You call "knowing how to play" luck?

My grandmother Haydée loved to play games. It didn't really make a difference if they were cards, dice, board games, bingo, roulette, she loved them all. She would preferred to play cards, though, and she knew of every possible card game you could think of; in the event of a doubt or a dispute, you could bet that the little "Rules and regulations" booklet was in the drawers behind her.

She would sit in there and play for hours, from dusk to dawn. Since we weren't around during the winter, she would mostly play with my grandfather Pepe, who couldn't be less interested (hence she would win 95% of the times). The problem with that is that she never really mastered the games that required her to: a) play with a partner (she would try to do everything by herself) and b) fool or trick the opponents (she would always count with the complicity of 'absent minded professor Pepe'). Whenever we (her grandchildren) were around, that would mean she would stay up six nights per week, because we loved to play too!

 

She had five grandchildren (then we ended being seven), but the most 'loyal' ones were me, my cousin Cristian and later on, my younger brother Martín. Haydée would get mad at the latter, claiming that he was 'inconsistent', because Martín would say that he didn't want to play anymore and then he would go to bed. It didn't matter to her that Martín was seven and we had been playing cards for eight hours straight... :-)

 

Oddly enough, we had two favourite games, and none involved cards. One was the ancient Chinese game of Mahjongg (not the puzzle, but the actual "Four Winds Mah Jongg" game), and the other was the Argentine version of "Risk", which was called "T.E.G." (as in "Tactic and Strategy of War"). Both games would last a good four, five hours. And sometimes we would play two! Or even three!!

 

I know, my grandmother was well into her seventies, but she LOVED to play TEG! In her words, "not only I have fun playing it, but it also teaches me about countries I didn't know, like Kamchatka or Gobi" (I know, I know, not real countries). She would always play with the red coloured chips, and she would win most of the times, no matter how many were sitting at the table (it can be played by up to six people).

 

Picture from http://www.ligadeteg.com.ar. They still host TEG tournaments!

 

She was nearly invincible; not because she was particularly good at it, but because she probably was the luckiest person we have ever seen. Most of the times, she would mercilessly beat us, without even knowing how brilliant her strategy was. On the other hand, if any of us dared to take one of her territories from her, she would read that as "everybody is playing against me". So she would declare: "From now on, I'm going to be the little seed of evil!" and put 20 chips on that one country you needed to obtain in order to earn continent bonus points. It was a lost battle, as she would resist for ever. And then, once we were weakened, she would come after us like a vulture.

 

As we grew older, we started to bring our friends over, especially those who claimed to be really good at T.E.G. We would then sit them right next to our grandmother, and enjoy (I must confess) the humiliating experience they would go through.

 

My cousin Germán was probably 18, 19 years old and he wouldn't learn. Every Friday or Saturday night, he would drop by over my grandma's on his way to going out with his friends. Haydée would offer them some coffee, then tempt them: "Do you guys want to play a game of T.E.G.? Just a short one..." And they would fall for it!!!

 

Three hours later, my cousin and his friends would leave slamming the door with anger and exclaiming "This is the LAST time I come to play with this lady! You CAN'T be that lucky all the time!".

 

Haydée would smile, and reply quietly "Luck? You call knowing how to play 'luck'?". Then she would retire to her nest until the next weekend, because she knew that the same or 'new' victims (me, my other cousin) would come for another embarrassing evening...

 

 

A mi abuela Haydée le encantaba jugar. No importaba si eran juegos de cartas, de dados, de mesa, lotería de cartones, ruleta, a ella le gustaban todos. Prefería jugar a las cartas, sin embargo, y conocía todos los juegos de cartas imaginables; si había alguna duda o disputa, podías apostar que ella tenía el librito con el reglamento en los cajones detrás de su silla.

