Biribi
Game of chance
Biribi, biribissi (in Italian), or cavagnole (in French), is an Italian game of chance similar to keno, played for low stakes. It is played on a board on which the numbers 1 to 70 are marked. The game has been banned in France since 1837.
The players put their stakes on the numbers they wish to back. The banker is provided with a bag from which he draws a case containing a ticket, the tickets corresponding with the numbers on the board. The banker calls out the number, and any players who backed it receive sixty-four times their stake; all other stakes go to the banker.
Casanova played it in Genoa (illegally, for it was already banned there) and the South of France in the 1760s, and describes it as "a regular cheats' game". He broke the bank (fairly, he claims) and was immediately rumored to have been in collusion with the bag-holder; such collusion, presumably, was common.
In the French army, "to be sent to Biribi" was a cant term for being sent to the disciplinary battalions in Algeria.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Biribi”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Grille de biribi 1788.jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
- Castellina in chianti, borgo di fonterutoli, villa, interno, camera da letto con arredi d'epoca nepoleonica, tavolo con gioco del biribissi.jpg by Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0
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