A few days ago, when I didn't have any homework, my host mother and sister showed me how to play Jacks and Chromos, two games very traditional of Costa Rica. These games however are known very much as “girl” games, so most men never played them.
Jacks is the same concept as it is in the United States. I've always had a bag of jacks in my drawer at home but I never knew how to play, so it was great to finally be taught. You start by holding ten jacks in your hand and throwing them up to try and catch them on the back of your hand. If any of them drop, its fine. However after this, you throw them back up to catch them again in the palm of your hand. If any drop at this point you lose and its the next person's turn. If not, you continue by bouncing the ball and grabbing one jack before the ball hits again. You do this for each jack and once you finish picking up jacks individually, you move onto picking up the jacks in doubles, triples, etc, until you have to pick them up all at once. Once you accomplish this, you have won the game. If at any point the ball bounces twice, you lose and its the next person's turn. Once you're picking up two or more at a time and its your turn, you no longer try to do the catching thing, you just throw the jacks on the floor. If two jacks land on each other, you must knock them apart with your finger. If someone else does this first, you move back to picking up one jack at a time.
The other game we learned was Chromos. The focal point of this game is the attempt to flip over little pieces of paper that usually have butterflies drawn on them. The pieces of paper are known as Chromos. The amount of chromos that are put in the middle is equal to the amount of players, and each player takes their turn slapping their hand down on the chromos in an attempt to flip them over. Whichever ones flip over you get to keep. Whoever ends up with the most chromos wins.
It was really nice to have this bonding moment with our family. We probably spent an hour or an hour and a half hunched over these little childhood games, getting frustrated but having tons of fun and laughs. Our host mother was extremely good at these, having had plenty of time to practice. The experience made for a good day.
