Official Rules of Brownie Points Card Game
Rules listed below are the official rules of the game. Keep an eye out for sneaky tips
that can give you the advantage or make playing a little easier.
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Select the element of the game from the list below for detailed descriptions, sneaky hints, and example videos.
Setup and Beginning Play
1. Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards face down.
2. Put the remaining cards in a stack in the middle of the table. The shuffled deck is now your draw pile after each turn.
Note: If more than 5 people are playing it can be wise to specify a dealer that passes out the cards throughout the game. This makes it easy for those who can’t reach the pile.
3. Arrange your cards in sets, a.k.a put all the two’s together, five’s together, etc.
4. Whoever baked brownies most recently gets to go first! Or, whoever recently ate a brownie. Still can’t decide, then whoever is shortest.
Before you play, bake up a fresh batch of Mrs. Brownies Triple Threat Brownies and you'll always be the first to play!
Taking Your Turn
You have several options to choose from You have several options to choose from
A. Starting play. Choose any set or Single cards to play, or the Dog House card, Game Changer, or a Run of four cards or more, and put them in the middle of the table. As you lay down your cards say out loud what you are laying down. This allows for everyone the equal chance to Slap Attack the pile.
Once you lay down your cards your turn is over and you draw a card from the middle deck. When starting play you must play a card, you cannot pass.
B. Continuing Play. Once play begins, on your turn you must lay down a higher hand than what currently is on top of the pile in order to play. If you cannot beat what’s played, you can pass your turn and draw a card from the deck and play continues to the next player.
Note: If you pass your turn or play the Dog House card, you cannot Brownie Points Slap Attack the pile until the pile changes; meaning, someone else needs to play on the pile before you can play.
You may choose to play a Dog House card in which everyone then gives you their highest numbered card 1-10 including the Game Changer or Wild Card.
C. When it’s not your turn, keep an eye on what is played. You can Brownie Points Slap Attack at any time as long as you haven’t passed your turn playing the Dog House card as noted above.
If you have two sets play the lower set first and see if you can fish out higher sets from other players. If all works well, you will be able to Brownie Points Slap Attack the pile and earn more points, or you'll be able to player your higher set to win the round. Careful with playing your higher set, someone else may have set you up for a Slap Attack!
You don't have to play on your turn even if you can (assuming you're not the one starting the round or sequence). Try passing and see if someone else plays what you have so you can Slap Attack it!
If you have a run try and save it for an opportune time. Even if you can Slap Attack a hand be very careful breaking up a run. They are hard to come by the more players you are playing with.
Do you always play the same number of cards as the first set in a sequence? Like if the first person plays a single 2, you play a single 3 or higher on top? Or if they lead with a pair of 4s, only pairs of higher than 4 can be played on that?
You are correct! You follow the lead card(s) played such as your examples of a single 3 is played then a single card higher than 3 is played or a run of four cards or more. Same with any sets, if four 5’s are played than four cards higher than fives can be played like four sixes or a run of four cards or more. You always have to match the number of cards played. The only exception to the rule is when playing a run on top of a set. A run of four cards beats any set of cards no matter how many are played such as eight tens played a run of four cards, 1-2-3-4, would win.
Drawing Cards
At the end of your turn you draw one card from the deck, regardless of how many cards you played. If you pass your turn you also draw a card. When a Dog House is played, after everyone passes their high cards, everyone now draws one card. Drawing a card continues until the deck is gone. Once the deck is gone, you continue to play what is in your hand. Your turn ends after you play or pass.
If someone is the designated dealer, when the pile runs out announce it so everyone knows. Now it becomes first one out ends the round.
Dog House
The Dog House card is a quick way to gather high numbered cards. Everyone must pass their highest numbered card to the person who played the Dog House card, which can only be played on your turn. Put the cards you collect from the other players in your hand, not your points pile. Discard the Dog House card by putting it in your points pile in front of you.
