Fortytwo Hall

Fortytwo Hall is Texas 42, the state's own domino game, played the way it is on Friday nights in Hill Country dance halls and VFW posts. You sit at a folding table with seven bones in your hand, your partner Earl across from you, and Miss Darlene and Rudy on either side. Every hand you bid how many of the 42 points your side will take — 30 up to 42, or marks on top — name trumps and play the tricks. The five count bones (5-5, 6-4, 5-0, 4-1, 3-2) carry 35 of those points, so the hand turns on who catches them. Make your bid and you chalk a stroke on the slate; seven strokes spell ALL and take the night. Win a night and the season moves down the road, from the K of C Hall in Hallettsville to the dance hall in Luckenbach, and every hall has its own house rules. Features: • Full Texas 42: bidding from 30 to 42 and in marks, trumps by suit, doubles or follow-me, and nello at the halls that allow it • Earl, Miss Darlene and Rudy each bid and play by their own habits, and the Table Book tracks how often they bid and make it • A nine-hall season across Texas Hill Country, each hall with house rules such as stuck dealer, minimum 31 or doubles as their own suit in nello • Chalk-slate scoring with marks drawn as ALL, plus a ledger of every night and hand and a record of who catches each count bone • Tonight's weather and sundown at every hall, from a live forecast • A hall wall for each stop: pin a photo from your camera or your library • An optional weekly hall-night reminder on the evening and hour you choose Pull up a chair — Earl's saving it for you.

First release.