Wide view of Venice: Piazza San Marco - Riva degli Schiavoni

BIRIBISSI - Biribisse - Biribì

Where the Roulette came from

The Biribissi, or Biribi like the French called it, is an old and simple game, played in a quite big variety of ways.

It is a sort of a lottery in the end, and you bet on a certain number, and if it gets extracted, you win.

The banker is provided with a bag from which he draws an olive containing a ticket, the tickets corresponding with the numbers on the board.

Biribissi could go with 36, 48, 42, 66, 64, 70 choices, whatever. Each producer/organizer was making his own.

The version that seems to have been played at the Ridotto in Venice was with 70 numbers, and it will pay for sixty-four times his stake, and the rest was going to the bank.


Carlo Maria Maggi -  Italian scholar, writer and poet from Milano - in his Purgatory description in his "Rime Varie" written in 1650, gives a colorful image of the atmosphere of a Biribissi game:

“Dall’ altro lato ad una mensa intorno
Erano uomini e donne,
Che danari spargean sopra una tela, Ch’avea molte figure in più colori.
Costor fuor d’un sacchetto
Certe palle traean, che parean d’oro,
E pure eran di foco
E ardean loro le mani e le saccocce.
Sopra queste con note fiammeggianti
Il cartello dicea BIRIBISSANTI”.

"On the other side of the table
There were men and women,
Spreading coins on a canvas,
Which had many images in many colors.
These people, out of a bag
Pulled out some balls,
Which looked like gold,
And in reality were of fire
And burned their hands and pockets.
On these canvases with burning letters Was written: BIRIBISSANTI"

Giovanni Giacomo de' Rossi: Biribissi board from Rome with 42 cases
Giovanni Giacomo de' Rossi:
Biribissi board from Rome with 42 cases (1642-1691)

This is very likely the template for the Biribì
which was played in Venice inside the Ridotto Casino
This is very likely the template for the Biribì
which was played in Venice inside the Ridotto Casino.

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