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maybe a token for a board game
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interesting, nice find
Red-Coat
Gold Member
Interesting.
It seems to be a pocket piece to bring good luck in gambling games in Mexico. It might be for any kind of gambling but I believe it may relate to one of the variants of lottery/bingo/raffle type games originally played in makeshift clandestine gambling dens which evolved into communal gambling centres with proper tables and comfortable seating. It seems to have been popular with women and played during the day when the menfolk were at work.
The game was steeped in superstitious ritual, with people turning their tables in particular orientations, spraying them with perfume, ensuring there were seven seats, burning incense and even bringing ‘lucky frogs’ with them. All of this was intended to invoke a positive influence from Birján (Birjain), the God of the Game (Dios del Juego).
As I understand it, you bought one or more play cards at prices between 10 to 50 pesos and played the game in ‘real time’ at one of these centres, popularly known as the “Yak”. The amount you could win depended on the price you paid for the card and the number of cards sold, with jackpots up to 100,000 pesos; then, using the same card, there was the possibility of an accumulator jackpot up to 2 million pesos.
These days I think it has largely gone computerised with operating centres dominated by two companies: Caliente, headed by Jorge Hank Rhon; and Administradora Mexicana de Hipódromos.
It seems to be a pocket piece to bring good luck in gambling games in Mexico. It might be for any kind of gambling but I believe it may relate to one of the variants of lottery/bingo/raffle type games originally played in makeshift clandestine gambling dens which evolved into communal gambling centres with proper tables and comfortable seating. It seems to have been popular with women and played during the day when the menfolk were at work.
The game was steeped in superstitious ritual, with people turning their tables in particular orientations, spraying them with perfume, ensuring there were seven seats, burning incense and even bringing ‘lucky frogs’ with them. All of this was intended to invoke a positive influence from Birján (Birjain), the God of the Game (Dios del Juego).
As I understand it, you bought one or more play cards at prices between 10 to 50 pesos and played the game in ‘real time’ at one of these centres, popularly known as the “Yak”. The amount you could win depended on the price you paid for the card and the number of cards sold, with jackpots up to 100,000 pesos; then, using the same card, there was the possibility of an accumulator jackpot up to 2 million pesos.
These days I think it has largely gone computerised with operating centres dominated by two companies: Caliente, headed by Jorge Hank Rhon; and Administradora Mexicana de Hipódromos.
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