The OSU Juntos Lotería set is now a part of the OSU Libraries Board Game Collection and is available for check out!
Just search for “osu juntos” in the library catalog to find the record:
OSU Juntos Lotería via the OSULP Catalog
OSU Juntos Lotería catalog record details
You may be wondering “what is the OSU Juntos Lotería game, as well as how and why was it created?”
About Lotería:
Lotería has its origins in Europe and came to Mexico by way of Spain; it is often referred to as “Mexican Bingo.” While there is imagery used for Lotería cards that are traditionally and broadly recognized in Mexico, this OSU Juntos Lotería set was created by Oregon State University student Nicthé Verdugo. The imagery is based on a set of oral history interviews with members of the Latino/a community in Madras, Oregon. The oral history interviews are available via the OSU Oregon Multicultural Archives as part of the collection OH 32 Latinos en Oregón.
OSU Juntos Lotería
About the Latinos en Oregón oral history project and collection:
The OMA established the Latinos en Oregón oral history project and collection in the spring of 2015 to document the stories of members of Oregon’s Latino/a communities. The project began in the central Oregon, and the project’s first collaboration was with the Oregon State University Juntos program. OSU Juntos partners with schools to provide Latino/Latina families across Oregon with the knowledge and resources to gain access to higher education. In total, there were fifteen interviewees from the Madras, Oregon area, and they were asked to share information about their family/ancestors, immigration experiences, thoughts on life in Oregon, perspectives on a variety of topics and traditions, and finally, their plans for the future. The collection of interviews is available to the public, and all of the audio and video files are available online with interview transcriptions – the collection is entirely in Spanish.
Latinos en Oregon Oral History Collection
A part of the oral history interviews focused on the community members’ childhoods and many recalled the games they used to play as children in Mexico. This in particular was what inspired OSU student Nicthé Verdugo to create the Lotería set. She wanted to create something that the community could use, and for it to be something that the whole family, both parents and adults, could enjoy together. Verdugo listened to the interviews to develop the themes for the 54 card deck as part of the set.
“Lotería for the OSU Juntos Families” by Nicthé Verdugo
Nicthé Verdugo
My name is Nicthé Verdugo and I graduated from Oregon State University (OSU) in the spring of 2016 with a major in Ethnic Studies (focus on Chicanx/ Latinx Studies) and Social Justice. During my time in college, I was blessed to be able to connect with students and teachers who showed me what it is to fight for education. The amount of passion and heart that our Latinx/Chicanx community demonstrates is something that I have always admired and makes me feel very proud to be Chicanx.
During my last year at OSU, I was able to connect with Natalia Fernández of the Oregon Multicultural Archives to incorporate the oral histories of several parents, sons, and daughters who participated in the OSU Juntos program within the Madras and Culver, Oregon, communities as a project for one of my classes. After some time of thinking about how I would use the oral histories, I finally decided to make a personalized Lotería set for the OSU Juntos Program.
I know that without my parents, I would not have had the chance of coming all the way to Oregon to study, and for that, I will be forever grateful. My hope is that when the program uses the Lotería set, it serves as a reminder to parents, and the program coordinators, that we are deeply grateful for the unconditional support they provide (and continue to provide) to their students, sons, daughters, etc.
I will leave you with some empowering words that my father has always told me and that have helped me through my college journey: “¡Siempre pa’lante! Ni un paso para atrás, como el armadillo / Always forward! Not a step backwards, like the armadillo.”
*The armadillo is the only animal that always walks forward and cannot walk backwards.
* The “x” is used to be more inclusive and derive from the gender binary.
Special thanks to: my father, my mother, and my sisters; also to Natalia Fernández, Ana Gómez, Robin Fifita, and Dr. Larry Roper; the Oregon Multicultural Archives for giving me the opportunity to use the collection “Latinos en Oregón: Sus Voces, Sus Historias, Su Herencia”; and the OSU Juntos families from the Madras and Culver, Oregon, communities for sharing their stories.
And now you may be wondering “how do you play OSU Juntos Lotería?”
A Lotería tabla
Game Contents:
- 1 Lotería Instructions sheet
- 1 OSU Juntos Lotería sheet
- 1 Lotería Project Information sheet
- 10 playing boards, called ‘tablas’
- A deck of cards with 54 cards
- 1 bag of beans
How to Play Lotería:
- Each player (2-10 players) uses one game board called a ‘tabla’
- The deck of cards is shuffled and is placed face down; one designated player turns over the cards, one at a time – s/he calls out the number and reads the card’s text
- Each player tracks and marks the random draw of cards using the dry beans until they have one of the winning patterns (four in a row: across, down, or diagonally) or, for a longer game, have their ‘tabla’ full
- Whenever a player has filled out a winning streak, or fills their ‘tabla’, they yell out “¡Lotería!” to win
We hope you go check out the set and enjoy the game!
