Due to weird scheduling, I found myself playing cards with some students the last week of school. In order to keep it in Spanish, I taught them a game called As, dos, tres I learned from my host family in Costa Rica. I was surprised to realize I could explain it in Spanish simply enough for them to understand. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and got lots of language input! Here are the rules:
1. No mires tus cartas. (show how to hold cards in stack, all face down)
2. Cuando juegas, tú dices as, dos, tres (contando). (demo – each person plays a card and counts up to jota, queena*, rey, and back over to as, dos, tres)
3. Si juegas tres y dices tres, tienes que comer las cartas. (demo)
4. ¡Es malo comer las cartas! Es bueno no tener cartas.
5. Si tú juegas tres y dices tres, pero tu compañero juega encima, tu compañero tiene que comer las cartas.
6. Cuando no tienes más cartas, ganas.
*I say queena because that’s how my family in Costa Rica said it. You could also say reina.
Here’s a clip of my kiddos playing. The action picks up around 0:30 seconds:
English instructions:
1. Don’t look at your cards. Hold them in a stack in your hand.
2. Each person takes turns flipping a card face up onto the pile. As you play, you count up from Ace to King.
3. If the number you say is the same as the card you play, you have to take the whole pile.
4. UNLESS…the next person doesn’t notice and plays on top. Then they have to take the cards.
5. The goal is to get rid of all your cards!
**Mexican variation: If you say the card you flip, everyone tries to slap the pile. The winner takes the cards. The game ends when one player has all the cards.
Ms. Brown Spanish 
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