Morra. Morra is a hand game that dates back thousands of years to ancient Roman and Greek times. Each player simultaneously reveals their hand, extending any number of fingers, and calls out a number. Any player who successfully guesses the total number of fingers revealed by all players combined scores a point. Morra can be played to decide issues, much as two people might toss a coin, or for entertainment. While there are many variations of morra, most forms can be played with a minimum of two players. In the most popular version, all players throw out a single hand, each showing zero to five fingers, and call out their guess at what the sum of all fingers shown will be. If one player guesses the sum, that player earns one point. The first player to reach three points wins the game. Some variants of morra involve money, with the winner earning an amount equal to the sum of fingers displayed. Morra was known to the ancient Romans and is popular around the world, especially in Italy. In ancient Rome, it was called micatio, and playing it was referred to as micare digitis; literally, to flash with the fingers. As time passed, the name became morra, a corruption of the verb micare. The game was so common in ancient Rome that there was a proverb used to denote an honest person which made reference to it: dignus est quicum in tenebris mices, literally, he is a worthy man with whom you could play micatio in the dark. Micatio became so common that it came to be used to settle disputes over the sale of merchandise in the Roman forum. This practice was eventually banned by Apronius, prefect of the city. The game followed Roman colonists as they spread through Europe, the Near East and North Africa. Today, morra can be found throughout Italy, Greece, the Province of Teruel in Spain, Corsica, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Istria, Dalmatia, Herzegovina, and Malta. There is also a variant in Spain called Chinos where coins are used instead of fingers. Morra played in Arab countries is called mukharaja. In southern France it is called la mourre, while in Istria, Dalmatia and Herzegovina it is called šijavica. In China and Mongolia it is called hua quan, which translates as fist quarrel, and is played as a drinking game. It is also popular in South and North American communities with large Italian populations, sometimes known as Little Italy in their area. In the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, an annual tournament is held in February. Money raised during the tournament is given to a local charity associated with Helping Hands. In 2005, the IFC, short for Italian Fingers Championship, became an official tournament for a modified version of Morra that is played in teams. The game of morra is described on the images in the Theban tombs of MK, Beni Hassan and the 26th dynasty tomb of Aba. In 2010 and 2014 A. Zizi, professor at the IT Giua high school of Cagliari, created, along with his students, a digital version of the Sardinian version of the game. The rules for morra can be altered in several ways.mw-parser-output.hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output.hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output.hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em} Main article: Odds and evens In this two-player version one person is designated the odds player while the other is labeled evens. Players hold one hand out in front of them and count together to three. On shoot, both players hold out either one or two fingers. If the sum of fingers shown by both players is an even number then the evens player wins; otherwise the odds player is the winner. Since there are two possible ways to add up to three, both players have an equal chance of winning. In New York City and Long Island in the 1950s, the game was called choosies, and would be invoked to resolve a playground dispute by one antagonist saying, let's shoot for it. In Boston at about the same time, the term in use was bucking up. In US Coast Guard wardrooms, players shake out. It has also been referred to as odds-on poke. One variant of the game is to allow players to hold out any number of fingers, with the winner still based on whether the resulting sum is odd or even. For example, if there are two players and they each throw out five fingers, the resulting summation is even, so the evens player is the winner. Note, since only the parity of the sum matters, there is no functional difference between using only 2 or 4 fingers, etc.