I have fond memories of playing Loteria with family at carne asadas and holiday parties. It was always a fun time. I also really liked the art included in the cards and the descriptions.

On one of my several doomscrolling sessions, I saw a funny clip of some friends playing Loteria through Zoom. One of the players realized they bought a different version of Loteria at the end of the session after failing to complete their Loteria Play Board. It was really funny and made me wonder why there wasn’t a Loteria web application where you can play with friends.

I haven’t researched if there even is a Loteria web application, but I thought I would just go ahead and make one myself. Since I really enjoyed the art of the Loteria cards, I thought I might practice some pixel art and make my own art for the cards inspired by the original cards. I also want to use the same descriptions, or maybe I’ll write my own. I want to have some type of creative control about the look of the game. I really enjoyed the art of the game as I mentioned previously, so it would be great to add my own vision into this project.

What is Loteria?

Loteria is a Mexican game of chance similar to Bingo, but played with a deck of cards instead of numbered balls. Each player is dealt a board which contains a 4x4 grid consisting of different images included in the Loteria deck. The traditional Loteria deck has 54 cards with different images on them. They also come with a description for the image, as well as a number. A dealer is picked at the beginning of the game who shuffles the deck, draws the cards each round, and reads the description given with the associated card drawn that round. The players keep track of their board by marking squares that match the card announced by the dealer that round. The different patterns to win the game are: row, across, diagonal, and 4 in a square. After finding one of these patterns, the player claims loteria and has their board state confirmed by the dealer.

Core Features

• Game session creation
  • Session ID created to invite friends
• Join game session
  • Players can join a current game session using a given session ID
• Set win condition
  • Choose win condition (ability to mix win conditions):
    • [ ] column
    • [ ] row
    • [ ] diagonal
    • [ ] complete
    • [ ] pozo
• Set pace
  • Pace determined by length of time alotted to keep track of the Loteria cards played (1 minute intervals from 1-5 minutes)
• Player Board randomization
  • Create a randomized 4x4 grid Player Board for each player of the 54 card Loteria deck
  • No card can be used more than once in a Player Board
• Determine AI dealer or player dealer
  • Player dealer randomization
    • Use a spin wheel to determine the dealer of the game
    • Dealer draws a card each round and reads the description in alotted time (determined by pace)
  • AI dealer automatically draws and reads the description of the card and waits for players to track their cards in alotted time (determined by pace)
• Mark Player Board grid
  • Players tap/click a tile to track matching cards as they’re drawn
• Calling Loteria
  • Prompt to lock in the Loteria call
  • Loteria call checked for validity according to the win conditions decided at the start of the game
  • Penalty for false Loteria calls
    • blocking a random tile of theirs for eligibility for Loteria calls in the future
• Loteria win screen
  • Display Loteria! message on all screen, followed by the winning Player Board

Gameplay Flow

1. Open Web Application
2. Select Game Mode

   1. Single Player

      • Game Setup

      1. Start Game

         1. Create randomized Player Boards
         2. Shuffle deck
         3. Game Loop
            1. Draw & Announce Card
            2. Start Timer
            3. Players mark Player Boards
            4. Timer ends → return to step i (Draw & Announce card)
         • Loteria Call Flow

         NOTE: In Single player, dealing is automated.

   2. Multiplayer

      1. Create Private Session
      2. Join Private Session
      3. Join Public Session
         • Game Setup (Host only)

         1. Start Game

            1. Create randomized Player Boards

            2. Shuffle deck

            3. Game Loop (repeat until Loteria called)

               1. Draw & Announce Card
               2. Start Timer
               3. Players mark Player Boards
               4. Timer ends → return to step i (Draw & Announce Cards)

               NOTE:

               • If Player is dealer, they are responsible for steps i. and ii.
               • If AI is dealer, game automates step i. and ii.
            • Loteria Call Flow

Singleplayer Flowchart