A vry old French game, of which several versions exist. The most common is a two-fold monochrome board (see below), but the nicest is this small (17 x 15 x 3 cm) box with a four-folded polychrome board.

Both versions share a nice colourful paper label with an illustration signed "Ludovic". There is little doubt that the "M-D, Paris" mentioned on the label is Mauclair-Dacier, Fabrique Speciale de Jeux, situated in Paris, headquarters in 5 Rue des Haudriettes, factory in 148 Avenue Daumesnil (thanks, Siegfried, for drawing my attention to this point). Furthermore, as stated on the label, the game was printed by Roche Frères and illustrated by Ludovic, as was not uncommon in Mauclair-Daciers's production.

This game is dated as "vers 1890" on the French Musée National de l'Éducation website. It has been dated more conservatively elsewhere (as belonging to the first decade of the XXth century), but who am I to oppose the French government's datation? Furthermore, this game is not included in the 1901-02 Mauclair-Dacier catalogue published on Alain Rabusier's blog. Whether this may be because the game had not been made yet or because it was already out of production is open to debate. On the other hand, if, as Rabusier says, the MD brand disappeared in 1904, there is little room for this game -and of its variations- being made after the catalogue was published. Nevertheless, the datation of the catalogue itself is uncertain: Rabusier also mentions 1898.

 

 

The fourfolded board measures 32 x 28 cm.

 

 

 

There are a number of variations of the box and its contents too. The one shown here is from François Cardinet's collection, and it has the fourfolded board, the rules, a bag of glass counters, six wooden game counters, and a small die.

Close-up of the counters and die on the board

The rules inside the box mention a teetotum and six small cyclists to be used as counters ("pions") and a different set of counters ("jetons"), to be used as game money. Both the rules and the use of the word "bicyclists" have a distinctive (though not conclusive) XIXth-century flavour. Unfortunately this -probably somewhat later than the rules- version of the game does not have the cyclists or the teetotum.

 

         The illustrations on the board are not signed, but they are by the same hand as the one on the game label. I assume them to be by "Ludovic" too.

On square one, as stated in the rules, the players have to buy a bicycle by paying three counters to the pot.
However, on the board you can read "LOCATION DE B[icyclettes?]" ("bike rental"), which makes more sense.

 

The most common version of the game is the two-fold monochrome board backed with coloured paper of different shades (at least green, blue, and red), with a polychrome pasted label, as pictured above. This version of the game measures 34 x 30 cm. It is thus marginally bigger than the polychrome board. As was usual at the time, it probably came with the implements and rules in a separate small box. However, this box has been (along with the rules) over the years. Unfortunately, this seems to be the most common scenario. It is the case with this copy of the game and with a few other copies I know. The rules, especially, are so hard to find that for many years this game used to be in the "missing rules" section of this website.

Strangely enough, the disposition of the squares is different on the monochrome board: While on the polychrome board the squares 22 to 42 were on the upper-right part of the board, here they are on the bottom-left. My guess, and it is just a guess, is that this version is later since I find it easier to believe that Mauclair-Dacier were compelled to change the board to print it in two panels than the other way round. I mean, if this was the original disposition of the board, there would not have been any need to change it for a fourfold version, would it?

Both versions of the game side by side.

The polychrome label shared by both versions of the game.

Close-up of the printer's name.

There is also a smaller (26 x 26 cm) version of the game. This smaller board has a "Jeu des Ascensionistes" on the opposite side and most probably belonged to a combination box with other games.

See both monochrome boards compared.

 

There is an oddity on the polychrome board. A sticker has been added to the board to correct a possible mistake on square 39. This mistake is not there on the black-and-white board.

 

 

Here is another board with the same sticker. This one belongs to Didier Maria's collection. As you can see, both the board and the box are very similar to the one shown above. For all I know, they may belong to the same edition of the game.

 

However, it is not the only edition with a polychrome board. Check this board, also from Didier's collection. Besides the fact that, as you can see, some previous owner tried to complete the polychromy (fortunately, he spared the squares with drawings), what is remarkable about this one is that square 39 does not need a sticker. I cannot offer a guess about this square 39 variation. Any hypothesis will be welcome.

 

Didier also has this small (7 x 5 cm) box, which probably originally contained the cyclists and the die, or maybe a teetotum, as mentioned in the rules. Sadly, this is not the case anymore. The box is empty.

 

 

Finally, here is a picture (found on the net, sorry about the poor quality) of a boxed version with a hybrid (fourfold, monochrome) board and a small box containing metal riders. The small box seems to fit inside the bigger one, and that is probably the reason why not all the riders have been lost. Unfortunately, we do not see the disposition of the board in this picture. We do not see square 39 either.