The game I'd like to talk about is dominoes and a special anecdote where this game was a great help to overcome a situation that happened in Venezuela a few years ago.

It is a board game where there are 28 pieces, each piece is rectangular in size, which is divided into two numbers ranging from zero to six, in the image below you can see how the pieces are formed.

The game is based on sitting at a table, usually 4 people, you can play individually or in pairs with the person in front of you. The pieces are placed downwards, so that the numbers are not visible, one of the participants moves the pieces with his hands, then each one takes seven pieces, which he has to hide from his partners.

The first move is made by whoever has the double 6, this is the main piece, which is called "la chepa" or "la cochina", and it is the piece with the highest numbering, therefore it is the most important one to draw.

The person next to you continues to draw a piece that has 6 on one of the sides, if it does not have 6, you lose that turn and the next person follows. And so on until at the end the one who runs out of pieces first wins, and the numbers of the pieces of the others are the scores of the winner, so it is very important to get the double 6, because they are 12 points for the opponent.

I chose this game because since I was very little I saw older people playing and I found it very entertaining, I used to watch how they played and I learned the rules, when I played I always lost because these people had many more strategies than me, but it always seemed very entertaining. There are people who by watching the moves that their teammates make can guess what pieces they have, I have those skills to a minimum. But I have seen people who have them to perfection.

I will tell an anecdote where I feel that this game made a difficult stage in 2019 in Venezuela bearable. That year there were two blackouts nationwide, that is, we were without electricity for about 5 days and the other one for 4 days (in each part of the country the days varied), without electricity arriving at any time during those days. Both were quite close in the month of March and many of us feared a third blackout.

At that time and up to the present time, they ration our electricity, they take it away for 1, 2, 3, 4,...12 hours, a whole day, several times a day, it is relative.

At that time the power went out, we all thought that it was part of the rationing that could be 4 hours or 6 hours and nobody worried about it. However, 24 hours passed and the electricity did not arrive, people's telephones were turned off, they did not have any information about what was happening, there was no television, there was nothing to get information, even transportation was not working because of the same issue that without electricity we did not know what was happening. I was at the university and at this time I did not even attend classes because I did not know what was happening and I did not feel safe traveling in that situation.

After a short time, people began to adapt to being without electricity, because we did not know until when the national blackout would last, and we knew it was national because those who had an acquaintance in another state of the country were in the same situation of not having electricity.

Then, people had no way to store food because the electrical equipment could not work, businesses worked as they could. The usual entertainment changed because, for example, there were no phones charged and those that were there tried to save the battery as much as possible, the computers were the same situation, the television was turned off, that is to say, there was no entertainment at a technological level because there was no electricity. Something that I feel helped me to cope with all this were the board games, in my case dominoes.

To entertain themselves, people would take out the tables and the games they had at home. I was invited to play dominoes. I remember that we played all afternoon until it got dark, and it was lit with handmade candles made with kerosene, I still don't know how those candles are made.

Playing dominoes became part of everyday life, even after the arrival of electricity the games continued. At that time of crisis and uncertainty, playing helped to think about something else. I saw a lot of games, I saw good players in action, I also played a lot, I learned more strategies, I lost a lot of games, I don't like to bet so I just lost games and that was it.

It was a time of crisis, but it was still a great opportunity to be with family and friends, all that was needed was a table, 4 people playing, dominoes and candles.

I recently had it as an app on my phone, but it's not the same as playing it at the table with other people. The feeling is much better, listening to the sound of the pieces on the table doesn't compare to doing it on the phone. I plan to buy my own pieces, because part of the reason I stopped playing it is because I don't have them.

If you know this game I invite you to play it because it is quite entertaining, and if not to know it. Thanks for reading my post, I hope you liked it.