Morra is an ancient game whose origins date back to Egypt and which spread widely in the Roman Empire. The ancient Romans considered it a symbol of honesty, so much so that they would say of a trustworthy person that he could be played with “in the dark.”
During the 20-year fascist period it was banned in public places because of betting and disputes that often degenerated into brawls. Despite the ban, morra survived and is still practiced in various Italian regions including Molise where it is still strongly practiced in San Biase.
Here, morra is a central element of local tradition, played on special occasions such as the feast of the patron saint, San Biagio, on February 3, with the consent of administrative and religious authorities. This continuity has allowed the game to be passed on to new generations.
Morra is a combination of strategy, intuition, quick calculation and theatricality, often accompanied by the consumption of wine or beer. It is played in pairs: each participant extends the fingers of one hand and pronounces a number, trying to guess the total sum of the exposed fingers. Making the game even more fascinating is the use of dialect expressions to state the numbers. For example, in San Biase it is used to say “un‘ p’ du,” meaning “one for two,” to indicate the number two.