Spanish Tradicional

Games

The Spanish Baraja (Spanish pack of cards)

Description

The traditional Spanish baraja is an old deck that was brought over by the

Moors to Spain during the 14th century.

Cards and suits

Spanish

deck of 40

cards.

A traditional Spanish deck consists of four suits of ten numbered cards (1-7,

and 10-12, with 10,11 and 12 being picture cards).

The four suits are:

bastos (clubs)

oros (literally "golds", that is, golden coins)

copas (cups)

espadas (swords).

The four suits are thought to represent the four social classes of the Middle

Ages. The suit of coins represents the merchants, the clubs represents the

peasants, the cups represent the church and the swords represent the military.

The three face cards of each suit have pictures similar to the jack, queen, and

king in the French deck, and rank identically. They are the sota, which is similar

to the jack/knave and generally depicts a page or prince, the caballo (knight,

literally "horse"), and the rey (king) respectively.

Each card has a box outline to

distinguish the suit without

showing all of your cards: The

cups have one interruption,

the swords two, the clubs three, and the gold none. This mark is called "la pinta"

and gave rise to the expression: le conocí por la pinta ("I knew him by his

markings").

A popular Spanish game played with the Spanish baraja

7½ Siete y Medio (Seven and a half)

Seven and a Half is a gambling game that

is popular in Italy, Spain, Brazil and probably in

other places as well. In Italy it is traditionally

played around Christmas.

The objective is to collect cards that total as near as possible to 7½ without

exceeding that number.

Players and Cards

A 40-card pack is used. Each suit consists of A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and three picture

cards. The point values of the cards are:

Aces: 1 point each

2 to 7: Face value

Picture

cards:

Half a point

each

The number of players is limited only by the size of the pack and the number of

seats that can be fitted around the table. Deal and play are counter-clockwise.

The Betting and Deal

At the start of the session, the minimum and maximum bets must be decided

and the players draw lots to choose the first banker. The banker is also the

dealer. The same player continues to deal successive hands until some other

player wins with a score of exactly 7½ and thereby takes over the bank.

The cards are shuffled and cut, and each player other than the banker places a

bet, not less than the minimum and not more than the maximum.

The banker then deals one card face down to each player, starting with the

player to the dealer's right, continuing counter-clockwise and ending with the

dealer.

The Play

Each of the players in turn, starting to the right of the dealer, may ask for extra

cards to improve their total. At your turn, you look at your face down card,

without showing it to the dealer or other players.

If you are satisfied with your total you may stay (Spanish: “me planto”)

and the turn passes to the next player.

If you want to risk increasing your total, you ask the dealer for a card

(Spanish: “pido otra carta” ), and the dealer deals you a card face up

• If this new card takes your total over seven and a half you

are bust (Spanish: “me paso” ). You must show your cards and

the dealer takes your stake.

• If your total is exactly seven and a half, you must show your cards.

Your turn is over and you will win unless the dealer has an equally

good hand.

• If your total is less than seven and a half you have the choice of

standing or asking for another card. You may ask for another card

as many times as you wish, so long as the total of your cards

remains below seven and a half.

After all the players have taken their turns, the dealer's card is exposed, and the

dealer may take extra cards in the same way as the players. While playing, the

dealer can see the exposed cards of each of the other players, but not their face

down card.

If the dealer makes a total of 8 or more, the dealer loses to all the players who

are not bust, returning their stakes plus an equal amount.

If the dealer stays, with a total of 7½ or less, the dealer wins the stakes of all the

players who stayed with an equal or lower total (in addition to the stakes of the

players who are bust, which the dealer has already collected) and loses the

players who stayed with a higher total, returning their stakes and paying them an

equal amount.

Note that the dealer (banker) wins all ties.

If just one player makes a total of exactly 7½, that player not only wins but also

takes over the bank and deals the next hand. If more than one player, not

including the dealer, makes a total of 7½, the bank is taken over by the first of

those players in counter clockwise order from the dealer.

Parchís

Parchís is a popular Spanish board game that comes from the Indian game of

Pachisi. It consists of 4 players with 4 pawns that must make their way around

the board until reaching their safe zone. A die is used to determine moves and

players “chase” and

“eat” each others

pawns, sending them

back to the starting

point.

Rules

This game is played with 1 die and 4 pawns per player. Dice cups are optional,

but most game sets include them. As in Pachisi, the aim is simple: players

compete on leading their four pawns out of their nest, around the whole board,

into the colour track and up to the centre of the board, chasing and "eating"

each other in the process.

A roll of 5 forces the player to release one pawn from the nest (if there are any

left), and a roll of 6 gives the player an extra turn. When the player has 4 pawns

in the game (outside the nest), whenever he gets a 6, he can move 7 squares.

