A Game Born in Italy
In Italy, a tombola is a traditional board game, first played in the city of Naples in the eighteenth century. It is similar to the game of Bingo. It is mostly played at Christmas time, and prizes are often only symbolic or small gifts. The players will be dealt single card most of the time. They also can be dealt as many cards as they wish.
A tombola card has 3 horizontal rows and each row has 5 numbers. Each card has 15 numbers in total. Players who mark a single horizontal row first has the 1st cinquina. Then double row must be marked for 2nd cinquina and finally all numbers must be marked for the tombola.
- 1st Cinquina - 5 numbers on a single horizontal row
- 2nd Cinquina - 10 numbers on double horizontal row
- The Tombola - All numbers on a single card