Boule and the French casino games

What boule is

Boule is played with a rubber ball, a little smaller than a tennis ball, rolled around a shallow wooden bowl. The bowl is divided into pockets numbered 1 to 9, with each number repeated several times around the rim; four times is common, so a typical bowl has 36 pockets in total. Because each number appears the same number of times, every number has the same one-in-nine chance of winning on each roll.

Players place chips on a felt layout before the croupier rolls the ball. The calls will be familiar from roulette: faites vos jeux to invite bets, les jeux sont faits as a warning, and rien ne va plus when betting closes. The croupier then announces the winning number and the even-chance categories it belongs to, clears the losing bets and pays the winners.

The layout and the house number

Apart from betting on a single number, you can back one of six even-money chances. Rouge covers 2, 4, 7 and 9; noir covers 1, 3, 6 and 8; pair (even) is 2, 4, 6 and 8; impair (odd) is 1, 3, 7 and 9; manque (low) is 1 to 4; and passe (high) is 6 to 9.

The number 5 belongs to none of them. It is usually coloured differently and sits at the centre of the layout. If the ball lands on 5, every even-chance bet loses. You can bet on 5 as a single number, and it pays exactly like any other number, but its role on the even chances is what makes it the house number, the equivalent of the zero at roulette, only much more frequent.

Payouts and the house edge

A winning single number pays 7 to 1 (you receive seven times your stake plus the stake back). The true odds are 8 to 1, because there are nine equally likely numbers, so the casino keeps the difference. An even-chance bet pays 1 to 1 and wins four times in nine; it loses five times in nine, once more than a fair game would allow, because of the 5.

Work either calculation through and you reach the same answer: every standard bet at boule carries a house edge of one-ninth, or about 11.1 per cent. In plain terms, over a long run the casino expects to keep around eleven euros for every hundred wagered. Individual evenings can go either way, but the expectation never changes, and no pattern of bets, progression or record of previous results alters it. Some casinos have used other bowl sizes or local rules, so always read the table card.

How boule differs from roulette

European roulette has 37 pockets, 1 to 36 plus a single zero, and a house edge of about 2.7 per cent on almost every bet. French roulette is dealt on the same single-zero wheel but often applies la partage or en prison on even-money bets when zero appears, halving the edge on those bets to about 1.35 per cent. Boule, at around 11.1 per cent, costs roughly four times as much as European roulette for the same amount wagered.

Boule also offers far fewer bets: there are no splits, corners or streets, and one chip can only cover one number. What it does offer is low minimums, a slower and chattier table, and a very easy game to learn. That explains its survival as an entry-level table in French casinos, and why it is best treated as a short, inexpensive curiosity rather than a place to spend an evening.

Why France kept boule

Boule owes much to French gambling regulation. For long periods of the early twentieth century, roulette was not permitted in most French resort casinos, and boule, with its smaller bowl and higher edge, filled the gap and became the resort game of choice. When roulette returned it pushed boule to the margins, but the game never quite disappeared. Today you are most likely to find it at smaller casinos and occasionally at larger ones, such as those on the Riviera, often at the quieter end of the floor with a low minimum stake.

Chemin de fer

Chemin de fer is the old player-banked form of baccarat. Instead of betting on player or banker against the house, as in punto banco, one player holds the bank and the shoe passes around the table like a train, hence the name. Players can choose whether to draw a third card in some situations, and the casino earns a commission on the banker’s winnings rather than acting as the opponent. It was once the glamour game of the Riviera salons; today it is rare and appears mainly in private rooms or on special occasions. Most visitors will meet punto banco instead, where all drawing decisions follow fixed rules.

Trente-et-quarante

Trente-et-quarante, also called rouge et noir, is a card game dealt from six decks. The croupier lays out two rows of cards, noir and rouge, each until its total passes thirty; the row closest to thirty-one wins. Players bet on rouge or noir, and on couleur or inverse, which relates to the colour of the first card. When both rows tie at thirty-one, even-money bets are half lost, and that single rule supplies most of the house edge, generally cited at between one and one and a half per cent depending on whether you buy insurance. It is now extremely scarce and is found at only a handful of traditional European houses.

Table etiquette and sensible play

At any French table game, buy chips at the cashier or place banknotes on the felt between spins, never during one. Keep your hands off the layout once the croupier calls rien ne va plus, and let the croupier move chips for you if you cannot reach. Tipping the croupiers, traditionally by adding a chip for le personnel after a win, is customary in France but never compulsory.

Decide beforehand how much you are prepared to spend and treat it as the price of entertainment. Stop when it is gone, and do not chase losses. If gambling stops feeling like a choice, talk to someone: in France, Joueurs Info Service is on 09 74 75 13 13.

At a glance

Figures are standard mathematical values for the usual rules. Local variations exist; check the table card or ask the croupier.