Bicycle Racing Games
Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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I raced bicycles when I was younger. I enjoyed it greatly. The tactics of the different races fascinated me. I was actually a terrible rider. Whether on the velodrome, a closed course criterium, open road race or time trial, I was not very good, terrible in fact. My only bright spot was mountain climbing. Steep hills I could climb in a barely adequate fashion.
I do miss the race tactics though, so I look for games that let me re-live the racing vicariously through plastic or cardboard figures. I found quite a few games that are about bicycle racing here on BGG. Most are simple roll and move type games. Quite a few are from very small publishers, some from long ago, making actually seeing most of these games impossible. I know A LOT of games published are not even listed here on BGG. Maybe people will enter any they have that are not here, as I, and apparently many others, am very interested in games on bicycle racing!
I have also included some bicycle touring games as some do have a race element. Mostly, the games here have bicycles in them!
Anki Toner from Barcelona, Spain and Ludo Nauws from Belgium are responsible for many of the pictures and descriptions of obscure cycling games that are posted here on BGG. A big thanks to both of them!
Edit: Searched BGG for more game and added them Sept. 2007 and again in November 2007.
Edit: Added many games May, 2009
Edit: Huge Thanks! to Dennis Frank, Matt Hinske & John Weber, each of whom keeps adding to this ever growing list. Thank you for helping keeping this list alive and useful!! (added Jan.2010)
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1993
Jaime Munárriz & Esther Berdión
El Europero
Spanish cycling game.
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2.
Board Game: Cycle
[Average Rating:8.75 Unranked]
Matt Hiske
United States
Kentwood
Michigan
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2011
RPM Board Games
Cycle is a easy to learn yet innovative strategic racing game that uses an action based system. No dice, cards, or record keeping are needed and scores are kept on the score track as the race progresses.
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David Simpson
United Kingdom
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New, interesting-looking game, with no reliance on random chance.
Free to print and play too!
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Chris McGowan
United States
Arlington Heights
Illinois
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1991
John Harrington
Fiendish Games
First game I thought of when I saw the list - didn't see it listed. No dice - interesting to play. Loved the movie, love the game.
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6.
Board Game: The Tour
[Average Rating:7.19 Unranked]
Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1991
Mike Clifford
Lionel Games
Another game of the Tour de France. This game is rated quite high by a few Geeks I trust. Sadly, no pictures.
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7.
Board Game: Tour
[Average Rating:7.12 Unranked]
Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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2006
Luke Morris
Games on the Way
Designed and published by BGG'er Luke Morris as a DTP from his game company Games on the Way, 2006. Movement is by dice roll and can be modified by the cyclist stats. Slipstreaming adds one to movement. The board has 9 pieces and is very modular.
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John Weber
United States
Laurel
Maryland
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Not much info on this one so far, but -- in the interest of completeness -- it seems like a definite addition to this list. Anyone have any more info?
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Matt Hiske
United States
Kentwood
Michigan
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They say this is a card based game that is related to Leader 1. I am interested in learning more about the differences. I would really love to see some expansions for Leader 1 along the lines of more tiles and the cards that come with Giro. More energy sheets would be a plus also but I can probably make copies easy enough.
Top Racing Games:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/35838
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1961
uncredited
Homas Spelen
A Dutch produced Tour de France game.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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Published: 1967
Designer: uncredited
Publisher: Elyart
A game that uses bicycles for one race and cars for another, over the same race course.
The car race is for 6 individuals. The bicycle race consists of 3 teams of 2 cyclists each. Movement is controlled by dice.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1982
Rob Bontenbal
Jumbo & Homas Spelen
Originally produced as Homas Tour. Republished as Um Reifenbreite (by the width of a tire) and Demarrage! in 1992 when it won the Spiel de Jahre.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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~late 1970s
uncredited
Domenica Sportiva
Another Italian sports game combination box.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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2006
Lajos Brons
Papercut Games
An simplified advanced version of the full game of Road Cycling Tour.
This is available for free download at:
http://www.lc.dds.nl/papercut/RCT.html
Thanks for the games Lajos!
