Every year in mid-November, the small northern town of Mirano, Veneto, Italy, goes absolutely goose crazy. Stuffed geese start popping up in every storefront. Goose sausage goes on sale. Soon, posters paper the town, calling people to a street fair of many spectacles—and to something called the Zogo dell’Oca, the “goose game” of Mirano.

On the weekend when Catholics celebrate St. Martin’s Day, the beginning of the “reveling season” of winter, Mirano’s central square is completely transformed into a giant, 16th-century board game. Visitors pour in from all over the region to cheer on teams of young players in striped jerseys as they compete in a series of bizarre and outlandish challenges.