Texas 425.3 - App Store

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.

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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."

Version History More multiplayer tweaks. Should be the last one needed for a while. 5.3 04/12/2020 Fixes the issue of the bid not rotating in multiplayer.
Add robustness to multiplayer code between hands. 5.2 04/06/2020 Fixes various multiplayer issues. 5.1 04/05/2020 Long needed update to iOS 12 and iPhone Xs.
Fixed mute button
Fixed many multiplayer issues caused by ios updates 5.0 07/08/2019 Multiplayer fixes 4.3 08/24/2016 1: Game Center Leaderboards
2: Multiplayer adjustments to make the game less sensitive to connection speed.
3: Bug Fixes 4.2 12/14/2015 Various bug and AI fixes 4.1 12/05/2015 Updated to support 64-bit. Corrected error causing crashes when choosing custom images. 4.0 06/30/2015 Mutliplayer Bug Fixes 3.1.1 01/26/2015 Tweaked the Nello Bidding Algorithm. 3.1 01/12/2015 Users can now move tiles. Tap the "Unlock" Tiles button to move them around.

Various AI Tweaks 3.0 01/03/2015 Updated to support iOS 8 and iPhone 6 screen sizes. 2.2.4 10/07/2014 Minor bug fixes 2.2.3 08/08/2014 Minor AI updates 2.2.2 01/22/2014 Bug Fixes 2.2.1 01/01/2014 You can now customize your playing your tiles and playing surface with in app purchases. 2.2 12/30/2013 This version let's you choose whether or not you want draw your own hands or not.

It also has some minor AI tweaks. 2.1.3 11/06/2013 The long (5 day) nightmare of 2.1.1 is now over. Thank you all for your patience while I get things on my end sorted. This is the release I'd envisioned 2.1 being. For those that want to be able to have the computer deal for you, stay tuned for 2.1.3 because that release will be specifically for you. 2.1.2 10/23/2013 What's in this version is a fatal bug. I would advise against downloading until version 2.1.2 is available. 2.1.1 10/19/2013 Lots of updates with this release!

1: iOS7 compatibility
2: A house rules menu (found in the options menu) that lets you customize which rules you would like to play with. For multilayer, the house rules are whatever rules the host is currently using.
3: Splash and Plunge!
4: New bid/trump picking option that forces you to press the header button instead of using the wheel. This should help reduce accidental submissions.
5: Added some error handling for multiplayer connectivity
6: For single player, you can now pick your own tiles.
7: Fixed bug preventing music from playing in the background
8: Updated About menu.
9: Many AI changes with more to follow in the future. 2.1 10/17/2013 Fixed an issue preventing players from picking chairs in certain cases. 2.0.4 06/05/2013 Various Bug Fixes:

1: Fixed connection issues when more than 1 party has the game center screen running while receiving an invite. This was preventing devices from connecting.
2: Fixed issue keeping the bid/trump pickers from closing.
3: Added code to help reduce the number of false disconnects 2.0.3 05/31/2013 Ah, the growing pains of an early version...

1: Fixed issue that could prevent players from picking seats.
2: Fixed a bug that left tiles on the table after trick was over.
3: Significantly reduced dependency on quality of the network connectivity for the game to function with 3-4 players.
4: Improved the stability of connections for iOS 6 users.
5: Fixed bug that could cause the game to freeze while dealing tiles.
6: Fixed issue that could force players to reneg.
7: Fixed bug that could prevent "doubles" as lead tlle from properly displaying on the scoreboard. 2.0.2 04/17/2013 --Tweaked some timing to help with possible lag issues.
--Fixed About menu link order
--Sorry iPhone 5 users. I've now fixed the stacking position when your team wins a trick. 2.0.1 04/11/2013 Howdy! Texas 42 version 2.0 is here! It's been quite a while since the last update, but hopefully this release makes up for it. Here are some of the things I've been working on the past few months...

1: Multiplayer! You can now connect with your friends/family through Game Center. You don't need 4 players in order to play. The AI will take over for any empty slots.

2: Completely re-coded the Nello code. It should do a better job guessing which tiles you have in your hand in order to set you.

3: Completely recoded the slough tile algorithms. It should do a better of holding on to tiles that can win tricks.

4: Recoded the trump algorithms. It should now do a better job of trumping in when its remaining tiles can walk. It should also trump in if doing so will end the hand.

5: Recoded the first move algorithm to give the players a better chance of punting when holding dangerous offs.

6: Fixed a bug where the 4th player would bid higher than necessary.

7: Various game mechanics.
--Fixed the slant of the 2 and 3 shown on the "leading tile" and "trump tile" score board.
--Added optional button to submit bids and trumps if desired.
--Added touch requirement to Bid and Trump pickers that requires touches to be of a certain duration before accepting bid/trump.

Coming Soon!
1: Splash
2: Plunge
3: Nello Doubles Low
4: Stat Tracking 2.0 04/06/2013