Bowdoin College Museum of Art

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Biribissi Board Game

Part of the exhibition: Beauty and Duty: The Art and Business of Renaissance Marriage

Description: Biribissi was a wildly popular Renaissance game, something like a simplified bingo. It was eventually banned in Italy because it encouraged the evils of gambling.

In our Bowdoin version, pictures of everyday objects cover 30 squares. To start the game, each player marks a line of five squares with her or his name. Players then blindly select tiles of the same images from a pot, hoping to match the pictures in their line and win the prize. When you get a tile that matches your name on the board, circle the picture. After all of the tiles have been drawn, the player with greatest number of circled pictures wins the game.

Instructions:

1. Download & Print out this sheet twice [PDF] (includes instructions).
   Use one of the first sheets as the board.
2. Cut the second sheet into pieces.
3. Roll the pieces into small scrolls, tying them with ribbon or string, or cut them out and use as tiles.
   
4. Play: To start the game, each player marks a line of five squares on the gameboard with her or his name.
5. Place all the pieces in a small bag or box.  Each player blindly chooses five.
6. When you get a tile that matches your name on the board, circle the picture. 
7. After all of the tiles have been drawn, the player with greatest number of circled pictures wins the game.