“Fichas”, the term used for dominoes in Spanish, bounced around the table before they were shuffled. Each player selected ten dominoes to play a game with their one and only teammate. With these on hand, the players’ objective was to place their dominoes down and force their opponents to “lock out“. On Feb. 16, the Spanish National Honors Society hosted its first every domino tournament in the 9000 cafeteria at 2:30 p.m.
Upon paying $5 in cash, students with Hispanic and non-Hispanic backgrounds walked through the doors after dismissal. As they entered the tournament, the participants were offered slices of pizza and soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and Sprite. Before the games began, around 2:45 p.m., the club’s sponsor, Mr. Sanchez, welcomed all the participants by introducing them to NSHS board members, who had made the domino tournament possible.
Shortly after, the board members went over the rules for dominoes. When explaining, they established the number of points the game would be played up to, which was 75 points.
When the tournament commenced, the NSHS board distributed the domino sets, previously donated by multiple Cavaliers, to each team participating. Additionally, each team was given rack trays to keep their dominoes face up.
The domino match consisted of several games, each one lasting anywhere from one to 10 minutes. Every player was supposed to match the touching ends of the domino to another, so that the numbers matched.
After one game, the sum of the leftover dominoes was counted for each team. Once a team reached the threshold for the amount of points, meaning they surpassed the limit, their opponents won.
“Overall, the tournament itself was really fun. The people who participated were really friendly because we all knew the money was going towards a good cause, and there was pizza and beverages,” junior Alejandro Hernandez said.
Gables students experienced the joy of blocking their opponents and placing more dominoes on the table. As the tournament ensued, some teams took note of the tiles their opponents did not have, to block them and potentially advance.
“I heard about the tournament from my friend Andrea [Mase] who is on the board. I thought that the event was very enjoyable…I have played dominoes before but I was surprised by how far we got in the tournament,” senior Veronica Montalvo said.
By the end of 16 thrilling matches, two teams remained. In the final match, juniors Andrew Acevedo and Sebastian Lopez squared off against juniors Alejandro Hernandez and Andres Rodriguez. The game was even until the latter team locked out their opponents in the third round. Concluding the NSHS tournament, Hernandez and Rodriguez emerged victorious and were gifted two Amazon gift cards.
“A domino tournament was a great way to incorporate hispanic culture and fun in order to raise awareness for a local, good cause,” senior and NSHS co-president Emmanuel Lopez said.
Months prior to the domino tournament becoming a reality, co-presidents and seniors Emmanuel Lopez and Andrea Mase pitched the idea to Mr. Sanchez. After idea was decided to be put into motion, to promote the Hispanic culture and bring students together for a charitable cause, the club decided to give all its proceeds to a non-profit organization, Missionaries of the Path or “Misioneros del Camino” in Spanish.
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“We wanted to tie our culture into an activity that would bring the students together. Dominoes seemed like a very interesting idea because it would do exactly that… All the funds we received will be donated to Misioneros del Camino; this is a good cause to which we agreed to donate,” Mr. Sanchez said.
Succeeding the final domino match, the NSHS board and Mr. Sanchez thanked every participant for spending a part of their Friday playing dominoes. Following that, the board expressed its gratitude for the generous funds that will benefit the non-profit.
A tradition in the making, the domino tournament introduced the student body to a game that was new to Gables grounds. For now, the NSHS board intends to organize other events that will bring Cavaliers together once more.
