Monday, July 4, 2011

Tejo – A Game of Boom-Boom, Pow-Pow!

Tejo is a very amusing, albeit slightly dangerous, traditional Colombian game.  Kind of a cross between bowling and darts, the anti is upped with the addition of gunpowder!   

Basically there is a square box tilted at 45 degrees at the end of a long, narrow lane (ours was 15 ft., but a real Tejo lane is 80 ft.).  The box is filled with clay, and in the center of the clay is a metal disk 6 inches wide.  Now for the exhilarating part, framing the metal disk are 4 packets of gunpowder, just ready to explode. 

You throw a metal weight down the lane and if it sticks in the middle of the metal disk, missing the ring of fire, you score 6 points.  If you explode a packet of gunpowder you are awarded 3 points, and the full monty comes when you explode gunpowder and succeed in sticking it to the middle, 9 points.  We were pretty much just aiming for the bang, smoke, and ever exciting explosion! 

After a few beers (you don’t pay for the lane as long as you are drinking - which is always a good idea for a game involving gunpowder), a few successful detonations, a box of blackening clay, and being caught in the cross fire of our neighbors lane, we decided our experience was authentic and successfully completed!

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