Moshe Callen
Israel
Jerusalem
I like to exchange ideas but I have no interest in a pissing contest.
If you want me to review your game, just GM me and send me a copy. Abstracts, wargames and euros equally welcome. No party or dexterity games please.
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1. Introduction
I was given the bilingual (French and English) 1982 edition, the one with the checkered card-backs, probably the same year that it came out and have had and played the game ever since. While I like card games, I much prefer board games in the proper sense generally speaking, and so the mere fact that this game so often gets played more than two and a half decades later says something about the lasting appeal of this game. Over the years, I have often played this game with 2, 3 or 4 players, rarely with 6. (Note that the game is not for 5 players.) I think 2 or 4 players best.
The game can be played at two different levels. One can play hand by hand without scoring so that whoever first reaches one thousand miles exactly or (seven hundred in a two player game) wins or else whoever has the greatest mileage when the deck is exhausted wins. The other option is to play several hands with scoring to some agreed upon total; in my family we most often played to 5000 points on the rare occasions we bothered scoring.
The game combines attack and defense with working toward a goal which is neither of these. Typically cards played in front of a player have four areas: safety cards (which basically prevent attacks of a particular type), mileage, speed limits (which restrict how much mileage one can pay on a turn) and the action pile where attacks, remedies and the all important roll cards are played. The system is simple but makes for a well-rounded and interesting game.
2. Rules and components overview
The game usually comes with a (typically red) tray for the draw and discard piles. The above picture comes from the back of the collector's edition. Otherwise, the game consists of simply rules and cards; an on-line version of the rules can be found here but the site has more advertising integrated into it than I generally care for. The rules in the game itself are clearly and concisely written.
My copy comes in a box which while small is large for a card game. Sample cards can be seen below. Remedy cards: Safety cards: Assorted cards:
The cards are high quality cardstock and are still in good shape after all these years.
The rules are pretty simple. In order to play mileage cards, one has to have a roll card or the right of way safety card in play. Attack cards take a roll out of play and safety cards prevent certain kinds of attacks.Scoring has a few other aspects but mileage is first and foremost.
3. Gameplay
Like all card games, this game is about hand management. So the main question becomes how and why this one works as a game. Mostly card games come in two varieties: those in which all cards start in the control of a particular player or those with a common draw pile. This game is of the latter sort. That works well in a race game because in principle everything is available to all players by luck of the draw.
Yet the game does reward skill. Planning ahead, both in attack and defense, is critical and the hand limit of six cards forces players to constantly make critical decisions about what is best to keep. Moreover, one needs to know when to attack, when to defend and to move toward the goal of 1000 miles (or 700 miles in a 2-player game).
The game does strike that critical balance and so is endlessly replayable.
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James Bentley
United States
Cleburne
Texas
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I love Mille Bornes......I wish it were available for the Nintendo DS system....!
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60th Regiment O'Foote
United States
Claremont
New Hampshire
Devotium Popcornicus
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Great family game. I have fond memories of this game playing as daughter grew up.
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Tom Duensing
United States
Bartlett
Illinois
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Played this one a lot with my brother back in the late 60's/early 70's. It was a lot of fun and unique. Your chances of winning this are greatly increased if you count the card types as they are played.
It's a fun game.
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Todd DuBrey
United States
New York
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I absolutely love this game, have been playing it since I was 10 and play it now with my kids.
Does anyone know of a decent windows version? The best version I have found is an old DOS version from like 1992...It just plays too fast on today's machines.
Google searces aren't helping me much - I found a few for windows mobile. There simply has to be more fans of this game than me, and SOMEBODY must have made a good version for windows...
Thanks
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Safety cards:
Assorted cards:
