Morra (game)
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Morra ( Ital. And Span. , And Mora, fr. Mourre, Provencal. Mourra, sard. And rätorom. Murra ) is a traditional game using the hands, especially in some Mediterranean countries , especially in Italy is known. It reminds at first glance the game Rock-paper-scissors and on odd and even .
Rules and game play
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In the game, two players try to guess the sum of the numbers on their fingers. To do this, both players stretch out their right hand at the same time and show one to five fingers. At the same moment, each player calls out a number between 2 and 10.
If a player guesses the total number of fingers, he gets one point. If both players guess the total, no point is awarded. It is played until a player has reached an agreed total number of points (often 16 or 21). In the normal Italian rules, the closed fist also means the number 1. There are variants, for example in France, in which the zero (closed fist) is also allowed, in this case the possible total value is between 0 and 10.
An important element of the game is the announcement of the numbers. This can be very loud, almost like threatening or intimidating your opponent. The announcement is often made in the local dialect or with special terms; Here, polysyllabic numerals are often shortened to monosyllabic ones. Another factor that makes the game difficult and requires special concentration is the speed with which the fingers are displayed and the numbers are called out. The speed is often increased as the game progresses.
Morra is often a typical men's game in bars, where the loser usually has to pay for the next drink. However, it is also played in tournaments. The usual type of game is in teams of two as doubles: as soon as one player has won a point, he switches to the other player on the opposite side. Since there are opportunities to cheat in the fast game - for example to change the number of fingers at the last moment after hearing the opponent's move - a referee is usually present at tournaments to monitor the rules and count the points.
Morra is not a pure game of chance, because observation and memory count to assess the opponent.
history
Finger games were already known in ancient times. Representations have come down to us from Egypt , for example on a picture in a tomb in Thebes. Greek representations of a game have also come down to us. The Greeks played artiasmos, the Romans ludere par impar . In this game, even and odd are needed, as the name suggests, guess whether the finger number is even or odd. Similar to the coin toss, this game is still used today for drawing lots ( Odds or evens, Spanish: Pares o nones ).
The Morra game in today's sense was known and widespread in the Roman Empire under the name Micatio or in the verbal form micare digitis ("finger sparkle ", for example: to flick your fingers). A Roman proverb described an honorable person with: dignus est quicum in tenebris mices (a person with whom one can play Micatio in the dark).
The Morra game is often mentioned in literature and painting. In Italy the first written source comes from the year 1324 from the place Esanatoglia ( province Macerata ), in which ludus morrae is mentioned. In literary works, Morra is mentioned, for example, by Rabelais , Goldoni , Manzoni , Silone , Suetonius and Verga .
distribution
Morra is quite a rare game in Italy today. It is sponsored by some associations that want to keep Morra as a tradition. The game used to be widespread across Italy, not only among adults, but also as a children's game. In the Economic Encyclopedia, for example, it says:
- Mora = game, Alla Mora, a game of the Italians, which consists in two people picking up two or more fingers of the right hand against each other, and at the same time calling out how many fingers they think have been raised. So it depends on guessing. But the Italians maintain that a skilled player can see by the opponent's hand, before it is half open, how many fingers will be raised. The Italians love this game with passion and no regulation can stop the mischief. It is unbelievable how quickly they play it, but also how many opportunities there are for quarreling, dealing, and murderous.
In Fascist Italy, Morra was banned as a game of chance in public places in 1931, as it was used for betting and allegedly led to quarrels and fights. The game was removed from the list of prohibited games in the province of Trentino in 2001 and the ban remains in place in the rest of Italy.
Today Morra is still played in several regions in northern and central Italy . The focus is on Trentino , Friuli , some Alpine regions such as mountain valleys in Veneto ( Province of Belluno , with slightly different rules, called Morrina ), in Valtellina , in the Province of Brescia , Province of Bergamo , on Sardinia , in the Marche and in Basilicata ( Province of Potenza ). In France, the game is known in Corsica , as well as in Provence in the area around Nice . In Spain, Morra is played in some municipalities in the province of Teruel , Aragon . The game has a long tradition in Rhaeto-Romanic Switzerland, today especially in the Engadine , and was known as early as the 13th century. The game was brought to other countries by Italian emigrants. In German-speaking Switzerland , the name Tschingg goes back to this.
Related games
- Scissors stone paper
- A simple version of the Morra game limits the values to one or two fingers.
- Porrinha - This game, related to Morra, is known in Brazil ; The aim is to guess the sum of the matches in your hands.
- There are some among the Chinese drinking games (jiuling) whose rules are very similar to the Morra. These games have also been to Japan brought (Kazu-Ken) and were precursors of Rock-paper-scissors (Jan-Ken) .
literature
- Falkener, Edward: Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them , Longmans, Green and Co., London 1892, Reprint: Dover Publications, 1961, ISBN 978-0-486-20739-1 .
- Carcopino, Jérôme : Rome: Life and Culture in the Imperial Era. 4., bibliogr. Renewed edition Reclam, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-15-010382-7 .
- De Bertoldi, Oscar: De morra. Ricerca etnografica sul gioco della morra in val di Non e val di Sole. Tesi, Università di Padova, facoltà di psicologia. 2005.
Web links
- Federazione Italiana Giuoco Morra (Italian), with links to various associations
- Morra in Sardinia (English)
- Morra in Friuli
- Mourra in the south of France
- Morra in the province of Teruel, Spain (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Falkener, p. 103
- ↑ Falkener, p. 108
- ↑ Oskar Seyffert , Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1894), Lemma: Games ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Meyers encyclopedia 1885-92, keyword Mora
- ↑ ZB: M. Tulli Ciceronis, De officiis, Liber III
- ↑ De Bertoldi, Oscar: De morra.
- ↑ La murra il gö proibi in la posta ladina.
- ↑ Game simulation on www.frontier.net/~grifftoe/morra.html ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ www.jangadabrasil.com.br/setembro37/especial22.htm ( Memento of the original dated August 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuisine_drink/alcohol/jiuling.htm
- ↑ www.hwacha.net/janken_origins ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
