By Brain El Oso
Mexican Spanish is very distinct, as any child or language learner will see. The game “Loteria” is a very common way of teaching both the language and the customs, and it is so ubiquitous in Mexico that you might notice that the logo of Corona Beer is very similar to the “La Corona” card in this game. There are also several words in the game that are specific to Mexico, such as instruments like the “bandolo,” the apache, and the “catrin.” As a result, Loteria is not only a way to learn a lot of vocabulary, it is also seen as a way of co-constructing Mexican identity. I first encountered the game as a Spanish student in Mexico. You play it basically like Bingo: you take a game card with a bunch of squares on it, and then turn over the individual cards and call out the names (there is a very theatrical way of doing this, which my Spanish teacher liked to mimic). The first player to cover all of their cards calls out “Loteria!”
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