Last updated on January 15th, 2026 at 05:19 am
Texas 42 – Card Game Review
Texas 42 is a Card/Family game from Mike Emery, first launched in 29th June 2012.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 73+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Texas 42 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 is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 12th April 2020
Recent improvements include:
More multiplayer tweaks. Should be the last one needed for a while.
Download & Availability
Texas 42 is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We have tried many 42 apps and this is the best one, by a long shot. Its not perfect, but the default AI names alone make it worth it.
Really like the app, feels like Im playing a real game. Bots are smart. Developer(s), we would love to talk about how the bots determine what/when to bid. Please reply to this review and get in contact.
Our son is teaching us how to play, and this app is great for single player and being able to adjust the skill levels of the other players. We tried a different 42 app, but our partner kept making stupid moves. This apps partner is much smarter! Worth the $1.99 to not be frustrated.
This is the best of the 42 games out there. Best computer opponent logic and overall play is great. The only issue is that when playing multiplayer with friends, it doesnt sync after some hands. The deck doesnt load and deal cards to us the opposing player is fine. It just gets frozen at syncing. Maybe have a manual sync refresh button? Or a timed re-deal of sync last +10 seconds? This happens about once very other game.
While this game is fun, it tends to glitch when you are playing with friends. And when it glitches, you have to exit the match and start over. Very frustrating.
We have yet to be able to plant an entire game when using multiplayer. It always glitches out and has major bug issues. Other than that the game is great.
Love this game and works great with one player but ALWAYS freezes or glitches with multiplayers and its super frustrating. The company website is a facebook page so there is no way to reach out for updates.
Ive played this game for years. It is frustrating at times. The main frustration is our partner setting us. It isnt consistent. It will play under our trump when it has the highest non double trump and has other doubles it could play. On the other hand, it holds high dominoes instead of playing them. When we play a double, it will play under, then cover our off, then set us by playing into count. When the partner wins the bid, it will continue to play lead instead of playing its off. That is usually on the last trick we get set because we gave up the domino that could have covered us. (The opponents had the off we were holding for). We know it must be a difficult program to write, but we became used to playing Win42. That was an awesome game The 5/5 is still played like it is only count. This isnt a bad game, just frustrating at times.
Needs some work in multiplayer. Love the game, but cant finish with an invited player. Please fix.
Trying to get other players to join , cant seem to find other players The bots seem ok for an app, would love to see ,ore multiply player.
The computer opponents will play trumps for points only to see that they withheld tiles in future hands.
Computer partner consistently overbids in unnecessary situations, such as bidding 31 without the double, and overbidding their partner with weak hands. Will pick the wrong trump when partner splashes or plunges, and leads the incorrect domino in situations that causes them to be set in hands they should win.
The partner does not play with strategy. Opponent played 6/5, we played 6/4 (only 6 in our hand so we had to follow suit), the opponent partner played off and our partner played 6/0. We lost the trick and went set. We spy, our partner was holding the double 6, but didnt play it to win the trick/game. Whats up with that??!! Whoever created this app needs to fix it.
Its a good app and follows most of the rules. You cannot play for points though but thats not the big issue. The big issue is there is no multiplayer. They may have a button, but it does not work! If they could add a play for points option and actually fix the fix the multiplayer so that it would actually work it would be a great app.
Not very happy with this app. Crashes or freezes all the time. If we play with our partner and two other players. It is not a 100% that we can Ginos game. We can receive a text or phone call and it stops the sound. It also throws us out and sends us to single player. We cant even invite 4 friends it freezes or doesnt let the 4th join. Sometimes it lets the 3rd person join. Allows us to play a little while then it freezes. Also there is times our partner cant get any dominoes during a game. This is very frustrating.
The most worthless algorithm in dominoes. Every hand is stacked against you and if you dare to bid your own partner will set you.
Not very happy with this app. Crashes or freezes all the time. If we play with our partner and two other players. It is not a 100% that we can Ginos game. We can receive a text or phone call and it stops the sound. It also throws us out and sends us to single player. We cant even invite 4 friends it freezes or doesnt let the 4th join. Sometimes it lets the 3rd person join. Allows us to play a little while then it freezes. Also there is times our partner cant get any dominoes during a game. This is very frustrating.
We also have played for several years. The two players on both sides of us us seem to get hands that hit each other, where we cant normally hit our partner. We get the worst hands and most of the time have a very hard time making 30. Our partner will bid 30 and get set more than 50% of the time. The game could be more fun but now it is very frustrating. We hope you improve it. Havent improved as of yet.
We have been playing this game for months, and loved it. However, now all kinds of errors are present. From not scoring a trick correctly to just shutting off in the middle of a game. What's happening? Another huge flaw, although we have set our partner to conservative, he constantly out bids us, and usually gets set. In real life, a partner would never out bid his partner unless he had a sure hand. Also, is there a way to Change trumps when you accidentally hit the wrong trump button? This is a new PROBLEM, Ive just started having!! Our partner has the bid, with 6s being the trump! Partner played a low Trump, the player after us caught the trick, then led blank 4, partner plays an off, player to our right cant follow suit, we play 4-2, obviously higher than 4-blank, but the trick went to the opposing team!!! This has happened a couple times before, but we hadnt taken time to right!! When things are going well, it is our favorite game.
Cant play multiplayer. Just keeps freezing for players and they cant do anything. Single player works well. Thanks.
Ive been able to complete ONE full game with an invited opponent!! It just wont work! Needs more tweaking we guess! Love playing against the computer, would really love to play against friends and family that we encouraged to get the app.
