Official Rules of Brownie Points Card Game

Rules listed below are the official rules.  Please see our Common Questions sections for more answers and hidden secrets.

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Setup and Beginning Play

1. Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards face down.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.

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.

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 as noted above.

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.

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 must be passed if in your hand when a Dog House card is played.

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.

Note:  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?

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.

Note: If all you have is the Nope Card and you need to lead the sequence, you must draw a card from the deck until you can play a card. If the deck is gone, you must pass and the next player begins the sequence.

Game Changer Card

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: Runs can be beat by higher runs. Even better, Brownie Points Slap Attack the same run. No hand is safe in this game! 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!

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).

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.

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, keep it in a separate pile 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!