Lotterie, lotto, slot machines

L’azzardo del sorteggio: storia dei giochi di fortuna

Lotteries, lotto, slot machines.

The luck of the draw: a history of games of chance

edited by Gherardo Ortalli

Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche-Viella

Treviso-Rome 2019

44 pages

12 euros

ISBN 978-88-3313-161-0

(Ludica, 13)

 

Some anniversaries deserve to be celebrated. So it seemed apt that thirty years of sustained commitment by the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche to studies in ludicity and the history of games and gaming should occasion a significant mark of recognition. We decided that this should take the form of a carefully planned exhibition that would convey the importance of the subject, focussing in particular on games of chance, given that gambling has always been the most noteworthy aspect of ludicity because of the many risks associated with its financial implications. We set out too to make the survey serious, clear and accessible, with coverage that brought it right up to the present day. All these features are reflected in this partial catalogue, which stands with the exhibition as a testimony to three decades of dedicated research, published since 1995 in the house journal Ludica.

The contents of this publication correspond to those of the monographic section of the journal Ludica. Annali di storia e civiltà del gioco, 24, 2018 (pp. 111-144).

 

 

Contents

 

Gherardo Ortalli, Premessa/Introduction

 

Gherardo Ortalli, I presupposti di una mostra

 

Alle origini del moderno gioco d’azzardo

I “falò delle vanità” e la stagione
del moderno gioco d’azzardo

Si scommette su tutto

Il gioco del lotto

Regole del biribissi

 

Alberto Fiorin, Glossario dei giochi più trattati

 

Gherardo Ortalli, The premises underlying the exhibition

 

The origins of modern gambling

Bonfires of the vanities and the age of modern gambling

Betting on everything

The game of lotto

Rules of Biribissi

 

Alberto Fiorin, Glossary of games most often mentioned