A virapulla is a traditional Swedish gaming container with dishes and jettons designed for playing the national game of Vira, but also used for other games.''Virapulla''
image and information at the Nordic Museum website. Retrieved 28 September 2020.''Spelmarker''
Image and description of a virapulla in the Skelleftea Museum. Retrieved 28 September 2020.

Description

A virapulla container may be made of plastic, china''SLM 36822''
- Fine example of a china virapulla at the Sörmlands Museum. Retrieved 28 September 2020. or metal. The counters are based on the old French system with circular, short and long rectangular pieces known in French as ''jetons'', ''fiches'' and ''contrats''. There are individual dishes for the players and the container has a reversible lid for the common

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

. The name is derived from the game of Vira and the French word ''poulan'' which means "gaming dish". The French influence may be because Vira was derived from the then French games of

Ombre Ombre (, pronounced "omber") or l'Hombre is a fast-moving seventeenth-century trick-taking card game for three players and "the most successful card game ever invented." Its history began in Spain around the end of the 16th century as a four-pe ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The game was invented in the 19th century and the virapulla in the early 20th century.

References

{{card-game-stub Swedish card games Card game equipment Gaming devices