Winning 42: Strategy and Lore of the National Game of Texas (First Edition)

By Dennis Roberson

Book Overview

Originally published in 1997, Dennis Roberson's Winning 42 was an overnight best-seller and an instant classic Texana volume. Now a third edition is available.You don't have to be a Texan to play 42, but it helps. Throughout the state--on front porches, under shade trees, at family reunions, church socials, and senior citizen's centers--you can see the old, the young, and the in-between playing this unique domino game, the National Game of Texas.The latest edition of the book includes a chapter of celebrities who share their secrets of winning. From Laura Bush and Ann Richards to Robert Earl Keen and B. J. Thomas, Texans love to play 42. Texas stars such as journalist Bill Moyers and astronaut Robert Crippen cite the game as an important influence in their early lives.Moyers explains that one doesn't learn to play 42, it's simply in the DNA. But Roberson's strategies give the reader definitive winning moves for beginners and experts alike. In addition to illustrations showing dominoes in play, the book is also full of the folklore and popular culture that has surrounded the game throughout its century-plus history.Winner of the San Antonio Conservation Society Publication Award

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0896723844
• ISBN13: 9780896723849
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

You need this book!

If you need to know how to play 42 or sharpen your skills, this is the book. Everything about the game in absolute clarity and a good read to boot. For Texans, a bit of Texas cultural history. For everyone else, an excellent guide to the great game of 42.

One and Only on Texas 42

I'm a native Texan and both my parents are native Texans from the east part of the state. So this means that the 42 tradition runs deep in my family. This is the game that I watched "the elders" play at family reunions, weddings, birthdays, and probably even a funeral or two when I was growing up. When I was about 32, I was finally invited to to play with the "big boys". My dad and his brother were partners and me and one of my other uncles were partners. I was paired with this particular uncle because he is known as "the best damn 42 player in Texas" among my family and I was but a lowly rookie. Despite their generosity in pairing me with a known 42 shark, my dad and his brother proceeded to skunk us seven hands to zero twice in a row. Even though I had been taught to play years ago, am a fairly good spades player, and have a natural talent for math and statistics, I could not even come close to pulling my own weight at this game when it came to real competition with veteran players. How was I to find the skill required to compete with the hard-core 42 players in my family? Enter "Winning 42" by Dennis Roberson. In "Winning 42", Mr. Roberson lays it all on the table. He begins with a brief introduction to the rules and terminology of the game. He then jumps into one of the most difficult aspects of the game, bidding, and handles it with an ease and clarity that belie the difficulty of the topic. If you master this 14 page chapter alone, your game will take a quantum leap. He then spends a chapter discussing basic strategies for playing out your dominoes once you have won the bid. He then devotes two chapters to helping your partner and setting the bidder. In these 45 pages (five chapters) Roberson gives you the essentials for becoming a solid 42 player who will seldom make a glaring mistake at a 42 table and who would be a respectable 4th among a table of veterans. These five chapters also demonstrate one of the fantastic features of this book, namely that each chapter builds perfectly upon the preceding material and gives the reader information that will be immediately useful in 42. Reading this book in order, one could easily finish a chapter, put down Roberson's book, and be a better 42 player from that point on. Roberson's systematic approach to the basics of the game free one from the necessity to master the entire book before reaping it benefits and make its first five chapters alone easily worth the price. The next six chapters cover several intermediate topics. Two of the most essential of these chapters teach one how to recognize and play an 84 hand, how to help your partner make an 84 bid, and how one sets an 84 hand. The other essential chapter teaches one how to recognize, bid, play, partner, and set "doubles as trumps" hands and "follow me" hands. Though the above numerous topics are presented in only three chapters, the topics are covered sufficiently to enable one to play confidently and correctly in these situations. Chapter

Excellent book

Excellent book. Very well explained. I never played this version of Dominoes and I really like to do it. I like to contact Mr. Roberson in order to share some thoughts. My emails are: gtejeira@panamacom.com gtejeira66@yahoo.comSincerely,Gabriel Tejeira

One of the best instructional books ever written

Dennis did a great job on this one. This one is perfect for a beginner, novice, or so-called "expert". He explains the 42 terms perfectly assuming nothing. I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn a great new game. My hat's off to you, Dennis.

A must read introduction to "42" for any non-Texan novice

When I moved to Texas two years ago, many of my new friends played an unfamiliar game of "42". I hesitated joining their parties since "42" meant nothing to me. Then I found Dennis Roberson's book, "Winning 42". After reading cover to cover my confidence built and I am now part of the party and looking forward to the next session. The book does contain a few 'typos', but they force you to think and reflect on the game. If you want to learn "42" and its history, this is a MUST READ. book.