A few years ago I received an email from a young Danish game designer who told me he had an idea for a game mechanic that fitted perfectly to a cycling race. He told me he had read my texts and that he was convinced he was on the right track. He sent me a sketch of his ideas, asked me my opinion about them, and asked me not to disclose them. I did not even mention them in the unpublished games section.

At the time he already had the game's name, which I thought (and I still think) is a great name. It is hard to find a cycling-related name for a game that sounds good and has not been used yet. (Check the  alphabetical list of names and see if you can find a good one still available).

When I read the rules I, told him that they might turn into a good game. How could it be otherwise coming from someone that had studied my cycling game theory and my texts? ;-) What I did not tell him is that I have received sketches of rules before, some of them also promising, some even by authors that have already published other games, and that, unfortunately, it is very hard to see cycling games commercially released.

So, I just waited for news but I did not hope much. At most I could expect a self-published release or a Kickstarter attempt. Even when, a couple of years later, Asger wrote again to tell me that the game was going to be released, I thought it was going to be a modest edition, and I was not so surprised to learn that the release was delayed.

Finally the whole thing sped up. When I saw the first sketches of the graphic design, and I could read the definitive edition of the rules, I realized that this was much better than I had thought. When I finally received the boxed game, saw the components, and played the game properly, I was amazed. Flamme Rouge may easily be the (cycling) game of the year. Did I say "of the year"? Maybe I meant "of the decade"!

 

UPDATE 2018: Since day one there has been considerable fuss about this game, and some unofficial and semi-official variations have been posted on different websites, especially on Boardgamegeek. Some of these variants have been included in the Flamme Rouge: Peloton expansion, released in 2017. Scroll down to read about this and other expansions.

 

UPDATE 2025: From very early on the game was supposed to have rules for stage races. I remember Asger himself giving me an early version of these rules, complete with a scoreboard, at Essen in 2016, when the game was first introduced. It goes without saying, nobody can say that Lautapelit's decision to release first a trimmed-down version of the game was anything else than a wise commercial move. The game was a formidable success and two expansions were released in the following years, the essential Peloton in 2017 and the somewhat disappointing Meteo in 2018 (not to mention a number of official and semi-official promo cards and tiles released by Lautapelit themselves or by the dozen or so companies that released the game in different countries, and all the unofficial variants that have appeared on BGG over the years). However, Grand Tour took a little longer, for different reasons (among them a pandemic). It was finally announced in 2022, but when a simplified children's version of the game called Flamme Rouge BMX appeared in 2023 (and a not-so-different car racing game by Asger appeared from another company) I started to doubt whether we would ever see it. Finally, the expansion has been unleashed in 2024, and I can finally say the game is now complete. Maybe a little late, but all's well that ends well.

PS: I should rewrite this game's review to put everything in order. I will, hopefully soon. Meanwhile, scroll down to see the Grand Tour expansion.

 

Flamme Rouge is supposed to represent a one-day race. However, since there is a small pack of just eight riders, the game is played in around 30-45 minutes, and the name of the game is that of the red flag displayed with one kilometre remaining from the finish line of a race, I prefer to think that the game represents the last, say, 20 or 30 kilometres of a classic race. If you consider it so, the game turns out to be quite realistic!
 

 

The game does not have a "board" but instead has 21 double-sided track segments marked by letters (small case on one side, capital letters on the other), which can be assembled in different ways to make your own stages. In the box are six possible configurations, but I expect many more to be created by fans. (Here is mine for a hilly stage:  amcSqtRNBDHoIeGlkfju - the first I is a capital "i", the second is a lowercase "L").

The mechanics of the game are easy to learn. Each player manages a team of two riders, called Sprinteur and Rouleur, with different capabilities. Each rider has his own deck of cards (it can be considered a deck-building game) from which they choose one. When all the players have chosen one card for each cyclist, they reveal it simultaneously and move the riders accordingly. The simultaneous play solves (well, almost) the problem known as "analysis paralysis" (players taking too long to move their riders) and makes the game very dynamic.

The Rouleur and Sprinteur decks are different, though each player's decks are equivalent. Sprinteurs are quicker and Rouleurs are stronger, as can be expected: Sprinteurs will win in mostly flat stages, while rouleurs have better chances in mountain stages. Players will manoeuvre to have the worst rider work for the best in every situation. The drawback of each player having two different decks is that you have to reshuffle two ever-diminishing decks of discarded cards.

 

The strongest point of the game mechanics, IMHO, is the slipstreaming rule (combined with the exhaustion rule), which makes the pack stay together as a single group in most cases, at least while the road is flat and the riders are protected from the wind. Breaking away from such a pack is hard, though not impossible. A simple but effective rule for the climbs and descents causes the group to split when the road goes uphill and generally regroup on the descents. All in all, a very realistic "cycling feel" with a very simple set of rules. Clever!

