Objective
Get rid of your cards before anyone else, and pick up boodle chips along the way. There are two ways to win chips: play the card that matches a boodle card on the table, or go out first. Over several deals, the player with the most chips wins.
Setup
Take the ace of hearts, king of clubs, queen of diamonds and jack of spades from a second deck and lay them face up in the middle of the table. These are the boodle cards. Before each deal, the dealer puts two chips on each boodle card and every other player puts one chip on each.
Deal the full deck one card at a time to each player, plus one extra hand, the widow, placed to the dealer’s left. Some hands will end up a card longer than others; that is fine.
The dealer may look at their own hand and swap it for the unseen widow. Or the dealer may auction the widow: the highest bidder pays the dealer in chips, takes the widow and puts their own hand aside. The dealer cannot both swap and auction. Whichever hand is set aside stays face down and out of play.
How to play
The player to the dealer’s left starts. Choose any suit you hold and play your lowest card in it, face up in front of you, naming it out loud. Whoever holds the next card up in that suit must play it, then whoever holds the next, and so on around the table.
A sequence stops when it reaches the ace, or when the next card is in the dead hand or has already been played. The player who laid the last card then starts a new sequence with their lowest card in a different suit. If they have no other suit, the turn passes to the player on their left.
Any time you play a card that matches a boodle card, take every chip on it. The hand ends the moment one player plays their last card.
- 1Lead your lowest card in any suit
- 2Whoever holds the next card up plays it
- 3At a stop, the last player leads their lowest card of a new suit
- 4Collect the chips when you play a boodle card
- 5Go out first to end the hand
Scoring
Michigan is scored in chips rather than points. Settle up at the end of every hand.
| What happens | Chips |
|---|---|
| Play the ace of hearts, king of clubs, queen of diamonds or jack of spades | Take all chips on that boodle card |
| Go out first | 1 chip from each opponent for each card left in their hand |
| A boodle card is never played | Its chips stay for the next deal |
The deal passes to the left. It is fairest to stop after everyone has dealt the same number of times, then count chips.
Variations
Any-suit restart: some tables let the player at a stop lead any suit, including the one that just stopped, as long as they lead their lowest card in it.
No widow deal: for younger players, drop the swap and auction so the dealer simply plays the hand they were given.
Fan Tan builds each suit outward from the sevens, and Play or Pay charges a chip whenever you cannot continue the sequence. Both are on our list if your group likes this style of game.
Tips from the table
Remember the stops. When a sequence dies on a card nobody played, that card is in the dead hand, and the same suit will stop there again if it is ever restarted.
Try to be the player who lays the stop card. It earns you the next lead, which is the best way to empty your hand quickly and pick which suit goes next.
Think before you lead a suit with a boodle card in it. Starting a low run in hearts may hand the ace of hearts, and its chips, to another player.
As dealer with a weak hand, an auction can beat a swap. The widow is a gamble, but chips from a bidder are certain.
Video Guides Are on the Way
We’re filming Game Guides that walk through full hands at the table, from the deal to the score.
Frequently asked
What are the boodle cards?
The ace of hearts, king of clubs, queen of diamonds and jack of spades, taken from a second deck and laid in the middle to hold the chips.
Do I have to play the next card if I hold it?
Yes. Whoever holds the next card in the sequence plays it.
What happens to chips nobody wins?
They stay on the boodle card for the next deal, so an unlucky boodle can grow very rich.
Why did the sequence stop before the ace?
The next card is in the dead hand or was played earlier. No one can continue, so the last player starts a new suit.
New rules every month
Get the next game before it hits the site.
