Help & Support

Something not working, or a question we haven’t answered here? Email support@gamenightcircle.com. A real person reads every message.

Joining a group

How do I join my group?

Tap the invite link your organizer sent you. If the app is already on your phone, open it, tap I have an invite link, and paste the link in.

It says my link is a Bunco Circle invite.

Each Game Night Circle app has its own groups. An invite from another of our apps, such as Bunco Circle or Farkle Circle, opens in that app, and a Mexican Train Circle invite opens here. Ask your organizer for your domino group’s link.

How do I start a group of my own?

Open the app and tap Start a group (or, if you’re already in a group, tap your group’s name at the top of the screen, then + Start another group). You name it and say when you play and how many players. How your group plays, from where the game starts and ends to what the double blank counts, is in Organize → Group settings. Then share the invite link from Organize → Roster & invite.

Signing in

My sign-in code never came.

Mexican Train Circle emails you a 6-digit code, so there’s no password to remember. Give it a minute, then look in your junk or spam folder. The email is called “Your Game Night Circle sign-in code”. Still nothing? Tap Didn’t get it? Send again. Make sure the email address is spelled right: the code goes only to that address.

I already use another Game Night Circle app. Can I use the same email?

Yes. Sign in with the same email address. The first time, Mexican Train Circle asks your name, and your phone number if you’d like to give it. Your domino groups, scores and subscription are kept separately from your other apps.

Keeping score

Who keeps score?

Each table has a scorekeeper: a player at that table who has the app. Only players who have the app can keep score. The organizer sees who it is on Table setup (Scorekeeper: Peggy · Change) and can tap Change. The organizer and co-organizers can keep score for any table, and if nobody at a table has the app, the organizer keeps that table’s score. Everyone else just plays: they don’t need the app at all.

How do I enter a round?

The Scorekeeper shows the round and its double, such as Round 9 of 13 and Double 4, with how many tiles to deal and whoever has the double 4 starts. When someone plays their last tile, find Who went out? and tap their name: DOMINO! flashes, and they score 0 for the round. If nobody could go out, tap Nobody went out — the round was blocked instead.

Then type each other player’s pips left, one player after another: the field says whose it is, such as Peggy’s pips, and the button moves you on (Next: Hal →). On the last player it reads Save Round 9. 0 is fine if all that’s left is a blank that counts 0. Tapped the wrong name? Change goes back to who went out. The line under the button says what was saved, such as Round 8 saved — Rita went out · lowest here: Rita 96.

Does the app count the tiles?

No. The app never deals, never counts tiles and never referees. Each player adds up the pips on the tiles they still hold and tells the scorekeeper, as on paper. The app keeps every total and shows the lowest at each table. Lower is better all night. Scores are just pips, and the app never handles money.

Your group’s rules

What can our organizer set?

In Organize → Group settings, under How you play:

• Rounds: Start at Double 12 and End at Double blank, 13 rounds, unless you choose a shorter game (Double 12 to Double 6 is 7 rounds).
• Tiles to deal: 15 each for 2 to 4 players, 12 for 5 or 6, and 11 for 7 or 8. They show at every table at the start of each round.
• Double blank counts: 0, 50 or another number. Empty means 0, as in the box. The app only shows it as a reminder; the players count it.
• House rules: anything your group plays its own way, like covering doubles. Everyone can read it. The app never referees.
• Your domino night and The break: see the next section.

Your domino night, the break, the rounds and the tiles to deal can’t change while a domino night is being played.

Where can players see the rules?

Tap Our rules on the Scorekeeper, Our rules → on Home during a domino night, or Organize → Our rules. It shows the rounds, the deal, going out, the double blank, how your night runs, and your house rules.

Tables, staying or mixing at the break

How are the tables made?

On Table setup, the organizer picks How many tables?, which lists only the counts that keep every table between 2 and 8. The app spreads everyone evenly (11 players at 3 tables are 4, 4 and 3) and draws the seats at random. Each table card says how many tiles to deal. Tap two names to swap them, or tap Shuffle to draw again. Then Start Round 1 →. Everyone plays.

What are the two ways to play?

Your organizer chooses in Group settings → Your domino night:

• Stay at your table: everyone keeps their seat all night, and each table plays its rounds at its own pace without waiting for the others.
• Mix at the break: when every table has finished the break round (after Round 7 unless your organizer changes The break), the app draws new tables for everyone, and everyone’s score carries on. Until then, a table that has finished waits: its Scorekeeper says Break time.

If nothing is picked yet, Start Round 1 → asks first.

How do I know where to sit?

Where do I go? shows your table and seat, with a little map of the tables. After the break, it shows where you sit next, such as Break’s over — your score carries on: 116. Where’s my table? on the live scoreboard shows it any time.

The end of the game and the night

What happens after the last round?

The table’s Scorekeeper says Game over, with the lowest at the table, such as Lowest at this table: Rita · 156. Tap Done →. When every table is done, the night is over and it’s on to Tonight’s winners. The lowest total in the whole room wins.

Can we stop early?