The Dog House is not worth any positive points, but if stuck in your hand at the end of the round, it will count as a negative 500 points. If you hold in your hand multiple Dog House cards you can choose to play them together and collect double or triple the cards in one shot!
Note: The Game Changer or Wild Card (if playing with the Expansion Deck) must be passed if in your hand when a Dog House card is played.
If you have two Dog House's at the same time you may want to think about playing them together and collection double the cards. This can give you a huge advantage moving forward being able to Slap Attack almost any hand played or set you up for a big payday with multiple runs.
If you have a Dog House when the middle pile runs out, take a look around and see how close someone is to going out. If it seems no one will for a few sequences it might be worth playing the Dog House and collecting cards. This gives you a huge opportunity to take control of the hands and unload all your points. BUT, it can backfire if someone goes out quickly as now you're stuck with all those negative points. It's a risky chance, but sometimes worth taking if you time it just right.
Can you Slap Attack a Dog House?
No. When the Dog House card is played everyone must pass cards immediately before any future play begins. Once all the cards are passed, everyone takes one card from the middle pile and play resumes.
Round Ends
There are a few ways to end the round.There are a few ways to end the round.
1. A player plays their final cards. Whoever wins that sequence ends the round.
2. A player lays down their final cards and another player Brownie Point Slap Attacks the pile.
3. A player only has one card left and another player plays the Dog House card. Play ends because that player passed their final card.
When the round ends, any cards left in any players hands now become negative. Count positive points, deduct negative points, then record your total on the Brownie Points Scorecard.
When you have a lot of cards and someone is about to go out, start playing high cards even if it means you lose them. This will reduce the amount of negative points you have.
There is a little bit of strategy here. If you have a Dog House card toward the end of the game, do you keep it and just take the negative 500 points, or do you play it knowing it will end the round but hope you get cards handed to you that equal less than 500 points?
Can the round end before the draw pile is exhausted, or only after?
Since you receive a card from the pile every time you play, pass, or a dog house is played you should never run out of cards until after the draw pile is exhausted. If you end up with zero cards before the draw pile is exhausted it means you missed drawing a card somewhere along the way.
NOPE Card
When a player plays the Dog House card and you have a Nope card, you may play this card instead of your high number card. There are no point values for this card positive or negative. If more than one Dog House card is played at the same time, then the same corresponding Nope cards must be passed, or a combination of Nope cards and High cards must be passed.
Don't waste a NOPE card on saving low valued cards (50 pointers). Wait until you have high value cards to defend.
Remember, you don't have to play this card if you don't want to. Toward the end of the round if someone plays a Dog House card and you need to dump cards so you don't get stuck with them for negative points, pass the point cards to the person and keep your NOPE card. It's worth zero points so nothing will be counted negative.
What happens to the nope cards you get when you play the doghouse? Do they go in your hand or your pile?
The Nope cards that are passed to the person playing the Dog House card are placed in that persons discard pile (aka winnings pile). They are not put back in anyone’s hand and cannot be played again in that round. When the round is over just skip over them when adding up your points.
Game Changer
Regardless of how many cards are being played in the current sequence, the Game Changer can be played and you have immediately trumped the pile. The only thing that can now be played is a run of four cards or more to take the hand. If all other players pass and cannot play a run, then you win the pile. You CANNOT play the Game Changer on a Run, only on single or sets of cards.
Note: Game Changer is worth 500 points; however, if stuck in your hand at the end of the round, it counts as negative 500 points. Ouch!
If you get this card in at the beginning of the game play it immediately. The chances of someone having a run this early in the game is slim. It's an easy 500 points. If you hold it, chances are you'll lose it to a Dog House card.
Playing this card takes strategy and paying attention to what's going on. If someone just played a Dog House card, chances are high they now have a straight. If a few people just played runs chances are high they no longer have a run. Because the Dog House card keeps this card moving it's sometimes hard to find the perfect time to play it, but when you do, it's a huge asset to have.
Run Trumps All
A run is the highest level of cards that can be played and the only cards that can beat a Game Changer. Runs must be a minimum of four cards. Whoever lays down the run determines how many cards are in the run and how many are required to beat it.
