AnchorMommy

Loteria es muy bueno

February 4, 2010 by Shannon

I’m not sure child development experts would recommend turning a drinking game into a family activity. But we are finding that one game in particular — Loteria — is a huge hit around here.

Of course there are no beers or shots involved. And I’m not even sure that Loteria is meant to be a drinking game anyway. But when we were first introduced to it during our “We Made It Through The First Year of Marriage, Let’s Go To Mexico” trip, that’s what it became. Yes, Loteria helped give us some killer hangovers in a foreign country. Well, that and the friendly bar manager we met who took us under his wing and introduced us to a dance club called “The Zoo” where we danced with a guy (I think it was a guy) in a big gorilla costume. Come to think of it, maybe “The Zoo” had more to do with the hangovers than Loteria.

However, this game is PERFECT for a preschooler. It’s kinda like bingo, but it has the added benefit of reinforcing the Spanish language. See? There is educational benefit to this game! Well, except for the “El Borracho” card, which means “the drunk.” And the “La Muerte” card, which means “death,” is a little creepy. But “La Rana?” It’s an adorable little green frog! And you can’t go wrong with words like “La Estrella” (the star) and “El Sol” (the sun).

Oh, I forgot about “El Diablito.” Yeah, there’s a red devil involved in the game. And um….”La Sirena” (the mermaid) does happen to be topless. But it is tasteful, I assure you. We just do our best to emphasize “El Pajaro” (the bird), “El Tambor” (the drum), and “La Sandia” (the watermelon). Hey, it’s better than 100,000 mind-numbing rounds of Chutes and Ladders.