Pique Nique And Maya

Today, I went to a picnic organized by Cressida and Alain. It started at 10am and I was at the meeting point at 9:59. What excellent timing. We met at the small door at the corner of Ferran and rue Aiguelongue or something like that. When I arrived, everyone else what already there and taking a group photo with Alain's mystery camera--it's a mystery camera because it's a mystery as to whether it will take a picture or not.

So we waited a little longer after I arrived and then we went along the Lez. We stopped by a couple of a waterfalls and admired the beauty of nature. Then we found our way at the building that rents canoes and kayaks. Near that is a set of picnic tables and we picked one out and parked there. Half the group waited for one more person who eventually came, and then it was time to eat.

I had a sandwich, some sort of savoury bread with olives and bits of ham. There was tabouli and quiche and salmon salad, but I didn't have any of that. There were 2 desserts--raspberry cake and chocolate brownies. Everything was yummy!

After that we decided to play a game called Maya (sp?). It was a lot of fun. I'll explain the rules because it was the first time I've heard of the game. You need 2 dice and a cup or some way to shake the dice and hide the results from everyone else.

Basically, you arrange the people in a line or circle and there is a first person and a last person. Play proceeds from the first person to the last person.

First, how to read the 2 dice. There are three ranks of dice.

Lowest rank--when the two dice are different numbers, this is the lowest rank. Each die represents a digit of a 2 digit number. The larger number is the 10's digit and the smaller number is the 1's digit. So if you got a 4 and a 2, that would be 42. A 3 and a 6 would be 63. The bigger the number, the higher value it is.

Middle rank--when the dice show the same number. The double numbers 1+1, 2+2, ... 6+6 are all higher in rank than the dice with different numbers. The 2 1's are the lowest value and the 2 6's are the highest value. The lowest value in this rank is higher in value than the highest value of the lowest rank. So the 5+6 is just one step below the 1+1.

Highest rank--the highest value of all is the 1 and 2. If you roll this, it is called a Maya. It's like the Ace in cards--it's a 1, but it's higher than the King.

Each turn works like this. The person with the dice shakes the dice and looks at them. He can say what his dice are or he can lie about what he has. The only requirement is that the rank he says has to be equal to or greater than the rank of the previous person.

So if the first person rolls a 2 and 5, he can say "52" (though he is not required to). Then if the second person person rolls a 6 and 2, he would probably say "62". Then if the third person rolls 2 and 2, he would say "22". Then if the fourth person rolls 4 and 5, the value of his dice are "54" which is less than 22. But he has to say a number at least 22. So 22 or 33 or 44 or maybe even 21--the Maya. So in this case he would have to lie.

Play continues like that. However, at any point, anyone (except the last person) can call the person a liar. When that happens, the dice owner has to show the dice. If the owner is actually a liar, then they go to the end and the person who called them on it goes to the first position. If the owner is not a liar, the person who tried to call them on it goes to the end. In either case, the play starts over from the first person again.

It is a very simple game, but it is a lot of fun. You have to figure out who's lying. We had a fun time of it. Who calls the person a liar? Who doesn't? Who should? Who shouldn't? How do you "read your dice" when the previous person has a really high value like 5+5? Feign relief? Too fun! Plus it helped me practice my French numbers.

Anyway, Elena was on a mountain biking trip for which, as she now knows, she was unqualified. She came to the picnic when we were playing the game. But she was tired from the biking and went home.

It was a fun picnic. The weather was warm but not too hot. It was sunny and shady because we were in a forested park. We got to see romantic waterfalls and play funny games. I could get used to the south of France.