Yes. The organizer taps End the night now on the Scorekeeper. Everyone goes to tonight’s results. Tonight counts the rounds every table has finished, so a table that was a round ahead isn’t compared on more rounds, and the round being played now isn’t counted.

Late arrivals and going home

Someone came late.

Before the tables are made, just tick them Here on Domino night sign-in. Once play has started, the organizer taps + Someone just arrived (on the Scorekeeper or Table setup), and picks their name or taps + Someone new to type it. They join the smallest table from its next round, and start on a score halfway between that table’s highest and lowest totals, so they’re neither first nor last. The app says so, such as Milt joins Table 3 from Round 10, starting on 148.

Someone has to go home.

On the Scorekeeper, tap their name, then the button that names them, such as Hal has gone home. (During the night, Table setup does the same: tap a name if they’ve gone home.) They keep their score from tonight, their rounds are skipped from then on, and they can’t win a lowest-score prize tonight. If that leaves one player at a table, that player joins the smallest other table from the next round, keeping their score.

Fixing a round

We typed the wrong number.

Tap Undo. While you’re entering a round, it steps back one entry at a time. Before anything is entered, it takes back the table’s last saved round, so you can enter it again. The table’s scorekeeper and the organizer can use it.

The mistake was a few rounds back.

Tap the player’s name on the Scorekeeper (Tap a name to fix one of their rounds.). Their rounds are listed; tap one, change the pips and tap Save. Totals are worked out again.

The wrong player went out.

Tap Fix Round 8 (it names the last round saved at your table). Tap who really went out, or Nobody — blocked, and the app asks for the pips of the player who no longer went out. After the night is over, the organizer can still fix a round until tonight’s winners are saved.

Winners, ties and standings

Who wins?

The lowest total in the whole room. Your organizer sets the prizes, such as Lowest score, 2nd lowest score, Most times out, Biggest round or Highest score. The lowest-score prizes go only to players who were there to the end; a late arrival counts.

Two players tie for a prize.

On Tonight’s winners, the organizer sees It’s a tie — tap the winner, with each player’s numbers to help decide.

How do the season standings work?

The season standings rank each player’s average per round, lowest first, so a missed night doesn’t count against anyone. Only players who came to at least half of the season’s domino nights are ranked; everyone else is listed under Not enough nights yet.

Take a look first

Can I try the app before my group starts?

Yes. Before you’re in a group, tap Take a look first. You get a sample group of your own with eleven pretend players, a domino night already played, and a practice night today. Open Domino night sign-in, tap Here for each player who came, then Make the tables and Start Round 1. The other players are pretend, so you keep score for every table. Everything is unlocked in the sample, and nothing is sent to anyone.

How do I get rid of the sample?

Tap Delete sample on its banner, or Delete the sample group on Me. The pretend players and their domino nights go with it. Nothing else changes.

Bigger words

How do I make the words bigger?

Go to Me (or Settings, if you aren’t in a group yet) and choose a Text size: Normal, Large or Extra Large. Large is where the app starts.

Subscriptions

What’s free?

Saying “I’m in”, RSVPs, keeping score, finding your table, tonight’s winners with everyone’s scores, and your brag card are always free, for everyone in your group.

What does the subscription cost, and what does it unlock?

It is $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year in the US, per person: each player who wants it subscribes for themselves. The App Store or Google Play shows the price before you buy, and in Canada it shows your price in Canadian dollars. It is paid through Apple on iPhone, or Google Play on Android. One subscription covers every Mexican Train Circle group you play in. It unlocks the live scoreboard with the whole room, season standings, the winners log and your stats.

Does my subscription to another Game Night Circle app cover this one?

No. Each app has its own subscription. A Bunco Circle, Mahjongg Circle, Euchre Circle or Farkle Circle subscription doesn’t unlock Mexican Train Circle, and a Mexican Train Circle subscription doesn’t unlock the others.

How do I change or cancel my subscription?

In the app, go to Me and tap the Subscription row. Or on your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. On Android, open the Play Store app, tap your profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions.

I subscribed, but things are still locked.

Tap any Subscribe button, then Restore purchases. Make sure you are signed in to the same Mexican Train Circle account you subscribed with. In a web browser, subscribe in the Mexican Train Circle app on your phone; it unlocks in the browser too.

Deleting your account

How do I delete my account?

Go to Me (or Settings, if you aren’t in a group yet) and tap Delete my account. The app tells you what goes and what stays before anything is deleted. If you run a group, pass it on first: Organize → Roster & invite, tap … next to a player who has joined and isn’t a sub, and choose Pass the circle to them. Or delete the group in Organize → Group settings → Delete this circle. Deleting your account doesn’t cancel an Apple or Google Play subscription, so cancel that first.

No longer have the app? Sign in at gamenightcircle.com/train in any web browser and do the same from Me, or email support@gamenightcircle.com from the address you sign in with and we will delete it for you.

If you also use another Game Night Circle app, that account stays, and so does your sign-in for it. Deleting one of those accounts leaves Mexican Train Circle alone, too. More in the privacy policy.