The HoarderRehab Blog: The Destiny of Things: Loteria Mexican Bingo Game for Fiesta Birthday Party Fun! The Destiny of Things, Story 321

Loteria Mexican Bingo Game for Fiesta Birthday Party Fun! The Destiny of Things, Story 321

Fun traditional game and learn some Spanish too!

Loteria Mexican Bingo game of 10 gameboards and 54 cards, available here

photo via The Destiny of Things

This loteria game is like playing American bingo, but some say it's more fun because instead of calling out numbers, you can call out the card's picture in Spanish or read or sing the riddle on the back.

Loteria means game of chance in Spanish and unlike American Bingo of choosing a random number, the caller chooses a card. There seems to be more possible variations or ways to win too! As seen here on the loteria link on wikepedia.

Not only do the back of the cards contain the riddles in Spanish, but the back of the game boards have old style games on them too! Like dot to dots, matching games, box me in and perhaps even a cross word puzzle.

Loteria Mexican Bingo game of 10 gameboards and 54 cards, available here

photo via The Destiny of Things

An Etsy buyer let me know that these are for her daughter's fiesta birthday party. She didn't mention if they were going to play the game or if she was going to use them as party decorations.

We've had many Etsy buyers use these in several different ways. For fiesta party decor by stringing up the cards to make garlands, the game boards to make wedding programs, invitations and the cards for table numbers, like the example below:

they ordered 12 or 15 loteria game sets!

Beautiful unique example of wedding seating arrangement display someone emailed to me. photo via Etsyian

One Etsy buyer even took hers to Puerta Vallarta to play pool side with her friends on her honeymoon or was it bachlorette party.

Another Etsy buyer plays with her friends to learn Spanish while taking Spanish 101 in college.

I use them to make loteria card art from the deck and the game boards for the nichos we sell on VintageToGoeasy and Hoarder Rehab. I also make little loteria boxes to ship off the art cards too!

My loteria art with nicho, available here

photo via VintageToGoeasy

Saying Goodbye: I've been using these in my art since the 80s and have always loved the graphics on them. During my teaching days I had at least 4 sets of them because with a class of 30 each would need a game board.

Great game to introduce to children and adults for Day of the Dead, Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence day parties through out the year. My students would love to go find their own lucky magic pebbles at recess to play later in the afternoon. Other traditional markers are pinto beans or pennies.

Frida Kahlo Day of the Dead mixed media loteria art collage cards

available here, photo via JunkDrawerAndMore

What I Learned:

1. Finding alternatives to my hoarding habits has been more interesting and easier than I thought. I've been trying different things and one of them was turning to my loteria art that I used to make in the 80s for gift tags, my nichos and ofrendas.

Nichos are the little tin 3d framed Mexican shadow boxes and ofrendas a little alters that hold shrine items and nichos. It would hold offerings your ancestors would like and be decorated with paper garlands and their Saints.

Here is an example of a mini nicho displaying an ofrenda:

Mini nicho ofrenda, available here

photo via Hoarder Rehab

2. My love for Mexican folk art started with my miniature collection and trips to Mexico as a child. When I went to college, I saw an exhibit of Religious Mexican Folk Art at the Mengei Museum in San Diego and fell in love with milagros! I immediately started collecting them.

Milagros are little pot metal miracle charms people would offer to a Saint at church with a prayer. Here are some milagros on a cross:

Milagro art cross, available here

photo via Hoarder Rehab

3. Most of my Mexican Folk Art from the 80s has sold, but I still have a large collection of milagros and Mexican wedding milagro necklaces that I'm not ready to let go of yet. And even though I can't really keep my ofrendas and nichos due to my allergies to dust at least other Etsy buyers are enjoying them with my art work inside.

4. I didn't realize til now how much I do love my religious Mexican folk art! And I sure did get side tracked from loteria bingo to my different alternatives for hoarding to the love of my religious Mexican folk art!

Here is a cross made by Claudio Jimenez, available here

photo via VintageToGoeasy

Thank you Etsy buyer from The Destiny of Things for letting me know your daughter is going to have a fun fiesta birthday by including the loteria game. Your story brought a lot of insight to mine! Thank you!

Thank you Etsy for the best Hoarder Rehab ever!

Thank you all readers from all over the world who have stopped by to take part in my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things with your visit!

A more modern looking version of the loteria game, available here

photo via The Destiny of Things

I am adding new items weekly to each shop until I have 800 of my dehoard listed!

Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 192 items, The Destiny of Things- 171 items, VintageToGoEasy - 190 items and now JunkDrawerAndMore - 182 items!