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Published card games

Mille Bornes

Travel a thousand kilometres before the others, protecting yourself from attacks while landing your own.

players
2–6
minutes
30
variants
5

You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.

Setup

  • Each player receives six cards. The rest forms the draw pile.
  • Two to six players, individually or in teams.

How to play

  • On your turn, draw a card, then play one or discard one.
  • You first need a green light (Roll) to set off, then you lay distance cards.
  • Hazards block an opponent: Stop (red light), Speed Limit, Out of Gas, Flat Tire, Accident.
  • Remedies lift them, and safeties protect against them for good: Driving Ace, Puncture-Proof, Extra Tank, Right of Way.

Scoring

  • Each kilometre travelled is worth one point: 700 km are worth 700 points.
  • Trip completed at 1,000 km: 400 bonus points.
  • Each safety played: 100 points. All four safeties: 700 points.
  • Coup fourré, playing a safety at the very moment you suffer the matching hazard: 300 points.
  • Shutout, an opponent stays at zero km: 500 points. Extension, going on from 700 to 1,000: 200 points.
  • Safe trip, finishing the hand without laying a single 200 km card: 300 points.
  • Delayed action, playing the last card of the draw pile and finishing the hand: 300 points.

End of the game

  • The hand ends when a player reaches exactly 1,000 km, or when the draw pile runs out.
  • The game is played to 5,000 cumulative points.

Variants

Game to

  • 5,000 points (publisher's rule)

  • 3,000 points (short game)

  • A single round

    The first to 1,000 km wins, with no running total.

Format

  • Every player for themselves

  • In teams

    In teams of two: two teams with four players, three with six. One column per team.

chosen when starting, the scorer follows

Frequently asked questions

What is a coup fourré?

Playing a safety at the exact moment you suffer the matching hazard: the hazard is cancelled, you play again straight away, and it brings 300 points on top of the safety's 100. It is the most profitable move in the game.

Do you need a green light after every hazard?

Yes, unless you have Right of Way: after a remedy, you need a green light again to get going. It is the most common oversight.

What does the Speed Limit do?

It prevents you from laying distance cards above 50 km until you play End of Limit. It stacks with another hazard: you can be both limited and out of gas.

What is the extension?

When a hand is set to end at 700 km and the winner asks to carry on to 1,000: if they make it, it brings 200 extra points.

What are the shutout and the delayed action?

Shutout: an opponent finishes the hand without travelling a single kilometre, 500 points. Delayed action: playing the last card of the draw pile and still finishing the hand, 300 points.

Exactly how many kilometres do you need?

A thousand on the dot. A card that would take you over cannot be played, and there is only a limited number of 200 km cards: you cannot lay more than two per hand.

The box

Released
1954
Age
Ages 8+
Designer
Edmond Dujardin
Artwork
Hergé, Pierre Praquin
Publisher
Dujardin
Mechanics
Gestion de mainCoups basEn équipes
Contents
  • 106 cartes : bornes, attaques, parades et bottes

score sheets for this game →

Where to find it

Specialist French shops. Marquoir earns nothing from these links.

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