Post date: Jan 20, 2009 11:12:3 AM
Tablero de Gucci is played on a 7 x 7 grid, with shot glasses acting as the playing pieces. Each player begins with two bottles (beer or cider), and fills 3 of the 7 glasses, placing them in the left-hand squares of his baseline. He then rolls one of the 2 dice. The higher roller may choose who will fill the last remaining glass, placing it on his or her centre square, and take the first roll.
The objective of the game is to be the last player to have any alcohol remaining from his initial two bottles.
Before the game commences, the dice are rolled by a spectator and the resulting number becomes the Queen's Number. If a player rolls this number during the game, he picks any one glass, makes a toast to the Queen (or other deserving personage) and drinks the contents, placing it back on his opponent's baseline for refilling. This occurs before his moves are made.
Each player in turn rolls the dice and moves the glasses accordingly. A glass may only be moved the full total of one of the dice, and each die roll must move a separate glass. If the player cannot move because one or both of his rolls is too high, that roll, and the player's turn, is forfeit. However, if a move is possible, one must be made. Lining up 6 or 7 of the glasses on any row other than one of the baselines, or all 7 in a diagonal row, allows the player to drink the contents (seeDrinking below), and the empties are then placed back on the opponent's baseline where he must refill them.
A player's turn continues in this manner until either he lines up 6 or 7 of the glasses, or he rolls a 7, 11 or 12, or he can't move. The dice are then passed to the other player.
Once a player lines up 6 or 7 of the glasses, he is entitled to drink the contents. He must drink at least 1/2 of the total, although the remaining glasses may be passed to his opponent and/or any of the spectators (traditionally, not more than one glass per person).
Should a player have to refill one or more glasses and discovers that he does not have sufficient alcohol remaining, then he has lost the game. Such full glasses as are left are handed out, one to each player and then any others to spectators, before the winning player makes a toast, to include the Crown, the autocrat, any notables present and worthy of mention and, of course, his most worthy opponent. Who lost. Status can be gained by making the toast particularly imaginative/insulting, by being creatively inspired in lauding his own talents, and/or by managing to remember the entire toast list (King, Queen, Crown Prince and Princess, Dowager Princess Geneltis, Autocrat, local Baron and Baroness, Baron Steffano for re-inventing the game, etc).
The game, of course, is self-regulating. The more you win, the more you drink; the more you drink, the less likely you are to win. Thus, to win consistently over the course of an evening (or a tournament) and still be upright at the end of it is considered a mark of distinction. As a guide, at Clinton War 1999, the tournament winner after 3 days of Tablero had played 87 games. He did little else for the entire weekend.
Any rule that you can convince your opponent of being genuine is permitted until caught out. This can lead to interesting variations in play.