If ever three 6's are rolled in a row, the last piece moved is killed and returned

to the nest. If the last piece moved was in the final coloured ramp, it is only

moved to the bottom of it.

When a pawn "eats" an opponent's pawn (by landing on the same square, if it is

not a safe square), it "kills" it, sending it back to the nest, and advances 20

squares. When a pawn reaches the end, one of the other pawns of the same

colour can advance 10 squares.

Blockades can also be made with 2 pawns, but only in safe squares. In some

variants, a blockade can be formed in any square, if both pawns belong to the

same player—otherwise the last to arrive would kill the first. Pawns cannot jump

over blockades, which cause "jams", making it easy for players to "eat" each

other. A player must open a blockade if he tosses a 6.

La Oca

Origins

The Game of the

Goose or Goose game is

a board game with uncertain

origins. Some people connect

the game with the Phaistos

Disc (because of its spiral

shape), others claim that it was

originally a gift from Francesco I de' Medici of Florence to King Philip II of

Spain sometime between 1574 and 1587, while the latest theories attribute to

the Templars the creation of the game. According to these theories the

Templars, possibly inspired by other games or discs (as the Phaistos Disc) from

the Holy Land, developed a game and a secret or encrypted guide to the Way

of St. James, representing each numbered space in the game a different stage

in this journey. Furthermore, the hidden messages would not be just in the

game but in the monuments, cathedrals and churches along the Way to

Santiago de Compostela.

In June 1597 John Wolfe had attested that the game existed in London. It is

thought to be the prototype for many of the commercial European racing board

games of recent centuries. The game is mostly played in Europe and seen as

family entertainment. Commercial versions of the game appeared in the 1880s

and 1890s, and feature typical old European characteristics such as an old well

and children in clothes from the period. In the 1960s, the game company CO-5

marketed a variant called Gooses Wild.

Description

The board consists of a track with consecutively numbered spaces (usually 63),

and is often arranged in a spiral with the starting point at the outside. Each

player's piece is moved according to throws of one or two dice. Scattered

throughout the board are a number of spaces on which a goose is depicted;

landing on a goose allows the player to move again by the same distance.

Additional shortcuts, such as spaces marked with a bridge, move the player to

some other specified position. There are also a few penalty spaces which force

the player to move backwards or lose one or more turns, the most recognizable

being the one marked with a skull and symbolizing death; landing on this space

results in the player being sent back to start. On Spanish boards the reverse is

usually a parchís board.

Rules

Players take turns rolling two dice and moving their pawn around the board by

the sum of their roll. The board has all the same special spaces that Goose

games throughout its history have included:

• The Bridge on space 6 that advances the player to space 12.

• A roadside Inn on space 19 where the traveller tarries for one turn.

• The Well on space 31, where the visitor loses 2 turns.

• The Maze of space 42, wherein the traveller loses the way and returns to

space 30.

• The Dungeon on space 52, where the prisoner remains until another

arrives and the two trade places. An additional means of escape is to roll

a 9 and go to one of the fields with dice.

• Space 58, where a cooked goose appears in place of the traditional Grim

Reaper, sends the player back to start.

Additional rules

A lucky throw of 9 at the beginning of the spiral path advances a player to one

of the fields with dice.

Landing on any of the pretty geese doubles a player's move.

An exact count on one or both dice is needed to reach the centre goose, and if

the number rolled is too great, the player has to take the surplus numbers in

reverse.

Landing on another player's space sends that player to where the new arrival

began the turn. Could be backward or forward. Lots of laughs!

You can download and print your own goose board at:

http://modaruniversity.org/goose-game-board.pdf

Dominó

While the game of dominoes is

not of Spanish origin, it has

been popular in Spain since the

19th century. The game is

played with rectangular-shaped

tiles that have varying numbers

of dots on each of two sections.

Play is started by placing a tile on the table. Players take turns adding tiles to

form a chain, joining halves of like-numbered tiles to other halves of like-

numbered tiles. Players who cannot play a tile must draw one from the pile. At

the end of each turn the number of dots on the un-joined tile ends is counted

up. Whoever earns the most points at the end of the game wins.

Domino Basics

Getting Started With Dominoes

A domino is a small tile that represents the roll of two dice. The tile, commonly

called a bone, is rectangular with a line down the centre. Each end of the tile

contains a number. In the most popular domino set, the double-six, the numbers

vary from 0 (or blank) to 6. This produces 28 unique tiles, as shown in the

diagram on the right.

A common domino size is about 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 3/8 inch thick -

small enough to be held comfortably in the hand, but large enough to be easily

manipulated, and thick enough to be able to be stood on edge.