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1986
Walter Toncar
Holtmann VIP
Highly rated race game where cards control movement, but by landing on other cyclists, you can double, triple or more your movement. No to little luck in this game.
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John Weber
United States
Laurel
Maryland
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Just ran across the recent design credited to Ludo Nauws of Belgium. Don't know much about it, but it sure seems this is definitely a game that should be added to this excellent list!
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17.
Board Game: Pistard
[Average Rating:6.75 Unranked]
Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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2005
Anki Toner
self published
This game can be downloaded from the Internet:
http://personales.ya.com/anki/cyclingboardgames/g_pistard.ht...
Anki Toner from Barcelona and Ludo Nauws from Belgium both contributed to this game, but they also are responsible for many of the pictures of obscure cycling games that are posted here on BGG. A big thanks to both of them!
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18.
Board Game: Die Tour
[Average Rating:6.71 Unranked]
Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1981
Olaf Liesenfeld, Christa Rüdiger & Klaus Rüdiger
self published, Spiele Berlin
Legendary great game that only had 300 produced. Very hard to find.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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2009
uncredited
CEPIA Games
Just released game (Oct. 2009) that uses a Z-Ball flicking around the custom made track to advance the cyclists. More of a dexterity game than a true bicycle race game. The four supplied cyclist models are quite nice!
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1985
Jean Tarrade
Revell
Based on the Tour de France.
Does include slipstreaming. Each cyclist is rated differently for hills, sprinting and the flats.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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2001
Jérôme Valadie
Varo Éditions
A roll and move game with a small twist. As long as your cyclist stay together, you can split your roll amongst them.
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Big Woo
Scotland
state:
running out of space...
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1995
Patrick Inauen (with his brother Adrian)
Inauen Spiele
Translating as "Yellow Jersey", and re-issued as "Le Tour" in 1996, again through their own imprint.
Incredibly hard to find game, which is unfortunate, as I think it is also one of the best, if not the best, Tour simulation around. You will need a group of like-minded players to get the most out of it, and like the real Tour, it might take a stage or two before the race narrative starts to create its own mechanics during stages.
Up to 6 players take charge of a team of 8 cyclists, all with individual (and unique) strengths and weaknesses.
It is more a kit whose terrain tiles and riders can be used to recreate any tour or classic race, real or imaginary. Likewise, all cyclist sheets can be modified to represent any desired medley of riders, although a basic 1995 set is provided for both stages and participants.
Needless to say, when that time arrives, this game is played in tandem with the real thing, and each year I make a set to represent the new stages and riders.
This isn't a game for everyone, you need a group of players who need no explanation why you might want to settle for a King of the Mountains Tricot or a stage victory if the Yellow Jersey is no longer an option. What do you mean, might settle?
It has probably helped that I grew up watching the Tour's drama unfold live each year, so I don't need a system to spell it out to me how much VPs a lesser honour badge is worth. Who cares. Think of the glory. I truely can't think of another game which makes it as easy to crawl into the skin of a packed field of hopefuls that all aspire to make it to Paris, and take at least one honour badge home. I also haven't found a game yet that captures the dynamics between riders and teams as realistic and atmospheric as this one. Surprisingly, it manages to do that with a small set of simple and abstract rules. It is game design from the top shelf, and one that deserves a much larger audience than it has ever found. For a debut design it is a remarkable achievement.
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23.
Board Game: Peloton
[Average Rating:6.59 Unranked]
Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1991
Premysl Chmelar
Templum
Czech made game. Similar to the old 3M games as the case unwraps and is the race track. Game play is rated okay, but the components are complained about.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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2003
Salvatore Micelli
COM4MI
Roll and move where you can collect bonus and penalty cards along the race route.
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Scott Henshaw
United States
East Bridgewater
Massachusetts
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1982
uncredited
Mattel
From Mattel Italy. Roll and move that did contain rules for fatigue, punctures and energy.
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). it took like 7 hours, but it was great fun, and was really cool once the different players started making deals with each other to help them keep the yellow jersey if they could get the mountain points, etc... 
