Classic French game of which there have been many different editions, some of which as late as the 1950s (see Nos Cyclistes à Travers la France et la Belgique, Jeu des Touristes and  Tour de France Cycliste /Grand Rallye Touristique). This is one of the early editions, as you can see by the pre-WWI borders and by the German flag.

Notice that the inscription on the board does not say "Jeu des Cyclistes" but "Jeu des Touristes et du Vélodrome". There is also a pre-WWI version of the game called "Jeu des Touristes", and of course the older "Nos Cyclistes à travers la France et la Belgique et Jeu de Vélodrome", which has a quite different board. 

 

 

Actually, we have two games in one. In the early editions, both of them were cycling games; one of the games became a car rally over time. The early versions of the rules, which were printed on the game board, are quite simple. (Later versions are also simple, though longer, and were found on the back of the box lid). The rules of the first game are not those of a sports cycling race, but rather a bicycle travel through France, where riders stop to eat and drink local products.

 

 

The velodrome race is supposed to be more competitive.

Hand-painted lead riders. Not exactly sportsmen...

This version of the game was included in the April 1969 edition of Miroir du Cyclisme (nº 112, special "Tout le cyclisme de A à Z").

UPDATE 2025: While we knew a pre-WWI version of the game called Jeu des Touristes, we did not exactly know its contents, or whether the game had cars. However, my friend Didier has recently unearthed another version of the game. While the name on the box is just "Jeu du Tourisme" (and there is no illustration on the box top), the board inside is the 1910s version (the one that says "Jeu des Touristes et Jeux du Vélodrome"), and there are a couple of metal cars included with the game. There are no cyclists however; they might have been lost with the rest of the missing cars, or maybe they just were not included in this version of the game.

 

This is how the box of the pre-WWI version of the game looks like

Thanks, Didier, for sharing these pictures!

CULTURE IDEAS	TOTUM REVOLUTUM THUMBNAILS	NAMES ALPHABETICAL	CATEGORIES LISTS	WHAT'S NEW BLOG