(Chichiriviche de la Costa) “Zapato! Fuera! Outside ! shout, hilarious and a little tipsy, the domino players in Chichiriviche, a small fishing village on the Venezuelan coast about fifty kilometers from Caracas.
Posted yesterday at 11:39
Efren Rodriguez, 32, fisherman, leaves the table, angry, under the laughing jokes. “Zapato” (Shoe) is in a way to be “Fanny”.
In Venezuela, the domino, which is played in pairs – which requires more strategy than alone – is a tradition that is not only reserved for children. It is “the favorite entertainment for all ages, at all levels, in all social categories. Among well-established people as well as in shantytowns, in urban centers as in the countryside”, wrote in 2005 the late Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera (1969-1974 and 1994-1999) in the preface to The art of 28 pieces by Alfredo Fernández Porras.
In bars or in silence
“We will say that 70-75% of the 30 million Venezuelans play dominoes,” explains the president of the Venezuelan Domino Federation, Efrain Velazquez. “In every house you will find a set of dominoes. And, at family gatherings, someone will take it out.
The domino is also often played in bars, while consuming alcohol, as in Chichiriviche, and as elsewhere in the country, the games are played between men.
Far from the beach and the tourists, young men play on worn wooden tables, seated on a plastic chair, a tree trunk or a rack of beer flowing like so many hard liquors: anise, rum or whiskey whose players stick the thumbnails on their cheeks for fun. Their domino game is also a gift from a brand of whiskey.
“Pam! A player theatrically knocks the dominoes onto the table, knocking the other pieces off. ” Take this ! he flares up.
“It’s to kill boredom. It’s the emotion, when you win and you beat the others! I play football and everything, but my favorite thing is the domino,” underlines Ruben Mayoral, a 26-year-old fisherman.
“I was given ‘Zapato’, not a point. The others laughed at me, while I got angry. We’re having a good time. We discuss, we laugh, we winnow, ”laughs Efren. “That’s how we spend the day.”
Two brothers, 13 world titles
The atmosphere is quite different in Valencia in the meeting room of a large hotel for one of the four annual tournaments awarding national titles. Here, some 300 seasoned players play in silence interrupted by the noise of pieces being shuffled after each game.
Some wear the jersey of the national team, others those of their State and the women, like Carlimar Aparicio, member of the national team, are in the game.
For the “legendary” Marquina brothers, Carlos, 45, six times world champion and Luis, 41, seven times, “it’s a sport, a competition. You have to train, prepare, concentrate,” says Luis.
No winks, jerks or shouts. Referees pass between the tables, and the president of the federation would like to see domino become an Olympic sport.
“We play dominoes all over the world. There are national and continental championships. We hope he will be Olympic one day, ”he said, regretting that Paris-2024 did not put him on the program.
“It was Marco Polo who brought the dominoes back from China with silk, powder and paste, but it was in France that it became popular and it is to France that it owes its name of “domino””, from the name of the clothes worn by French monks and priests, recalls Efrain Velazquez.
” We are having fun “
Far from the world champions or the national team, at the foot of the great district of Petaré in Caracas, often described as the largest slum in the world, the pensioners’ club brings together old and less old every afternoon for wild games.
” We are having fun. It makes the brains work. Kind of like chess. You play one or two games and then you give up your place. We argue sometimes, but it’s quickly forgotten, ”smiles Pedro Roberto Leon, a retired police officer.
And during the games, those who are waiting to play give their expert commentary, necessarily criticizing the lack of foresight of those who are seated. Enrique Benavente, 48, technician, jokes: “those who observe and comment are the only ones who are never wrong”.