Loteria card game from Mexico

If you ask around for board games or card games in Mexico, you won't come across a diverse landscape. One exception is Loteria, a popular Mexican parlor game, which again is present in almost every household or whose rules are known by almost everyone. The game has similarities to Bingo, but with pictures instead of numbers. The game is easy to understand, entertaining and suitable for players of all ages.

Game material:

• Card set with 54 cards that have different motifs. Each card shows a unique image, often decorated with traditional Mexican motifs, animals, objects and symbols.
• 10 Tablas are cards for marking / game boards with a 4x4 grid with 16 motifs on which players can mark the drawn cards.

Game rules:

• Preparation phase: Each player receives one or more Loteria tablas, depending on the number of players. The Loteria deck is shuffled well and one player is chosen to draw cards. The card drawer draws cards from the Loteria deck one by one and reads the picture on the card.
• The other players then look for the corresponding image on their Loteria tablas and mark it if it is present on their card. This is usually done with small objects such as beans or tokens.

Winning conditions:

• A player wins when he first marks a predetermined pattern or sequence of images on his Loteria tabla. There are several winning patterns that can be predetermined. Some popular patterns are "La Estrella" (The Star Pattern, often the four corners), "La T de Oro" (The Golden T), or "La Piramide" (The Pyramid), to name a few examples.
• When a player thinks he has reached a valid winning pattern, he shouts "Loteria!" or "¡Buenas!" (meaning "Well done!"). The card puller then checks the player's Loteria tabla to make sure that he has indeed marked the announced pattern.

Continuation of the game:

The game can be played in multiple rounds, with players clearing their Loteria tabs after each round and continuing the game until one player has won a predetermined number of rounds. Loteria is a social and fun game that is often played at family gatherings or with friends. It offers a great way to spend time together and also play out small wins.

Some people buy Loteria playing cards simply as a decoration because of the typical motifs, for example, to pin the cards to bulletin boards, stick them to objects or attach them to refrigerators with magnets.