Dominoes are referred to by the number of dots

(or pips) on each end, with the lower number

usually listed first. Thus, a tile with a 2 on one

end and a 5 on the other is referred to as a "2-

5". A tile with the same number on both ends is called a "double" (or doublet),

so a "6-6" is referred to as "double-six". A double-six is the "heaviest" domino; a

double-blank is the "lightest" domino value.

Tiles which have ends with the same number of dots are members of the same

"suit". In a double-six set, there are seven suits (blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), each

with seven members (0-5, 1-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5, 5-5, & 5-6) make up the "fives"

suit, for instance. Except for the doubles, each tile belongs to two suits.

General Domino Rules

How To Play Dominoes

Shuffl ing The Dominoes

Before a game or hand begins, the dominoes must be shuffled, so that no one

knows the location of any given tile. Typically, the tiles are shuffled by turning

them all face-down on the table, then moving them around in a random motion,

being careful not to flip over any of the pieces. The collection of shuffled tiles is

called the boneyard.

Beginning A Game

Before a game begins, the players have to determine who has the first move.

This happens in one of two ways: either each of the players choose a domino at

random, with first move going to the player holding the "heavier" domino (these

dominoes are returned to the boneyard and reshuffled), or the players draw

their allotted number of tiles (which varies according to the game being played),

and the holder of the "heaviest" domino goes first.

Drawing Tiles

Once the players begin drawing tiles, they are typically placed on-edge before

the players, so that each player can see his own tiles, but none can see the

value of other player’s tiles. Every player can thus see how many tiles remain in

the other players hands at all times during gameplay.

Placing the First Tile

Once all the players have drawn their dominoes, the first player (determined

either by the drawing of lots, or by who holds the heaviest hand) places the first

tile on the table. Typically, this is the double-six. If no one holds the double-six,

then the double-five is played, and so on.

Playing Subsequent Tiles

In most domino games, only the "open" ends of a layout are open for play. An

end is open when it has no other tile connected to it. Often, a double is placed

cross-ways in the layout, straddling the end of the tile that it is connected to.

Usually, additional tiles can only be placed against the long side of a double.

However, the rules of some games consider all four sides of a double to be

open, allowing dominoes to be connected in all four directions.

For example, in the diagram on the right, the first tile played was the 6-6. At this

point, a domino can either be played to the right or left of the 6-6. The second

tile placed was a 6-5, to the right of the 6-6. At this point, the open ends are 5

and 6. The third tile played was a 4-6, to the left of the initial tile, producing open

ends of 4 and 5. The fourth tile was the 5-5, placed vertically. Again, the open

ends are 4 and 5.

At any time, due to space constraints or mere whim, a tile may be connected at

a right-angle, creating an "L" in the layout.

Drawing Tiles

As the turn passes from player to player, if someone cannot make a move,

they're going to do one of two things, based on the game being played. In

"block" games (or if there are no tiles left in the boneyard), a player must "pass"

if he cannot make a move. In a "draw" game, a player can draw a tile from the

boneyard. Depending on the game, he can then either play it (if it fits, and if the

rules allow), pass (if he cannot play the drawn tile), or continue drawing until he

can make a move or the boneyard is empty.

Currently, most rules allow the boneyard to be emptied completely. However,

some rules do not allow the last tow tiles in the boneyard to be removed, and at

the end of a game, the winner receives the value of the tiles in the boneyard.

Ending A Game

A game ends either when a player plays all his tiles, or when a game is blocked.

When a player plays his last time, tradition requires him to say "domino" (when

this happens, the other players are said to have been dominoed. A game is

blocked when no player is able to add another tile to the layout.

When playing a multi-round game, domino games are typically scored by

awarding the number of pips on opposing player's tiles to the winner. Doubles

may be counted as one or two (if one, a 6-6 counts as 6; if two, a 6-6 counts as

12), and double-blank may either count as 0 or 14. (These rule variations must

be agreed upon before the game begins!) The player who reaches the target

score (100, 200, or whatever is agreed on among the players), or the player

who amasses the most points is a given number of rounds wins the game.

Peonza (Baldufa in Catalan)

Peonza, or spinning top, is a popular Spanish toy that spins on an axis,

balanced on one point.

The toy is designed to be spun rapidly on the ground, the motion of which

causes it to remain precisely balanced on its tip because of inertia. Such toys

have existed since antiquity. Traditionally tops were constructed of wood,

sometimes with an iron tip, and would be set in motion by aid of

a string or rope coiled around its axis which, when pulled quickly, caused a

rapid unwinding that would set the top in motion.