It is worth mentioning the winner rule, which combines first-past-the-post and further-past-the-post rules in an unusual way. (Check the theory here in case you do not know what I am talking about, or just forget this last sentence). There are only five squares (a tile) past the finishing line. In the case (which does not happen often, but which MAY happen) of the riders having to move further than that, they just occupy those five squares, the winner being the one further away on the right side of the road. This rule, which does not make much sense in a normal game, is essential if you want to play the Grand Tour variant (more on variants below).

 

 

By the way, the flat stage (called "Avenue Corso Paseo") will probably be used the first time you play, as the climb and descent rules are easy to learn and good for the game, though of course you can add a flat stage to a stage race. The possibility of playing stage races is given as a print-and-play download (that is why I class this game in the one-day races section), but in fact you just download a table to keep track of the times and a rule that just says how the time is counted.

Other downloadable variants are the rules to move the teams if you are less than four players. You can use "hard" rules to make the robot teams stronger. And of course you can play solo against three robot teams. (UPDATE: some of these were added to the Peloton expansion, see below).

 

I did not mention that the game is supposed to represent a race from 1932. Look at the realistic vintage-looking riders. Some players have complained that the two riders are too similar. It is true that it is better if you paint the cap of one of them. I personally complain that Sprinteur is the rider that looks like a climber, while Rouleur is the one that looks as a sprinter.

Rouleur, on the left, leading for Sprinteur

Another strong point of the game is the fantastic work of illustrator Ossi Hiekkala in giving this game its 1932 feel. If you are interested, he explains his work with this game in his blog.

There are two different editions of the game, the "international edition" with rules in English, French, German and Spanish (as I said above, translated by yours truly) and the "Nordic countries edition", with rules in Suomi, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. However, the contents of the box are the same except for the rulebook, which can be downloaded anyway.

Since I have both boxes, I will investigate the possibility of making longer stages, using not only the road segments from both games, but also only using twice as many cards for each rider. This is an idea I have been having lately: that it is a good idea to have two copies of the games that have modular roads. You never know when you are going to want to play a really long stage.

UPDATE ca. 2017: There is also an English-only "international" edition, and I am not really sure if the game has been or will be released in other languages. The Peloton expansion includes the rules in nine languages, adding Italian and Portuguese but not including Spanish. I did not have to translate that one, but I am not sure why Spanish is not included. (Note: Of course, this remark is outdated. There have been a dozen or so international editions since. I should rewrite the description of the game).

 

Nordic  countries edition

By the way, I know I am being quite enthusiastic about this game, and this is not common in me. Well, these things happen. In case you wonder, I am NOT involved in any way with the games' makers (though I translated the rules into Spanish). I did NOT know the game designer before, and in fact I can barely say I know him: I just met him at Essen 2016, and we did not have much time to talk since he was very busy demoing the game. Maybe next time ;-)

 

 

 

FLAMME ROUGE: PELOTON
Asger Sams Granerud / Lautapelit, Danmark / Finland, 2017

 

 

 

 

As I said above, there has been considerable fuss about Flamme Rouge, and some unofficial and semi-official variations have been posted on different websites, especially on Boardgamegeek.  Some of these variants have been included in the Flamme Rouge: Peloton expansion, released in 2017.

Some of these novelties are extra stages, cobblestones, two extra teams and a breakaway variant.

The new stage cards do not have imaginative names like they used to have in the base game, but they suggest instead the possibility of playing a multi-stage race, though the semi-official rules for a Grand Tour have not been included in this expansion. On the other hand (on the other side, should I say), the new stage cards are reversible, offering configurations for 5-6 players on the opposite side.

I like the idea of the breakaway variant, since I said from the beginning that this game represents the last 20 kilometres (or so) of the race, and we all know that, more often than not, in a cycling race there is an early breakaway that has not yet been caught with 20 kms to go.
 

 

 

However, my favourite novelty in this expansion is the rules for dummy teams. There are two different kinds of dummy teams, each with its own special extra cards. They are called Muscle Team (card on the left in the picture above) and Peloton Team (card on the right). While there can only be one Peloton team in the game, there can be as many Muscle teams as needed. This means that the game can now be played as a solitaire (well, it could already be played as a solitaire, but now the extra teams are better and they behave differently).

I must add that this is, by far, my favourite cycling solitaire game.

 

 

Two riders of the new teams on cobblestones. Notice that the letters on the back of the riders are easier to distinguish now.

 

 

 

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FLAMME ROUGE: METEO
Asger Sams Granerud / Lautapelit, Danmark / Finland, 2018

 

 

 

 

This is not a boxed expansion like 2017's "Peloton" but rather a mini-expansion that comes wrapped in plastic. It adds some variation to the game by introducing weather phenomena such as different winds and stormy rain. Of course it is a must-have for dedicated players, but not such a big improvement for the game as was "Peloton". You can download the rules from Lautapelit's website and decide if you want this one too. At  €9.95, it does not hurt to have it.

 

 

A bunch of cyclists (not included; the white and pink ones belong to the Peloton expansion) suffering under heavy rain.