 

Ella no tenía problemas en sentarse y jugar por horas, desde el atardecer hasta la mañana siguiente. Como nosotros no estábamos durante el invierno, la abuela jugaba la mayoría del tiempo con mi abuelo Pepe, a quien no podría interesarle menos el asunto (por lo que casi siempre ganaba la abuela). El problema era que debido a esto ella nunca pudo hacerse experta en los juegos que requerían que: a) jugara con un compañero (trataba de hacer todo ella sola) y b) engañar al adversario (porque ella siempre tenía las cosas fáciles gracias al 'profesor distraído Pepe'). Cuando nosotros (sus nietos) andábamos por ahí, eso significaba que se quedaba levantada toda la noche seis días por semana, porque a nosotros nos encantaba jugar también!

 

Tenía entonces cinco nietos (luego fueron siete), pero los más 'leales' eramos mi primo Cristian y yo, y luego mi hermano más chico Martín. Haydée se enojaba con el último, diciendo que era un 'inconstante', porque Martín a veces decretaba que no quería jugar más y se iba a dormir. No importaba que Martín tuviese siete años y que ya hubiésemos estado jugando por ocho horas sin parar... :-)

 

Image from http://www.mahjongmuseum.com

Curiosamente, nuestros dos juegos preferidos no eran de cartas. Uno era el viejo juego chino del Mahjongg (no el puzzle, sino el juego de "Mah Jong de los cuatro vientos") y el otro era la versión argentina del "Risk", que allí se llamaba "T.E.G." (Táctica y Estrategia de la Guerra). Ambos juegos tenían una duración de cuatro o cinco horas. Y a veces jugábamos dos seguidos! Y hasta tres!!

 

Ya lo sé, mi abuela tenía unos setenta años, pero le ENCANTABA jugar al TEG! En sus palabras, "No sólo me divierte jugar, sino que también aprendo sobre países que desconocía, como Kamchatka o Gobi" (sí, sí, no son paises reales, ya lo sé). Siempre jugaba con las fichas rojas, y ganaba casi siempre, sin importar quiénes o cuántos estuviesen sentados a la mesa (el TEG se puede jugar hasta por seis personas).

 

Era casi invencible; no porque fuera muy buena, sino porque era probablemente la persona con más suerte que conocimos. La mayoría de las veces, nos infligía derrotas humillantes, sin siquiera darse cuenta de lo brillante que había sido su estrategia. Por otro lado, si alguno de nosotros osara sacarle un territorio a la abuela, ella lo interpretaba como "todos juegan en contra de mí". Entonces ella anunciaba: "A partir de ahora voy a ser semillita de maldad!" y ponía 20 fichas en ese país que era el último que nos faltaba para poder obtener puntos bonus por continente. Sabíamos que era una batalla perdida, porque con esas fichas la abuela iba a resistir para siempre. Al final, una vez que ya estábamos debilitados, caía sobre nosotros como un buitre.

 

A medida que fuimos creciendo, comenzamos a traer a nuestros amigos a jugar, especialmente esos que decían ser grandes jugadores de TEG. Los sentábamos al ladito de la abuela y,  disfrutábamos (debo confesar) la humillante experiencia por la que irremediablemente pasaban.

 

The TEG board (Image from Comunidad TEG)

 

Mi primo Germán tenía 18 o 19 años ya, pero no aprendía. Cada viernes o sábado por la noche, pasaba por casa de la abuela camino a ir a bailar o salir por ahí con sus amigos. Haydée les ofrecía un café y luego los tentaba con un: "No quieren jugar un partido de TEG? Uno cortito..." Y ellos caían!!!

 

Tres horas más tarde, mi primo y sus amigos se iban dando un portazo, exclamando enfurecidos "Esta es la ULTIMA vez que vengo a jugar con esta señora! No se puede tener TANTA suerte todo el tiempo!"

 

Haydée sonreía y respondía bajito "Suerte? Al saber jugar le dicen suerte?". Entonces se retiraba a su nido a esperar el próximo fin de semana, porque sabía que las mismas víctimas, o nuevas (como mi otro primo o yo) volveríamos para pasar vergüenza otra vez...

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