Introducing Double 12 Travel Domino Playing Cards ("Mexican Train") - A Creative New Product from Walnut Studiolo

Announcing a new travel new game design from Walnut Studiolo! our travel-sized version of Double 12 dominoes uses the most efficient material for travel size and weight: playing cards! Coupled with a "Mexican Train" themed set of accessories, our Double 12 Travel Domino Playing Cards will become your favorite family travel game for cabin getaways and 2-10 players.

Customers have been requesting a Double 12 domino version of our Travel Dominoes since we first introduced our Baltic birch Double 6 Travel Domino set years ago, specifically for playing "Mexican Train" which is a popular "trains" game in the US. But increasing from a Double 6 to a Double 12 set triples the number of dominoes. That's a lot of wood, and a lot of sanding! It takes particular skill to line up similar wood grains without unique markings for dominoes, and 28 is a challenge. Because a double 12 set requires 91 tiles, we needed the material weight and cost to be more effective than wood or leather -- playing cards were the answer! 

During prototyping and testing, we carefully tested several sizes and styles of material to end up with just the right playing card material and size for these dominoes. The thin, FSC-certified card stock provides the best table action for dominoes: they don't glide across the table with air-cushioned ease (a feature you want in regular playing cards but not with domino cards!) and the thinner material is easier to pick up and put down into domino formations.

Double 12 Travel Dominoes are hand-drawn and unique, with innovative corner numbers and full color pips. Photography credit: Lindsey Rickert

We played and prototyped these cards for months before hand-drawing each tile. We think the new design ticks all the boxes:

• Lightweight and minimal for travel
• Approximately the same size as a normal domino tile
• Good combination of "stickiness" and "smoothness" for ease of play
• Colorful pips for faster recognition during play
• Innovative corner numbers for viewing domino values fanned in the hand
• Hand-drawn artwork to emphasize our original handicraft

Double 12 Travel Dominoes are small, lightweight, and perfect for travel.
Photography credit: Lindsey Rickert

For shuffling, we find these cards are easier and faster to flip over than traditional domino tiles. Shuffle them just like you do with tiles: turn facedown and swirl around the table, "Monaco style".

"Mexican Train" is one of our customers' favorite games and this set was designed specially for this game, with 10 train cards, a "quick start guide" with how many cards to deal how many players, and a link to complete rules of play and a free printable scoresheet. 

A printable, half-page PDF Mexican Train scoresheet matches the look and feel of our dominoes and is available free for all with the link on our website:

• 91 quarter-size domino playing cards (from 0/0 to 12/12)
• 10 train cards
• 4 blank replacement cards
• 1 Mexican Train "quick start guide" card with link to full rules of play and free printable scoresheet
• All inside a printed tuck box (can be also used as a train hub!)

We can't wait to hear what you think of the new design! We welcome your feedback at walnutstudiolo [at] gmail [dot] com.