Cachito History
The history and origins of Cachito are somewhat elusive, thus leaving space for much imagination and mystery. What is certain though is that the game originated in the South American region of what is known today as Peru among the native population of the Inca people, the largest pre-Columbian empire of the Americas. With the beginning of the Spanish ruling in South America marked by the execution of Atahualpa, the last Inca sovereign, in the hands of Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro in 1533, the game must have begun filtrating little by little the conquerors’ flank until becoming a first class export item to be shipped back to the old continent together with the gold, silver, and precious stones found along the Inca empire.
However more picturesque, folklore has it that when Pizarro and his scanty troops approached the room in which Atahualpa awaited the Spaniards envoys, a laud laughing sound and quick chatting could be heard from the outside accompanied by the rumble of dice and dry, strong dice cup slamming sounds on hard tables; from there, the curiosity of the conquerors must have sparked and the game was then taught by the natives to the white men who in turn brought it back to the Spanish court as another one of the marvels of the newly conquered territories.
Once in Europe, the bluffing dice game of Cachito, made its way through different countries and cultures adopting different names and styles that have survived more than 500 years of human history. Back in the Americas, the phenomenon was not any different; the popular dice game continued being played by the locals and extended solidly across the continent reaching its entirety from north to south under different names and slight variations like “Liar’s dice”, “Santaba”, “Dudo”, “Perudo”, “Mexcali” and “Bluff Dice”.
Amazingly enough, after so much traveling and so many years passed, the variations on the original game are not truly substantial, but rather small additions and alterations in the bidding, rounds, or aces rules. Silently present, yet incredibly full of live, Cachito has been actively played virtually unchanged for centuries up to these days on the shores, pubs, family tables, and clubs of the old and new continent by elders, adults, youth and children alike for fun or as a gambling pass time.