Card/Dice Games on the Camino?

[CatPhillips]

Wondering if anyone has ideas about group card or dice games that pilgrims can play along the way. My partner and I play a (non-gambling) dice game that we will bring with us next Camino (it goes by many names, we call it Ten Thousand, but it's commercially sold as Farkle). But what games are there that would be easy to share and teach, especially common Spanish games? I also recently discovered Chinchon, a rummy-like card game that's played in Latin American and, I think, Spain. Anyone familiar with Chincon? Ideas?

 

[jungleboy]

I've taken Pack-o-Games on camino before. They're micro-games that each come in a box the size of a pack of chewing gum. My faves are Dig, Rum, Orc and Nut (although perhaps Nut was a Kickstarter exclusive because it's not listed on the site).

 

[Marbe2]

We play scrabble on the iPad or I phone. we also bring miniature cards and play rummy and bricola. In addition, we play word games orally when we get fatigued or need distracting while walking, For example, we take turns naming animals that begin or end a previous named animal. So if the first word is BEAR then, the following person must name an animal that begins with a B or an R. We change topics. We alsoplay name that tune also.

 

[t2andreo]

Too heavy...

 

[Turga]

You could play Spoof (Klunse). All it requires is a number of small sticks (e.g. matches) or coins or pebbles (3 x the number of players). Very easy to teach to others.

 

[Theatregal]

When you arrive in Santiago de Compostela, you might like to play on a game board that is very original to the city! A wonderful La Voz de Galicia article originally posted in a thread by @Peter Fransiscus https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/160-boards-hidden-in-compostela.53192/#post-591755
I found a few of these boards - on the stone benches (left of the cathedral parallel to the Parador) and in the courtyard of San Martin Pinario.

 

[David Tallan]

In 2016 we took a deck of cards on Camino, but I don't think we ever used it. There are a million games you can play with a standard deck. In previous travels where I have interacted with multi-national groups, I've found that Crazy Eights is the lingua franca of the card playing world. I would meet people from all over who said that they didn't know any card games. So I would start to teach them Crazy Eights and inevitably they would say "We have a card game just like this but [insert variations on the special actions of specific cards]".

In 2018 I took a board game called Coin Age. The board is the size of a playing card. The pieces are coins from your pockets. I never ended up playing that easier.

I'm not sure if I would bring a game on future caminos. I did pick up some Camino themed decks of playing cards in Santiago after my 2018 camino, though.

 

[Pelegrin]

If you see four Spanish pilgrims playing cards, probably the game is MUS.
MUS is very amusing but not easy to learn.
But it's worth it to make the effort.

 

[Pelegrin]

This is MUS rules:

How to play Mus: card game instructions

Check the manual for full instructions on how to play Mus: type of cards, scores, number of players and more tutorials

www.nhfournier.es

 

[Dorpie]

I played a fair bit of backgammon in the evenings on my first camino. Not exactly inclusive as it's only a two player game but easy to learn and easy to carry if you get a travel roll similar to this , I'm sure you can get lighter and cheaper versions.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I played a fair bit of backgammon in the evenings on my first camino. Not exactly inclusive as it's only a two player game but easy to learn and easy to carry if you get a travel roll similar to this , I'm sure you can get lighter and cheaper versions.

I have an Android app for Backgammon - play the machine or play an opponent. Different skill levels and the algorithm is a bit flaky when the machine bears off but it's OK (AI Factory)

I also learned to play MANCALA a fascinating game from Africa/the Middle East played by moving pebbles round a board made up of little cups (you can get this as an app too) but best of all I was introduced to a dice game called CUBILETE by some pilgrims from Cuba. It's played with poker dice - they played for money, when they played with me it got changed to pistachio nuts. I never had any left to eat any at the end of the session!