Do any of you have this memory? At weddings, baptisms, family gatherings, and even school picnics at Kennywood Park, my uncles gathered together, threw their hands forward, and shouted numbers at the top of their lungs.

I always thought they were fighting, but instead they were playing la morra.

But girls couldn’t play, not in my family. Most often, the men sent me away so they could play in peace.

The rules were simple. Two players simultaneously extended fingers, each showing a number from one to five, while shouting their guesses for the combined total. Oftentimes money was on the table, and the losers had to buy drinks for the winners.

I assumed this game started in Italy but I wasn’t sure, so I wrote to my cousin Anna in Basilicata, the region where my grandparents were born. She wrote back in Italian (below is the translation):

“Yes, it’s a game that still exists, especially among those who were fortunate enough to have their fathers pass it down to them. It’s certainly a men’s game, not really one for women. I have a memory in Rotondella. Across from my grandmother’s house, there was a wine cellar where the men would gather to drink wine, sometimes getting drunk. They often shouted, and I was terribly frightened. But Nonna would tell me they were just playing la morra.”

I had to smile. An ocean apart, Anna and I had almost identical childhood memories: men shouting numbers, hands flying, and two little girls convinced that a fight was about to break out.

The game has survived because one generation has passed it down to the next.

It’s a beautiful thing when traditions live on.

Did the men in your family play la morra?