How to play
Boule is a stripped-down relative of roulette from French casinos. Instead of 37 or 38 pockets, the bowl here has 18 cups carrying only the numbers 1 to 9, each number twice. A round takes a few seconds.
- Choose a chip value from the chip row under the table.
- Tap a betting spot to put a chip there. Tap it again to stack more. You can spread chips over as many spots as you like.
- Tap Spin. Betting closes (“No more bets…”), the bowl spins and the ball drops into one cup.
- Collect. Spots that cover the winning number are paid and the rest are cleared.
Before you spin, Undo removes your last chip and Clear empties the table. After a round, Rebet puts down the same bets again. A strip above the layout lists the last twelve numbers, newest first.
Each spot takes 10 to 1,000 credits in steps of 10, and the whole table can hold up to 5,000 credits per spin.
The bets
There are two kinds of bet in this game: a single number, or one of six even-money groups. There are no splits, columns or dozens.
| Bet | Covers | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Any single number, 1 to 9 | 1 number | 7 to 1 |
| Red | 2, 4, 7, 9 | 1 to 1 |
| Black | 1, 3, 6, 8 | 1 to 1 |
| Odd | 1, 3, 7, 9 | 1 to 1 |
| Even | 2, 4, 6, 8 | 1 to 1 |
| Low, 1–4 | 1, 2, 3, 4 | 1 to 1 |
| High, 6–9 | 6, 7, 8, 9 | 1 to 1 |
The gold 5
Look at the tables above and one number is missing from every group: 5. It is the house number, colored gold on the layout. When the ball finds a 5 cup, every red, black, odd, even, low and high bet loses outright, with no half-back rule. A chip placed directly on 5 is a normal single-number bet and pays 7 to 1 like the others.
The odds
Since each number owns 2 of the 18 cups, every number has the same 1-in-9 chance.
- Single number. You win 1 time in 9 and get back 8 times your stake (7 won plus the chip). A fair price would return 9 times the stake.
- Even-money group. Four numbers out of nine win, so you win 4 times in 9 and get back 2 times your stake. A fair price would require winning half the time; the gold 5 is what tips it.
Work through either one and you arrive at the same loss: 1/9 of every credit wagered, about 11.1%. Every bet on this table carries that identical edge, and no mix of bets changes it.
For comparison, single-zero European Roulette costs 2.70% per bet, and Mini Roulette with 13 pockets costs about 7.7%. Boule is the most expensive of the three by a wide margin.
Strategy
Honest advice for a game where the edge is the same everywhere:
- Pick bets for the experience. A single number gives rare wins of eight times the stake; an even-money group gives frequent, small swings. Over many spins both lose about 11 credits per 100 staked.
- Covering more doesn’t help. Betting red and black together, for example, loses whenever 5 lands and gains nothing otherwise. Covering all nine numbers individually returns 8 chips for every 9 placed, every single spin.
- Ignore the history strip. The last twelve numbers are there to look at, not to predict. Cups don’t remember, and a number that hasn’t shown for a while is no more likely now.
- Doubling up won’t fix it. Raising bets after losses runs into the 1,000-credit spot limit long before it “wins back” a bad streak, and the edge applies to every bet you place.
Treat Boule as a quick, simple change of pace rather than a way to make your balance last.
If you enjoy Boule, try Briefcase Offer or Candy Bazaar next.
