Tejo glossary and rules: What you need to know about tejo

People play tejo for several reasons: some want to enjoy some good beers with friends while having fun, others for tradition, and a third reason because they are unfamiliar and want to learn (Yes, there are Colombians who have never played Tejo). If you’re in the third group, don’t know the rules of tejo, or just want to refresh your memory on some concepts, you’ve come to the right place.

In this blog, we’ve already explained how to play tejo, but if you truly want to learn to practice this Colombian sport, it’s crucial to understand all the terms surrounding it. What are the rules of Tejo? What technical details do you need to know? We’ll tell you in our article.

A Brief Summary on How to Play

We have a complete article where we tell a bit more about the history of tejo and how it’s played, but to understand what follows, we must give you some context:

Tejo is a competitive sport: someone must win. This game involves throwing a metal disc from one court to the other, trying to bury it in the middle of a box filled with clay and “mechas”, aiming to explode one or, failing that, to be closest to the center among other competitors.

Some Tejo Rules

• The area of the tejo field must be 19.5 meters long by 2.5 meters wide. Additionally, the distance between the courts where the discs will be aimed is 17.5 meters.
• The person throwing must be at a distance of 2.5 meters from the edge of the box where the mechas are located.
• You can play in teams or individually.
• As mentioned above, the game board must have a considerable amount of clay, a bocín (we’ll explain better what this is later), and some mechas arranged around it.

An Interesting Fact

In championships, it’s normal to arrange 4 mechas on the bocín. However, in some amateur or foreign games, it’s allowed to place from 6 to 10 mechas to increase the chances of mecha.

Glossary

Court of “embocinada”: There must be two courts of tejo, located at each end of the playing field, where the objectives (bocín and mecha) are assigned.

• A wooden board that is 1.5 meters high by one meter wide.
• A box of clay or plasticine.
• 4 gunpowder mechas arranged in a triangular shape.
• A “bocín”, which is a circle located in the middle of the board.
• A scoreboard, which is usually a manual sign where points are counted.

Additionally, within the game, there’s a tejo, which is a round metal piece with the following measurements: 9 cm in diameter at its bottom base, 4 cm in height, and a diameter of 5.5 cm at its upper base.

Finally, there are implements to keep the court and boards well maintained: a fique sack, a hook to remove tejos stuck in the clay, and a kind of shovel to smooth the clay after the game.

Remember, if you want to practice or have a good time with your friends playing this sport, Tejo La Embajada is the perfect place to do it. You can make a reservation here.

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