Board games are typically played with a four and a half foot long piece of Canadian pine wood, also referred to regionally as a "podger". Players take turns balancing the "podger" vertically on their shoulders. The first player to drop their podger must then run a circle, called a "worbit" around the other players, then they must re-balance the podger on their shoulder. Four 23-minute quarters are played in regulation play (often the quarters are shortened to 16 minutes in youth leagues). At the end of the four quarters, the player with the fewest worbits wins, unless the one or more of the other players call in to question their worbit speed. The practice of a player intentionally taking slow runs to decrease their total number of worbits is called "bareening", and is prohibited. In the instance of a bareening dispute, the seven referees confer in what is called a "bareentinuum". If a player is found to be guilty of bareening, they are disqualified and a 14-minute sudden death round is played amongst all remaining players. The player with the fewest worbits in the sudden death round is declared the winner, unless of course another bareentinuum need occur.

Other variations are played in South American countries where the podger is balanced horizontally, but they are much less popular.