1572 MALTA - Women playing Tombla

In Malta, Tombla (open-air Bingo or Housey-Housey) is a very popular game, in particular for women. After Sunday lunch, or in the cool of the evening, village women used to gather in street corners  to play Tombla. The numbers are called in English rather than Maltese; the cards are well worn, having been used hundreds of times; the counters are ussually buttons. The womenfolk perch on ambient benches for their weekly gamble-and-gossip; the stakes are low and so are the prizes. The Tombla is based on the Spanish game of Bingo with one to 90 numbers. For those who doesn't know, Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers.

About the stamp
The stamp is part of the set Fountains Series II, issued on January 3, 2014, and designed by Cedric Galea Pirotta:
• Fountain found in the Mall in Floriana Malta (0.42 EUR)
• Fountain at San Anton Gardens, Attard Malta (0.59 EUR) - It's on the postcard
• Lunzjata Fountain Kercem (1.25 EUR)

Sender: MariaSent from ??? (Malta), on ??.06.2016
Photo: Dariusz Krakowiak