La Loteria
Date
Credits
- Don Clemente Jacques 2 Designer
Format
- Board Game 29
Type of Work
- Finished work 5503
Techniques
- printing 485
Links
Originated in Italy, brought over to Spain and finally arriving in Mexico in 1769, the game “Loteria” was initially played by those in high society. However it eventually spread to those of all social and economic classes. The game itself is akin to American Bingo, with its own share of differences of course. While in American Bingo a number associated with a letter is randomly drawn by a lottery drum, a random illustrated image is drawn from a special set of 54 cards in Loteria. In both games, the players each have a different board or “tabla” and the goal is fill up their board/tabla first. Typically people use raw beans as markers, but you can really use anything you have an abundance of; coins, beads, pebbles etc. While the number associated letters are called out in Bingo, for Loteria, the announcer says an improvised short poetic or humorous analogy for the card they are announcing. First person to fill up their entire board and shout “Loteria” wins. The game can be enjoyed with players of all ages and is a way to build community. Don Clemente Jaques began pushing his re-designed version of the game in 1887, and it took off. Loteria is now regarded as one of the most iconic games in Mexican culture.
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Sun, May 26, 2024
I wanted to add to this after publishing because in my research of La Lotería I found a notable controversial card that was discussed heavily around 2020.
Card no. 26 is titled “El Negrito” translating to “Little Black Man” which is often argued as a term of endearment, but can also be used in a derogatory sense. The card contains a caricature of a black man in a brightly colored zoot suit with a cane, and in more dated editions the man is pictured with large bright red lips. Verses for the cards can be improvised, but I'd like to note the vocal verse listed on Wikipedia is “El que se comió el azúcar” or ”the one who ate sugar" which has connotations to the largest slave industry in the Americas, sugar plantations.
The card is pretty obviously poking fun at black stereotypes, which was very common in design at the time. Since then there have been a lot of redesigns, but the deck shown above the most common. That note aside, this is still a very cool culturally significant game that can still be appreciated for its joy, history, and significance within Mexican culture.