Lotería maker

How to play

1. Give each player a tabla and a pile of beans. Choose the winning pattern before the first card is called.
2. The caller shuffles the deck, draws one card at a time and announces its name, often with a short rhyme or riddle.
3. Each player who has that name on their tabla covers it with a bean.
4. The first player to cover the agreed pattern shouts “¡Lotería!” and the caller checks the board card by card.
5. The caller checks the winning board against the cards already called. If every marked name was called, that player wins the round.

Tips

• Keep one name per line and check the spelling. Shorter names fit more easily on the small cells.
• Two tablas per page saves paper. One large tabla per page is easier to read from across a table or for players with weaker eyesight.
• Print the deck on card stock, cut along the solid lines and keep the caller's cards together in a bag or tin.
• Give each player a different colour of bean so the caller can see whose board is which when checking a win.

Where it comes from

Lotería is a traditional game of chance from Mexico, related to bingo. It is played with a deck of 54 illustrated cards and boards called tablas, usually with 16 pictures in a 4 × 4 grid. A caller, el cantor, draws cards and often announces each with a short rhyme or riddle, and players mark their boards with beans. It came to Mexico from Europe, descending from Italian and Spanish lotto games, and is a fixture of fairs and family gatherings. Paperoom prints names, not the classic illustrations, so families can draw their own pictures.

Played in: Latin America

Questions