Our Story

It was 1983 when the idea was born aboard a cruise ship, where Mr. Emilio Salvatore was on holiday with his family. Sitting at the game table, playing a round of Bingo, he could not help thinking that the Americans, in a way, while changing a few details, had "stolen" tombola from the Italians.

So, once back in Naples, he thought long and hard about an entirely Neapolitan game that would combine the principle of Bingo with the spirit of tombola. No sooner said than done: all it took was to replace the numbers of the American game with Neapolitan cards, and to put the deck of cards in place of the "Panariello", the little basket of tombola. Once the rules were written, since the game had five possible combinations, he decided to call it "Sinco", in homage to the Spanish language, which he liked better.

With the creative phase over, Mr. Emilio put together the main board, the cards and the player boards in his factory – a haberdashery with more than thirty years in business – and then devoted himself to producing and distributing the game. Success was immediate, not only in Naples but also in Italy's major cities.

The interview with Emilio Salvatore

The video is in Italian.

The most famous past editions