It would scare me if I knew how many nights I spent playing this in college. This card game is a perfect opportunity for friends to get together, drink a beer or two and just relax for a spell. Mille Bournes is a bit of a "beer and pretzels" or party game by nature in that it can be played for two people, but three or more players make it truly fun. The rules are simple and the emphasis is on fast gameplay rather than a complex statistical system.

The idea of the game is to drive 1,000 miles in France (hence, the title) before any of your competitors. To log any miles, a player has to draw a "go" card and have no mechanical trouble. Only when those two conditions are met can a person travel.

Ironically, this game does resemble a French road race in one respect -- mechanical troubles plague players constantly. Why's this realistic? French cars tend to be horrible and spend a fair amount of time in the shop. If players are supposed to be driving buggy, unreliable French vehicles in this, I can understand all the mechanical trouble. It makes sense. It works.

Mechanical troubles and speed limits can be tossed at you by other players. So, you can't log any miles until those troubles are repaired and can't drive over a certain speed limit if one is enforced on you. Speed limits, too, can be lifted with the right card. Mechanical troubles and speed limits can be halted permanently if you are lucky to receive the correct cars. I have special names for those "safety" cards -- in the case of the speed limit card, I call that the "radar detector." If you're lucky enough to get a safety, then you've "bought an American car." Well, I think that's funny, anyway.

The game allows for a certain amount of strategy as it can be a chore figuring out which cards to keep in your hand. You're limited to how many cards you can hold, so some problems develop. Should you keep a lot of mileage cards? How about cards that will "stun" your enemy or slow him down? And, how many cards do you need to repair mechanical trouble? These decisions really have an impact on how the game develops, so coming up with a good strategy is essential and entertaining. In this respect, the game is always changing and hands differ wildly from game to game.

The only trouble I've seen with this game is that people tend to get annoyed with each other if the competition gets fierce. I've seen players almost attack opponents who have stopped their progress with "stop" cards, made them run out of gas, caused their vehicle to suffer a flat tire or put a speed limit on them. For those who take this game too seriously, there can be some bruised feelings in the course of a game. My advise? Relax. It's only a game. Besides, you can seek sweet revenge when the right cards come your way.

A night of Mille Bournes can consist of one or two "quick" games, or players can agree to play a number of hands. The length of game sessions is totally up to the players, and the scoring allows for players to keep track and try to do well over an entire evening, or just get a few games out of the way and then do something else. The flexibility here, then, is a nice feature. The pace of the game is quick enough to keep folks interested in it over the course of an evening, too.

So, you've got a game that's great for groups, moves quickly and is easy to learn and play. Are there any other advantages? Yep. This thing will keep children and adults entertained because the rules are simple and the game is just pure fun. In that respect, this is a fine game for families. It's cheap, too -- a deck of Mille Bournes cards will set you back around $10. That's not bad. Pick up a copy of this game. You never know when you'll need to have it around the house.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 10
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older