Boule (gambling game)

Boule is a gambling game similar to roulette that dates back to the popular nineteenth-century French game Petits Chevaux, or Little Horses, and takes its name from the French word for ball. It is played on a wheel with eighteen pockets numbered one through nine, each number appearing twice: four black numbers, four red numbers, and the number five in yellow acting like the zero in roulette, so that a five kills every simple even-money bet. Players wager on a rubber ball rather than roulette's ivory ball. Simple bets pay even odds on color, parity, or a high-low range; more complex single-number bets pay seven to one, and two-number bets pay three to one. Boule's house edge is far steeper than roulette's, running around eleven and a bit percent against European roulette's one and a half to two and a half percent, so it is typically played for low stakes, often at resort casinos that lack a full casino license. The game flourished in nineteenth-century France and stayed popular through the Belle Epoque, particularly at resort towns.