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Checkers looks a little bit different across the border. In our neighborhood, we play with bottle caps- right side up and upside down. In Mexico, the pieces are female, damas, not male. When the piece reaches the farthest row across the game board, she becomes a queen, not a king. And she is queen with superpowers, no less! Unlike American checkers, the Mexican queen can move diagonally across the board without stopping as long as there is a free space, taking the opposing piece and then continuing to slide to a safe spot on the board. This can prove extremely problematic to the unaware and quickly forgetting American player.

Another difference- Mexican checkers don't jump their opponent; they eat them. Accurate description, sure, but it seems to be kind of an aggressive description. If your opponent has less than 12 years of age, my experience is that they eat your ladies quite joyfully, almost with glee. My inclination tends to be towards compassionate, sometimes ignoring possibilities that my opponent doesn't see. That mercy flies when I see a young mind relishing in my defeat.

That leads to the other problem if you happen to be an American playing Mexican checkers with a kid- they cheat. (Hmm... this might be a problem not matter what country I'm playing in...) As if it's not enough to learn these Mexican rules, then they try to add their personal, and very temporal, conditions. "Sí, sí!" they tell me with wide eyes and a nodding head. "¡¡Puedo hacerlo!!" Thankfully, usually another kid watching the match either feels sorry for me or just doesn't want to see the other kid win, and calls the cheater's bluff.

Cultural differences come in places you might not ever expect. As is often said across the border, "Poco a poco."