Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Counter: Ficha

Dice: Dado

Dice Cup / Shaker : Cubilete

Check: Mate

Checkmate: Jaque mate

Tie: Empate

Game Over: Fin de partida

Playing Cards

Posted on 08. Apr, 2012 by gabriele in Culture, English Vocabulary

People around the world love to play cards, whether for fun or sport (i.e. gambling). This is no different in the United States. There are many, many, card games in the United States that are popular among Americans young and old. In fact many games that are popular with younger Americans are not popular with older Americans and visa versa* as popular card games come in and out of style. Today, I am going to start a short serious on how to play some popular American card games that I will present over the following three posts. Before teaching you about these different card games though it is important to go over the names of the cards in a standard American deck of cards and some basic card playing vocabulary.

Important vocabulary:
a pack or a deck = a set of 52 playing cards (plus 2 Jokers) that constitutes the standard American playing cards

a play = a person’s turn in a card game, for example: “It is your play.”

a hand = the subset of cards that a player is holding in his/her hand

the card face = the front of the card which has unique markings on it

the back of the card = the back of each card is identical so other players cannot determine what cards a player is holding in his/her hand

suit(s) = a group of cards that are all have the same symbol in them; there are four suits in a standard American set of playing cards

to shuffle = the verb used to describe the action of mixing up the card before starting to play a game with them

Playing cards:
Playing cards in the United States have four different categories (called suits). The names of the suits are: Spades, Diamonds, Hearts and Clubs (a picture of these suits is shown below). The cards in an American deck of cards are numbered from 2-10 and include “face” cards that have letters on them: (J) for Jack, (Q) for Queen, (K) for King and (A) Ace. Cards are named for their number/face and suit, in the following way: Ace of Spades, two of Hearts, ten of Clubs.

So, just to review, there are four suits, and there are 13 cards in each suit, which makes a total of 52 cards per deck. You always want to check you have all the cards in the deck before you begin a game. These 52 cards are all you need to play all the games that I will present to you over the next few posts.

The suits pictured here are:

Clubs (upper left hand corner), Diamonds (upper right hand corner),

Hearts (lower left hand corner), Spades (lower right hand corner)

*vice versa = the reversed order or conversely

Chess Piece Names

Both players have 16 pieces each, but altogether, there are only 6 different types of pieces. Each piece has a different move, and the combination of their moves eventually decides the outcome of the game.

Pawns (8 pieces)

Shortest of all, there are eight pawns in each set. The pawns may move one or two spaces forward in their first move, and one space forward in their subsequent moves. A pawn can move to the space diagonally forward on the left or the right, but only to kill a piece of the opponent.

Rooks (2 pieces)

There are two rooks in a set of chess pieces. The rook is the piece which looks like a castle, and in some parts of the world is also known as a castle. It can move any number of horizontal or vertical steps till it reaches the end of the board or kills a piece of the opposing player.

Knights (2 pieces)

There are two knights in every team in chess. A knight is a piece which is represented by the head and neck of a horse. The knight can move two and a half steps in any direction. This means that it may move two spaces in any direction and one step sideways, each time.

Bishops (2 pieces)

The bishops are also known as the camels. There are two bishops in each team of chess. They look like minarets and have a pointed top. A bishop can move any number of steps diagonally in any direction till the end of the board or till it kills a piece of the opponent.

Queen (1 pieces)

The Queen is the second-most tallest piece in the whole set. Unlike the king, it does not have a cross on the top. The queen can move any number of spaces in any direction till it reaches the end of the board or till it kills a piece of the opponent's army. This makes the queen one of the most lethal pieces in the set.

King (1 pieces)

The tallest piece in the set is called the king. It has a cross at the top. It is the most crucial piece in the set of chess pieces, as the game is over once the king dies. The king can move only one step in any direction at a time. The term 'check' is used when the king is in danger.