ri_,--all being of the same
color, and differing entirely in form from our cards. The _coppe_ are
cups or vases; the _spade_ are swords; the _bastoni_ are veritable clubs
or bludgeons; and the _denari_ are coins. The games are still more
different from ours than the cards, and they are legion in number. There
are _Briscola_, _Tresette_, _Calabresella_, _Banco-Fallito_, _Rossa e
Nera_, _Scaraccoccia_, _Scopa_, _Spizzica_, _Faraone_, _Zecchinetto_,
_Mercante in Fiera_, _La Bazzica_, _Ruba-Monte_, _Uomo-Nero_, _La
Paura_, and I know not how many others,--but they are recorded and
explained in no book, and are only to be picked up orally. Wherever you
go, on _festa_-day, you will find persons playing cards. At the common
_osterias_, before the doors or on the soiled tables within, on the
ruins of the Caesars' palaces and in the Temple of Peace, on the stone
tables in the _vigna_, on the walls along the public roads, on the
uncarved blocks of marble in front of the sculptors' studios, in the
antechambers or gateways of palaces,--everywhere, cards are played.
Every _contadino_ has a pack in his pocket, with the flavor of the soil
upon it. The playing is ordinarily for very low sums, often for nothing
at all. But there are some games which are purely games of luck, and
dangerous. Some of these, as _Rossa e Nera_, _Banco-Fallito_, and
_Zecchinetto_, though prohibited by the government, are none the less
favorite games in Rome, particularly among those who play for money.
_Zecchinetto_ may be played by any number of persons, after the
following manner:--The dealer, who plays against the whole table, deals
to each player one card. The next card is then turned up as a trump.
Each player then makes his bet on the card dealt to him, and places his
money on it. The dealer then deals to the table the other cards in
order, and any of the players may bet on them as they are thrown down.
If a card of the number of that bet on issue before a card corresponding
to the number of the trump, the dealer wins the stake on that card; but
whenever a card corresponding to the trump issues, the player wins on
every card on which he has bet. When the banker or dealer loses at once,
the bank "_fa toppa_," and the deal passes, but not otherwise. Nothing
can be more simple than this game, and it is just as dangerous as it is
simple, and as exciting as it is dangerous. A late Roman _principessa_
is said to have been passionately fond of it, and to have lo