So this tells me that this game goes back not just a few years, but entire generations of my familia have enjoyed sitting around the table playing Loteria. My familia plays Loteria at nearly all of the fam parties and it is hilarious to listen to the ‘old school’ our parents, tios, tias, grandparents as we play … one of them will ALWAYS break out with a family story from Mexico which will have us on the ground laughing, another will recite the actual ‘refranes’ sayings that come with each Loteria card – like when I call out EL SOL (The Sun), it is almost inevitable that I’ll hear ‘la cobija de los pobres’ (the blanket of the poor) said right back to me and the cute thing, is that they don’t even realize that they are doing it! One of the kids will always ask to see the card especially if they don’t know how to speak Spanish.

Now before you think that I mean the Lottery … not really, I am talking about the one game that has been able to keep our Mexican culture alive … Loteria! At first glance, you see a simple card game with pictures of ‘La Muerte’, ‘El Musico’, ‘La Rosa’, ‘La Bandera’ and more…but as you get a game going…you find that everyone wants to play, young and old, those who speak Spanish, those who do not, those who can read, those who cannot…but the most fun part is the actual ‘hanging out’ with familia and friends! I always carry around a bag of beans so that everyone can mark their cards como debe de ser con frijoles which is always fun - especially to see those who have never really played Loteria before.

Old fashioned bingo game new mexico