AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 PLAYS

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s we travel south from last month’s stop-over in Canada, we eventually catch a glimpse of the towering Andes cropping out of the South American continent. Shortly after, we set down in the expansive and diverse country of Peru before diving into its tabletop secrets.

First on the agenda is the curious Juego del Sapo, a dexterity game involving the throwing of coins into a shiny brass frog’s mouth. According to ancient Inca legend, the royal king would travel to Lake Titicaca and toss gold coins to catch the attention of a frog. With their status as magical creatures, it was believed that if a tossed coin was to land in the frog’s mouth then a wish would be granted. As an added bonus, the unfortunate amphibian would also turn to gold itself.

Later, during the South American expansion of the Spanish Empire in the 1700s, settlers reimagined the tale as a board game. Often this ‘board’ took the form of a Sapo Box; an ornately decorated cabinet of sorts, with several holes alongside the titular frog, and a brass sun emblazoned behind it. Today, official boards feature 25 scoring holes as well as the central frog, and a number of brass chips. Traditionally these are built by local artisans in the country’s capital of Lima, although cheaper iterations can be found across the country in pubs, clubs, and even outdoor picnic areas.

Whilst throwing coins at frogs is still a well-loved pastime in Peru, there are several examples of the country’s more contemporary designs. The classic dicechucking, gambling game Perudo is descended from the ancient South American game of Dudo. In the late 1980s, Alfredo Fernandini and Cosmo Fry were vacationing in Peru and set to researching the game’s history. Employing the talents of Peruvian leather artisans the duo conceived Perudo

– its name an amalgamation of various iterations of Dudo and its country of origin. Its leather cups were packaged in locally sourced drawstring bags and imported to the London craft shop Inca in 1989 where it soon kicked off a hot new trend. Celebrities and royalty eagerly clutched and rattled the game’s dice-filled cups with Stephen Fry comically declaring it as ‘the second-most addictive thing ever to come out of South America.’

Large scale publishers are relatively few in Peru with many games instead being independently produced. Carlos Vildoso’s historic war-game 1879: A sangre y fuego is one such example as is Javier Orejas’

Inkarumi, a colourful roll and write game from 2011. On a slightly larger scale, Rath’s Edge are an independent publisher formed by a collective of local players. Their first release was

Operación: Zombies Perú, a card game which sees players attempting to rescue more civilians than their opponents. Rath’s Edge also released the Lovecraft inspired solo game Sin Retorno in 2017, which utilises pushyour-luck mechanics to add tension to its macabre mansion setting.

Designer Javier Zapata Innocenzi is the creator of book and game publishing house Malabares. Among the small company’s catalogue are Innocenzi’s games Presidente, Peru Cocina, and his latest 2019 release Fangoso. Peru Cocina is a smart set collection game tasking players with preparing famous tasty Peruvian dishes, whilst Fangoso is a simple cooperative children’s game. Innocenzi also created a book based on Fangoso, taking the game’s theme and aesthetic to tell a valuable children’s tale of overcoming a sticky corruption monster by performing good deeds

Peru’s gaming future looks promising, with board game sales increasing each year – to the point where Peru now sits at fourth position in terms of sales in South American countries. Peru’s tabletop history may not be particularly dense, yet its richness and influence is undeniable.