carcamen

(carcamán [karkaman], origin not found)

   According to Smith, a card game similar to keno or lotto that was popular among Mexicans and Anglos in the early period of the Southwest. The cards used in the game had pictures on them instead of numbers, and the pictures were often given facetious nicknames by the announcer, such as amigo del borracho ('the drunkard's friend') for the card portraying a bottle of liquor. The game was often played in Mexican-style fiestas and on Mexican holidays. Santamaría, Islas, Sobarzo, and Cobos all reference a game by the name of carcamán. Sobarzo describes a card game using cards with pictures on them similar to the game explained by Smith. Santamaría, Islas, and Cobos, however, provide a different definition. Cobos glosses carcamán as "a game of chance involving the use of dice in order to guess the lucky number in a raffle."