Brilli

A Gozitan Traditional Ancient Game

Ever since I was a young kid, I had heard about the game of “Brilli,” which is played in Gozo. I didn’t know much about it or what it was. But it kept haunting me and when I started taking photography seriously back in 2007, I knew I had to go and shoot this game.

One fine day, a friend of mine asked if I would like to join a team from National Geographic as their assistant during their visit to Malta and Gozo. I immediately said yes, as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and experience. The day came, and I met the whole team. The first two days we went around Malta, and I ended up translating and filling out the consent forms for them. The last day was a trip to the visit Malta’s little sister, Gozo.

The first stop in Gozo was Gharb, where they had arranged to shoot the game of “Brilli.” So the game was now following me around. Now more than ever I wanted to shoot this game, but I had to let some time pass so as not to interfere with the National Geographic plans.

Again, a few years passed and I got caught up in my journalism job. One day I was watching TV, and the Brilli game came on, much to my astonishment. This was it, and I decided to go and shoot. I started researching and talking to some of my Gozitan friends, and finally, I figured out the days the game is played, the time, and the exact place. My friend told me one day that there was a kite festival in Gharb on Sunday, and he was going to shoot it, and he asked if I wanted to join him. My mind ran fast putting two and two together. I said to myself that we could go and shoot the “Brilli” game and then go and shoot the kite festival. I told my friend, and he agreed. The date was set for Sunday, October 17, 2021.

The day came, my friend came for me, and off we went to catch the boat to Gozo. A twenty five minute boat trip later, we arrived in Gozo. We headed to Gharb, and we came to the street where they play Brilli. A few men were there waiting to start the game. I went up to them and greeted them, and they greeted me back. I asked them if they would give me permission to shoot them playing their game. They happily said yes, and I started asking them a few questions about the game to learn more about it.

I learned that the game started sometime before the Knights of John arrived in Malta in 1530. The game resembles the game of bowling, but the rules are totally different, and it is played in the streets. The game is played with nine wooden skittles and a 6-inch wooden ball.

The skittles are placed in a diamond formation, with the middle skittle having a sort of crown on top, this skittle is named “is-Sultan” and it is the highest-scoring skittle with nine points. The objective is to knock down the skittles and gain points. Getting exactly twenty-four points is the main objective. If someone gets more than twenty-four points, he gets eliminated until the next round starts.

Each player has two attempts when it is his turn. The first throw is from a place that is set before the game begins. The second throw comes from where the ball ended on the first throw. On the first throw, the player only gets two points for each skittle he knocks down. The game is a bit complicated to understand at first, and there are more rules to abide by besides the ones I mentioned here.

Unfortunately, Brilli is slowly being lost. Today’s kids are not interested in the cultural game, but a guy named Valerio Bugeja is trying to get Brilli on the National Heritage List. He’s also trying to start teaching it to kids in school. I truly hope that he succeeds, because it would be a pity to lose this game, which was once also played in Malta. I will surely go back to shoot this game again and learn more about it.