This app does not remotely reflect the game of 42. It constantly plays to the computers favor, even so far as your partner making stupid plays to lose a hand. Dont buy this.its a waste of money.
We have played 42 for years. The game should be fun to play. NOT FRUSTRATING!! No matter how you have setting, you still get your backside tanned.. If you dont understand that! You have not been playing 42 long.
As someone who plays regularly and loves to play, its super frustrating having a computer partner that is so bad. About 70% of the time he misplays trumps/count. We do not recommend getting this app if you enjoy 42.
On multiple occasions it gave the trick to other team when it was our trick. Since when does a six four beat a six five when a six blank is lead and aces are trump and only other domino on the board is a five four.
We see several reports of inept partner and couldnt agree more . We even switched back and forth from conservative to aggressive play style which made little difference . Partner seems like he is throwing the game sometimes when we have the advantage.
We have played 42 for probably 60 years. Both our family and our husbands were huge 42 players. If you have played much this app will drive you crazy. It inappropriately plays trumps – our partner will play a smaller one after player to the left plays one. And then wont play one when the situation calls for it. Plus partner will trump in on a double we have led – then goes set on an off. Go figure. We are moving on from this game – save your money.
Multiplayer fails at some point during a game for someone and makes it impossible to finish.
Tried to play multi game with four people in tha Back yard for over an hour and could not get the game to work consistently, it worked for two tricks and would loose a player , some times a player would only get four dominoes! Terrible, we finally gave up. Ive noticed app never gets any updates.
Multiplayer never connect with an opponent. Just sits there and spins forever.
We have played this game every evening (for the last 6 months)with our dad who lives more than a 1000 miles from us. Very seldom do we ever miss a night. We just want to thank you for creating this game that makes it possible to play online. Our family has played 42 for many years and this version of the game is perfect for us. We win probably 50 to 60 percent of the time so it is a challenge and yet we get the satisfaction of a win at least half of the time. We would say the AI is spot on.
First we do like this game, but we agree with some of the others, the AIs dont play right sometimes period. But our main issue is when you have a lay over 84 hand (ex. 6 trumps and a double), and you have to play it out. If you have a lay over hand there needs to be a lay over option after youve won the bid, or closer to the end of the hand when you have the rest of the hand made for sure. The way we play is fast so we can continue on and play more games instead of dragging it out. We mean our opinion only, but seriously something the developers need to think about.
Our husband and we have the same type of phone but he can splash and plunge whereas our app wont allow us too. Why does our partner not play out the highest trumps first. This is critical with most partner hands. Overall its a fun game.
Partner bids and play is so bad. The opponents as well. Playing with three idiots. We dont think creator has ever played the game. For instance; EW bids 31 in sixes and leads 6/1, we have no sixes, we gamble our partner has double six and play double five, They play 6/3 and partner plays 6/0, then later trumps a 1 point trick with the Double Six! Inexplicably Stupid. Partner bids 36 with lay down 84! Again, ridiculous. All 3 make odd random bids of 34, or 37 etc. No rhyme or reason. Technically it works but developers havent a clue about how to bid or play 42. Partner discards double six on second to last hand retaining useless double ace. Opponent takes our six blank with 6 deuce and we go set. Such poor stupid play. The final straw: we bid 84, with an off six. Partner discards double Six on penultimate hand, keeping the double blank,and we go set. The dumbest possible play. Why on earth keep a double blank? Throw away the double six to keep the double blank! We just cant play this anymore. Like playing with 4 year olds.
Hardly a reflection of the game.
This app needs many updates, we have iPhone 11 Pro, every time we get loaded into a game with 2 of our friends, during the first play where you are drawing dominoes to see who goes first, it has crashed every. Single. Time. It works okay for single player (not as good as the other 42 app, but we paid to downloaded this one because it seemed to be the only where you could play your with your friends… Unfortunately we cant play with our friends because it doesnt work :/ we will give more stars when it works.
Computer partner regularly misplays points. Not well programmed for computer play.
We have kept track of how often the opposing player has the double for their trumps and it is over 90%. We emailed the developer and he/she said it is definitely random. Not at 90% it is not! There arent many choices so we guess we will have to live with it.
We wanted to love this app but the game doesnt work with multiplayer.
Have family in another state and we all love to play 42. We cant ever get a game started without it kicking one of us out. Im about ready to ask for our money back.
Multiplayer doesnt work at all.
Played this for a long time and for the most part it played within reason for the logic. At least it was enjoyable. But for the past month or so, that logic changed. No one would ever play the way the AI bids or sequence of playing the dominoes. And this is very simple logic that even a novice picks up on count and when you do and dont bid.
Wont connect with multi players, not worth buying.
There are 2 42 games available. This one is far superior to the one titles 42 dominoes. Only thing not included is the ability to bid in 7s. Any chance that update will come.
When we first went nello we found out that you cant make doubles low please fix this.
This is the best. If only you could go nullo, doubles low, our life would be complete.
Fun game and great to play with friends and family. The AI is outstanding, and the visuals are very well done. This is the best Texas 42 app out there.
Please fix the lead strategy, particularLy the first trump trick of the hand. When the lead does not have the double Trump, they almost always lead with their lowest Trump, which allows others to catch it with a low Trump. Rather they should lead with the highest Trump that is not points to try and pull the double first.
We have the iPhone version and the mute button shows mute is on, but sounds are happening.
We agree with the other reviewer about the partner play that seems to be lacking especially if you are playing SPLASH or PLUNGE. Would be fun if we could bid SEVENS.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 5.3
- Size: 13.42 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Mike Emery
Last updated: 12th April 2020 | Genre: Card, Family | Developer: Mike Emery