on his own bid and losing. We finally took a screenshot of one but don't see a way to submit it.
Just got the app but seems great. However, how the heck do we get multiplayer to work.
Thanks so much for this wonderful app. It is so difficult to find people that know and love the game as we do. We learned the game at an early age with our Grandparents. We spent so much time playing and had great memories, and that is why we have taught our children to play also. We would to play live with others, but the multi player seems very confusing and have yet to get others on to play live, perhaps it is us. We hope the app. Will get everyone on board to learn and play this competitive game.
We wish that texas 42 was not so hard to win. We like a challenge but like to win sometimes and we do but lose more often.our partner and we struggle to win with the hands that we are given.we play a lot.Seems that our opponents get much better hands than we do. We just would like to win more but impossible with crumby hands we get! We have tried to adjust to bar an no matter what we set it on we still lose.we have played 42 for many years we realize that sometimes we make a stupid play but most of time our dominoes are trash! Every once in awhile we get a lay down. Thanks Bonnie Hilton we we.
This is one of the best Apps for the players of 42. We have tried another App, but it is just not the same. This gives a more realistic play less the knuckle headed moves that comes with playing your friends that claim to be lovers of 42. Each update adds to the ultimate enjoyment of playing. Plus you can try out more plays that would have your opponent rolling their eyes and slamming dominos on the shaky table. Very enjoyable to play anywhere anytime.
AI needs to stop bidding 31 with "5-offs" and unnecessarily bidding 35 or 36. Our partner kills us with that. Game still needs 'sevens' & 'nello doubles low. It's still the best 42 game in the App Store by far.
Have loved this game because computer playing was logical and smart. But recently we are finding computer playing to be incredibly stupid like our partner leading a 4 off when 6/4 and 4/1 have not been played or leading a 5 off when double 5 and 5/0 have not been played plus bidding 31 with 6/4 off or 5/0 off without double 5 in their hand. Have been getting extremely frustrated with most of the reasons bids aren't being made. We have played forty-two for over 50 years and would love a more expert game. Thank you.
This app worked pretty good until we did the update today. It would only crash every once in a while before, but now it has crashed every time we have played.
We're new to Apple & the iPad, was wondering if a 42 game existed; so was very happy to find your app. We're enjoying getting back up to speed with the game, but have a couple of issues. One we see has already been recommended, adding doubles as a suit of their own, but so far we don't see how to name blanks as a suit unless one has the double. Is It possible to add that functionality? Thanks for adding this app! Takes us back to the days of playing many games of 42 with our grandparents. Love it.
Our hat is off to the developer. 42 is a nuanced game and the AI here is good, but not quite great. We are hooked on this game right now and have just scratched the surface of multiplayer. Ido have a bug report. Where should we send.
We love most of the game but it is lacking a couple things. You should be able to rearrange the tiles and mostly you should be able to play hello with doubles low, if you play at all this is a definite must. Overall a really good app we have gotten our $$ out of it.
If you are playing single player get ready for disappointment!!! Your partner will be absolutely horrible. Developers have a long way to go on the single player.
Very well done. Single player ai is great. Looking forward to having more users to be able for quick multi player games. GREAT JOB ME.
This is the best 42 game that we have found. We 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 us when another player somehow played out of turn. With no home button you are locked in the game. We had to delete the app and when we went to reload it we had to pay. $3 bucks definitely won't break the bank but we don't want to have to do that again. We've heard of Aggie math, this must be Aggie programming.
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.
Gig Em! We've been looking for a good 42 game for iOS for a couple of years. Just played our 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 we play.
42 players: this is the app you've been waiting for.
Would like to make doubles high or low when we go nellow. Ready to bid in sevens. Thanks.
Love the game. Thank you for making it.
We just learned how to play this fun game taught us by our Texan son-in- law so we're a beginner. We would really like it if there was a way to back up and replay a hand. As we watch how a hand plays out we can see where we should have done something better. Also, is there anyplace to see more detailed game rules and strategy tips.
Our family has played this game for as long as we can remember. Being in the military, it is hard to find anyone that even knows how to play the game! This is a wonderfully made app with great AI gameplay. It has even help us improve our game! We would like to see the ability to change domino colors to black and white and possibly multiplayer, but we still rate it 5 stars! Well done.
We grew up playing 42 back home in Texas. Now that we live out of state, finding a game is next to impossible. We set the AI player's names to family members and adjusted their play style to match what we remember. We had had several great hours of fun and relived some great memories. This is a fantastic app that just keeps getting better. Thanks for a great taste of home and for a really good game.
Great game! So far, it plays a very good and challenging game. We've yet to find any glitches, but we've only had it a few hours. We recommend it to all who know the game of 42, or who would like to learn how to play a great game. You don't have to be from Texas to enjoy playing 42.
We wish we had Plunge in this game though. But overall,it is Great to play 42 again.
There is finally a Texas 42 game for our 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.).
Usually these 42 games have the computers making horrible decisions like playing a trump on a winning hand or playing count at a bad time, but this is great! As close to a real domino table as it gets! A+ The only thing that would make it better is an online multiplayer option for our long lost domino buddies.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 5.3
- Size: 27.36 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Mike Emery
Last updated: 11th April 2020 | Genre: Card, Family | Developer: Mike Emery