Wenceslao Retana’s “El Indio Batangueño,” a Translation [Part VIII]

This is the eighth installment of this web site’s AI-assisted translation into the English language of Wenceslao Emilio Retana’s 19^th century book “El Indio Batangueño.”

Retana was a 19^th century Spanish civil servant, colonial administrator, biographer, political commentator, publisher, and bibliographer. His work on Batangas will sound condescending by present day standards, but should nonetheless provide valuable insight into life in the province in the 19th century.

Up to thirteen players can gather to play panguique. Generally, the number does not exceed eight; and in that case, the game is played with ten decks of forty cards each. (There are no eights or nines.) When there are more players, the number of decks is increased.

Before beginning, it is customary for the players to declare themselves either opponents or partners. To be partners means that they neither collect from nor strike each other; and in that case, they seat themselves so that they are not next to one another, yet cannot show their cards to each other. Thus, the opponents are those who sit together or closest. Each player takes care to hide his cards so that the curious neighbor cannot discover them.

Once the ten or more decks have been shuffled, one of the players takes a portion from the top of the pile and deals five cards to each person, beginning with the first player to his right, who is the mano. He then deals another round of five cards in the same direction, and when he reaches himself, after giving himself his five cards, he takes the first of the remaining cards and places it face‑up in the middle of the table. As a result, each player has ten cards, and there is one card turned up in the center of the table. This card is called the tendida.

The mano then examines his cards to see what kind of embones he can make — either by pairs or by counts. Embones by pairs consist of having two cards that match the tendida in rank, but each of a different suit. For example: if the tendida is the knave of golds, and the mano has the knaves of swords and clubs, he makes an embono by pairs; but if one of his knaves is of the same suit as the tendida, he cannot make the embono. The ace, however, enjoys a privilege: with it, one may make an embono even if all three cards are of the same suit.

If the player does not have two cards that can make an embono by pairs with the tendida, he will then try to make an embono by counts, which consists of combining two of his cards with the tendida so that the three form a sequence. Assuming the knave of golds is the tendida, if the player has a ten and a king, both necessarily of the suit of golds, he can make an embono with the knave. He can also make one with a six and a seven.

If the player makes an embono, he takes the tendida and joins to it the two companion cards, and then discards the card he values least. The discarded card becomes the new tendida, with which the next player may or may not make an embono, depending on the cards he holds.

But if the tendida has not served the mano for making any embono, he disregards the exposed card, draws a new one, and may or may not be able to make an embono with it. If he can, he does so — discarding the card least useful to him. If he still cannot make an embono, the next player considers the newly drawn card as the tendida, and combines with it or not, depending on whether he can.

To clarify this, let us give an example. Suppose the tendida is the knave of golds. If the mano makes an embono with it, he discards the card least useful to him, and that discarded card becomes, for the next player, what the tendida was for the mano.

If the mano cannot make an embono with the knave of golds, he draws the first card from the pile — the knight of cups, for example. If he can make an embono with it, he discards a card, and the next player will consider that discarded card as the tendida.

But if the mano cannot make an embono with the knight of cups either, that card passes to the next player. If that player also cannot make an embono with it, he draws a new card from the pile — the five of swords, for example. If he can make an embono, he keeps it and discards one of the cards in his hand, which becomes the tendida for the next player. If he cannot make an embono with the five of swords, the card passes to the player on his right — who in our example is player number three — and he follows the same procedures as the one before him.

And so, they continue taking turns until one player forms three embonos in such a way that the tenth card also matches any one of the three completed embonos. And furthermore, that the eleventh card — the one dealt to him by chance when his turn arrives — also matches any one of the embonos. Then he has made panguingue, and he collects one, two, or more tantos from his opponents, depending on the salida. A salida en llano is the game in which none of the embonos by counts begins with the ace.

When this happens — that is, when one of the embonos by counts consists of ace, two, and three — then it is called winning by salida en napolitana.

(1) The tanto may be half, one, two, three, or more reales. This depends on what the players agree upon before beginning the game.

(2) The case in which all eleven cards are of the same rank is excepted.

A play that wins with eleven kings, or eleven knights, or eleven knaves — except aces — is also napolitana, and is paid at two tantos.

When all the cards of a salida en llano are of the same suit, it is also called napolitana, and is distinguished by the name plusada. This is worth two tantos.

If the plusada and the embono begin with the ace and continue without interruption up to the knight, the play is called plusada‑napolitana and is paid at three tantos.

A play that wins with two napolitanas of different suits is paid at three tantos.

If one wins with three napolitanas of different suits, he collects four.

If the three napolitanas are plusadas — all of the same suit — then he collects five.

Such are the turns of this labyrinthine game, which they play with astonishing speed, constantly drawing cards from the pile without stopping for even a second, until one of the players makes panguingue.

The completed embonos are placed in full view of everyone, laid out on the table in front of the person to whom they belong.