NEW MARKET is a modern variation of the old game of Pope Joan and is known by a number of other names Boodle and Stops in England; Chicago, Michigan and Saratoga in America.

It is an excellent gambling game that is easy to learn and contains an element of skill that guarantees the better player winning in the long run.

NUMBER OF PLAYER

From three to eight players may play.

CARDS

The game is played with a full pack of 52 cards, ranking from Ace (high) to 2 (low), and an Ace, King, Queen and Jack (each of a different suit) from another pack. These four extra cards are known as the boodle cards, and are placed, face upwards, in a row in the centre of the table.

THE PLAY

Before the deal each player has to stake an agreed number of chips (usually, but not necessarily, 10) on the boodle cards. He may stake his poker chips as he pleases, but he must not stake more nor less than the agreed number.

The dealer then deals the cards one at a time to each player in rotation, and to an extra hand or dummy. As the players must each receive the same number of cards, any over-cards are dealt to the dummy hand which remains face downwards on the table throughout the deal.

The player on the left of the dealer makes the first lead. He may lead a card from any suit, but it must be the lowest card that he holds in the suit. The players do not play in rotation round the table.

The next play is made by the player who holds next higher card in the suit, then the next higher card is played by the player who holds it, and so on, until the run is stopped either because a player plays the Ace of the suit, or the next higher card is in the dummy hand.

Either way, the player who played the last card leads the lowest playing card of another suit, the lead passes to the player on his left. When a player plays a card that is identical with one of the boodle cards he collects all the chips from it.

The object of the game, however, is not only to win the chips that have been staked on the boodle cards, but to get rid of all one’s cards, because the player who is first to do so receives one chip from each of the other players.

If no player gets rid of all his cards, the one who holds the fewest cards wins the hand, and if two players are left with an equal number of fewest cards they divide the winnings.

If when a deal comes to an end the chips on one or more of the boodle cards have not been claimed, because the corresponding cards to the boodle cards are in the dummy hand, they are carried forward to the next deal.