For Example: Player one lays down a run using the 4,5,6,7,8,9 cards. That’s a six card run. Because six cards were played, the other players can only beat this run by playing six cards with the 10 being the high card to beat the 9 (5,6,7,8,9,10).
To the best of your ability, use your runs wisely. Wait for a good hand to present itself, such as when the Game Changer or Wild cards are played. Or maybe 4 tens are played and you can lay a 1-2-3-4 run down, easy 800 points.
If you just played a Dog House card and have end up with two runs, one low (1-2-3-4) and one high (7-8-9-10) play the lower run first and see if you can fish out a high run that you can win or better yet Slap Attack with your higher run.
Can you play a run at any time to trump any sequence, or only after the game changer?
Yes, a run (of four cards or more) can be played at anytime and trumps any single or set of cards and the Game Changer card. The only thing that trumps a run is a higher run or the slap attack.
Brownie Points Slap Attack
This is the ultimate killer. At any moment in time someone may slap the table and yell, “Brownie Points!” and win the pile. Whatever cards are played, if any player has the exact same cards in their hand, you now qualify to slap the table and yell, “Brownie Points!”. That person then lays down their matching cards and takes the pile and begins the next sequence.
This is a great way to skip the other players turn and gather points quickly. If multiple people slap the table and yell, “Brownie Points!” at the same time, the winner goes to whoever lays down their matching cards. If that is a tie, then who ever grabs the middle pile first gets the points.
If you only say “Brownie Points” or you only slap the table, it doesn’t count. The first person to do it correctly will be awarded the pile.
Note: If you pass on your turn or play the Dog House card, you CANNOT Slap Attack until another player plays on the pile. Also, you cannot Brownie Point Slap Attack a Dog House Card.
Try and fish out high cards from your opponents with lower cards then Slap Attack them with your higher cards.
When you slap the table and yell "Brownie Points" it's a good habit to then lay down your matching cards. Reason is if someone also Slap Attacks at the same time the winner goes to whomever lays down there matching cards first. If that is a tie, then whomever grabs cards they Slap Attacked. Gotta be quick on this!
If you are playing correctly, each player should be saying out loud (for all to hear) what they are laying down AS they are laying it down. When this is the case, don't pay attention to the cards they are laying down, instead pay attention to your hand. This allows you to Slap Attack much quicker.
Brownie Squirts
If you slap the table and yell, “Brownie Points!” but do not have the correct cards, you receive the Brownie Squirts card which is a negative 100 points. The card remains in your points pile until the end of the round in which time you deduct them from your score.
If you have the Squirts card and another player fibs, pass the Squirts card to them, you’re now saved! If you have the Squirts card and fib again, you’re out of the round and all positive cards are now negative. Record the total on your score sheet.
The Brownie Squirts card is not added to the deck. Instead, set it aside and hand it out as needed.
Note: If you only slap the table or yell “Brownie Points” then back off, it’s still a fib and you deserve the Brownie Squirts card.
Winning the Game
First player to 10,000 points wins.
If 2-4 people are playing we recommend playing to 15,000 points. If you are using the Brownie Points Scorecard, just tap End Game and it will award you your points!
When playing with the Expansion Deck we recommend playing to 15,000 points as there are higher valued cards in that deck.
Expansion Deck
The rules remain the same when playing with the Expansion Deck. However, a new element is available: the Wild Card.
The Wild Card has a question mark (?) instead of a number. This allows you to play this card with any other numbered card to create a set or a run.
However, you cannot play this card on it's own. It must be played with another number card. It cannot be played with a Dog House or Game Changer card.
It must be passed when a Dog House card is played.
The Wild Card is only available with the Expansion Deck. Even is less than 12 are playing, we recommend adding the expansion deck in play so you can earn more points and play with the Wild card. However, if 4 or less people are playing we don't recommend adding the Expansion Deck, but you can still just add the Wild Card.