 

 

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PROMO CARDS
 

 

Some hard-to-find promo cards have been distributed at various gaming events. Most of them are just new stage configurations, which will be a nice collectable item (thanks a lot to the Lautapelit crew for sending them!), but you do not miss much if you do not have them. Most of them can be downloaded from Boardgamegeek, and eventually all of them will be. (You can also download a lot of unofficial stages there).

A much more interesting card is the Team Trial, which offers special rules for a team time trial stage. Now we need a rule to include this one in a Grand Tour, especially if you play solo. Hey Asger, how are dummy teams supposed to play the team time trial stages?

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Promotional cards offered by Gigamic in France before the start of the Tour de France 2018. According to the designer, Ryan Keane, "there are 12 cards, including 21 track designs on alternating card sides. The designs represent the last 70 km of the actual stages raced in the Tour 2018 using the Flamme Rouge terrain system".

Needless to say, these cards are better played with the Grand Tour rules, a semi-unofficial expansion by Asger Sams Granerud himself, which I hope will see the light someday as a proper official release.

 

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UPDATE OCTOBER 2020: As far as I know there were plans for a new official update this year but they have been posposed as a result of these pandemic situation. However, on the unofficial side there have been plenty of new stages posted on Boardgamegeek. Almost every "real" race has its own unofficial Flamme Rouge design, sometimes more than one for the same race. Even better, a BGG user has created an automatic track generator, in which you can select features like table size (very important!), number of ascents, descents and cobblestones, number of players, if breakaway riders and supply tiles should be used, and even " if design principles should be applied".

Here is a card of a hilly stage for 2-4 players, using the Peloton expansion, designed by yours truly.

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UPDATE DECEMBER 2022: The long-awaited "definitive" expansion, Flamme Rouge: Grand Tour, has been officially announced on Lautapelit's website. The game is scheduled for release in 2023, without further precision. I guess we will still have to wait a little. In the meantime, Flame Rouge's designer Asger Granerud has released another racing game, which kinda looks like Flamme-Rouge-with-cars (doesn't it?)

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PROMO CARDS: DICE TOWER 2019
 

UPDATE OCTOBER 2023: These promotional cards were available as a reward from the Dice Tower 2019 Kickstarter Campaign. It is a set of five double-sided cards, with one side for 2-4 players and the other for 5-6 players

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UPDATE OCTOBER 2025:  

In the meantime, as you may know, a BMX version of the game was released. Though that was in 2023, I did not pay much attention at the time since it was supposed to be a trimmed-down version of the original game intended for younger players. I should have known better. Anyway, since it is a different game, it has a different page on this site. You can see it here.

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As I said above, with the release of the Grand Tour expansion, Flamme Rouge is finally complete. Now you can play any race you can imagine, either with friends or by yourself. I strongly advise using the Peloton expansion along with this one so you can have additional teams in the race, and in at least one of the pictures above you will see that I also use the Meteo expansion. Why not?

Someday I will fully rewrite this review, featuring this game as one that includes all the expansions. As a first step, I have moved it to the stage races category.

 

 

 

Naturally, the first thing you need for a game to represent stage races is a time-keeping rule, in this case a so-called "timing tile" to be placed beside the last tile. This tile is two-sided, with one side for flat stages and the other for uphill finishes. The game also features a complete set of 21 stages, though it is advised to play shorter races, at least for starters. The rules recommend a 7-stage basic Tour.

By the way, there are also rules for time trials, both individual and team time trials, and even for rest days.

 

 

The second major addition featured in this expansion is the module "Specialist Riders". There are 12 specialist riders in the rules (though you can create your own with a little experience). Each Specialist comes with a Specialist Overview card and a number of Specialist Energy cards with which you customise his deck.

Six Specialists are possible replacements for Rouleur (Baroudeur, Flandrien, Grimpeur, DOmestique, Super Rouleur, and Puncheur) and six are replacements for Sprinteur (Descender, Polyvalent, Mountaineer, Squirrel, Super Sprinteur, and Flahute). Each of them has its special abilities, so in the end you can choose between 49 different combinations for your team (since of course you can still have Rouleur and/or Sprinteur in your team).

While these Specialists are designed to be used with this expansion, you may also use them with the base game or any other one-day race.

 

Besides the aforementioned "timing tile", we find new track tiles: a wide finish for 5-6 player races, two roundabouts in which some riders will be forced to take longer paths, and a tile with dangerous sharp corners that may cause crashes similar to wet weather from the Meteo expansion.

Dangerous indeed!

Back of the box

The complete official Flamme Rouge family

 

Last but not least, among the many ideas, variations, and suggestions that you can find on different websites (especially on Boardgamegeek), there are a couple which I would like to highlight. They are the rules for track cycling (I will discuss them when I rewrite this review) and the printable tuckboxes for the cards, without which it would be more difficult to put all the contents of the game and the expansions in a single base game box, as seen in the picture above. (You cannot see the riders, though they are somewhere in there, but there is one of the ruckboxes showing at the right upper angle).

Click here to see Flamme Rouge on Laitapelit's website

Description written in 2016. Despite the many updates (or because of them) it needs a full rewriting. Soon on your screens.