The North American Basque Organizations is a federation of clubs that work to promote many traditions of the Basque culture in the United States. Among their pet projects is junior mus, to start kids learning the Basque card game early.

The project apparently is achieving success, based on the enjoyment the current generation is getting from mus. The latest tournament was held Friday, July 30, in the elegant Grove Hotel.

“I bluff a lot,” joked Michaela Rodriguez, 11, of Buffalo, Wyoming, her long red hair trailing down her back.

Her sister, Baileigh Rodriguez, 14, said that she and Michaela play almost every night. Their practice was evident in their winning of the 2010 NABO Junior Mus Tournament. Granted there were only four teams! Some teams didn’t make it, said coordinator Gina Espinal.

The first-place Rodriguez girls, then second place winners Andrew and Alex Goyhenetche of Rocklin, Calif., Josh Pese and Austin Jenkins of Winnemucca and Jaime Brown of Los Banos, Calif. and Caitlyn Johnson of Homedale, Idaho, representing Boise, added up to the total players in the tournament.

The game includes betting with chips and a fair amount of legal cheating in the form of bluffing. The game vocabulary is all in Euskera.

“It was hard to learn at first,” said Pese, 14. “It takes a lot of practice.”

NABO’s previous Junior Mus winners