Tablero

The drinking game known as Tablero had its genesis at a party attended by members of the worldwide medieval recreation group, the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in 1985, or anno societatis 19, as time is reckoned in the Knowne World. One person who was very keen on the history and playing of board games, Baron Sir Gerhard Kendal of Westmoreland, introduced a gambling game played with coins to the group; El Tablero de Jesús, said to have been played by 15th century monks. A couple of folks at the aforementioned party, known as Umeyama Taniko and Guido da Gucci, devised a similar game with shot glasses of beer instead of coins, and Tablero da Gucci was born. From those humble beginnings, the denizens of the SCA crowd-built the rules of the new game, now often referred to simply as Tablero. Sometime later, Baron Steffano da Gucci published a pamphlet offering a codification of the rules and some of the variants, but house rules and further variations not only abound but have always been encouraged and considered part of the fun. What follows is a simplified set of our version of the rules. A Tablero set consists of seven shot glasses, two six-sided dice, and a board with a 7x7 grid of a size appropriate to the shot glasses. The standard Stake for a game is two bottles or cans per Player of some kind of alcoholic beverage, usually beer and NOT hard liquor. The object of the game is to drink your Opponent’s beverage. Players must arrange 5 or more shot glasses in a continuous, unbroken line on any Row (the lines of squares horizontal to the players) but NOT on either Baseline (the two Rows closest to the Players). The Player rolls the two 6-sided dice and moves any two of the seven shot glasses, one for each die, the corresponding number of squares up or down the Columns (the lines of squares perpendicular to the players). The Player must make both their moves even if this puts them at a disadvantage. Dice rolls cannot be combined to move one shot. A Player not able to move both their shot glasses moves neither and passes the dice to their Opponent. The Player continues to roll the dice and move shot glasses until they a) line up enough shot glasses to Take a Pull, b) lose Control of the dice as a result of rolling a Pass Number (7 or 11), or c) are unable to move one or more of their shot glasses the number of spaces indicated by the die. (Eg: the roll is a 6 and there are no shot glasses on either baseline, so no move is possible for that number.) They move neither shots, and pass the dice to their Opponent. Before play a bystander is asked to roll the dice and this number needs to be remembered as The Queen’s Number. Whenever the Queen’s Number is rolled, the Player who rolled it should choose any shot glass on the table, raise it, declare “Let’s Hear It For The Queen!” and drink the shot. The empty glass is set on the Opponent’s baseline on the Column it came from, and the Opponent fills it. Play then proceeds as before, without re-rolling the dice. If a Player rolls the Queen’s Number but does not notice and moves a shot glass (the Opponent should wait for them to let go of the shot before challenging the move) their Opponent may call Muggins on it by declaring “Let’s Hear It For The Queen!”. The shot glass that was moved in error should go back to where it was before the Queen’s Number was rolled and the Opponent gets to choose any shot and drink it. The emptied shot then goes on the Baseline of the active Player and they must fill it. The active Player retains control of the dice and continues with their turn. You get to Take a Pull (i.e. drink the lined-up shot glasses) when you line up 5 or more shot glasses in a continuous, unbroken line on a Row (so, no gaps in the line of shots). Note that at least one shot glass must be added to an assembled line of shots on the turn that the Pull is declared and taken. Pulls may not be assembled on the baselines. When a Player has arranged enough shots in a line for a Pull, they may drink them. In fact, the Player must drink at least half of the shots in the Pull. The other half of the shot glasses in the Pull they may optionally hand out to their Opponent, who is likely thirsty at this point, and/or to the Spectators that generally agglomerate to games of Tablero. The Player must have finished both their moves before being able to Take a Pull. After a Pull, the now empty shot glasses are placed on the Opponent’s baseline and the Opponent must refill them. Provided they fill all the empty shot glasses, the Opponent now gets control of the dice, becoming the active Player. Should a Player be unable to fill a shot glass that is required of them (they have run out of beer) then they lose the game. There is a fair amount more to the game but this represents the basics.