Pela il Chiv - historic Italian game

[Bruce Whitehill]

Hi all,

Does anyone know anything about this game? Time period? Does “Pela il Chiv” mean anything? Is movement on the board just jumping from one space to another according to what comes up on three dice? Then what happens? This game is lightyears earlier than my comfort zone, but I am curious about the game mechanism. The game is in the Museu Frederic Mares, in Barcelona.

Cheers,
Bruce

[Fatih Parlak]

Hi Bruce,

Here’s more information about the game: 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1893-0331-102

print; game-board | British Museum

Best,

Fatih. 

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[Adrian Seville]

Hi Bruce = see my paper https://www.academia.edu/51099494/The_Game_of_the_Owl

Regards

 

Adrian

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Sent: Monday, July 14th 2025, 20:57
Subject: Pela il Chiv - historic Italian game
Hi all, Does anyone know anything about this game? Time period? Does “Pela il Chiv” mean anything? Is movement on the board just jumping from one space to another according to what comes up on three dice? Then what happens? This game is lightyears earlier than my comfort zone, but I am curious about the game mechanism. The game is in the Museu Frederic Mares, in Barcelona. Cheers, Bruce -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bgs4ever" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bgs4ever+u...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bgs4ever/C3103659-B243-41B6-BA18-03B9B038FB52%40gmail.com.

[Sanghatta]

Pela il Chiv, "pluck the owl" or in catalan, Pela el xot.

Salutacions cordials!

Joan J. Pons

Game design and Level design teacher. Academic coordinator at Tecnocampus (UPF).

Tel: + 34 627 53 16 53

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanjoseppons/ 

El dl., 14 de jul. 2025, 22:14, 'Adrian Seville' via bgs4ever <bgs4...@googlegroups.com> va escriure:

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[Víktor Bautista i Roca]

Wow!, your Catalan translation (xot, I expected òliba) is better than the English one. It should not be «pluck the owl» but «pluck the Eurasian scops owl» or «pluck the scops owl», as an Italian chiù is an Otus scops, not a Tyto alba, which is what most commonly a European English speaker would refer to as an owl, or a Tyto furcata, same for American ones. Scops owls are smaller than (barn) owls.

PS. I don't consider this a board game but a gambling device. It reminds me of a dreidel.

Missatge de Sanghatta <sang...@gmail.com> del dia dl., 14 de jul. 2025 a les 22:18:

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Salut!

Víktor Bautista i Roca.

@viktorbir

[spartaco albertarelli]

Hi all

Just a quick note on the title of the game you mention.

The correct spelling is “Pela il chiù,” (the final V is pronounced "U",
like in Latin) with an acute accent on the final vowel.

Approximation in English: essentially the same sound as the word "cue",
with the stress at the end: /kiˈu/

Chiù is an old Italian word for “owl” and survives today only in a few
regional dialects.

Ciao!

Spartaco

[Thierry Depaulis]

The game is a well-known traditional dice game (indeed, not a board game).

Another impression from the same copper plate is in the British Museum:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1893-0331-32

and a better one, with the printmaker's imprint and the date 1589, is also in the same museum:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1869-0410-2460-

The game was known in France too, though in a round shape, and called "Le Jeu de la chouette".

https://musees.ville-poissy.fr/fr/notice/mj-2011-6-2-jeu-de-la-chouette-a101bc11-e48a-4fbf-9833-df4cb9452992

Of course it cannot be "Gravure sur bois"; it's typically etching (copper engraving).

For the history, origins and diffusion of the game, please read Adrian Seville's paper https://www.academia.edu/51099494/The_Game_of_the_Owl

(if you prefer to read it in French, you have to subscribe to Le Vieux Papier…)

Cheers.

Thierry

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[Stela Maris Ferrarese Capettini]

What is the relationship between this game and the game of the goose? The board seems similar to some prints of the game of the goose that exist in Spain.

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[Ulrich Schädler]

It is a completely different game. It is not a board game like the goose game, but a dice game played with three dise, and you win or loose your stakes according to the combination you rolled.

Cheers

Ulrich

Stela Maris Ferrarese Capettini <museodelju...@gmail.com> hat am 15.07.2025 18:35 CEST geschrieben:

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[Stela Maris Ferrarese Capettini]

Thankyou