This is the board of an unidentified game. Since there isn't a title, rules, nor any indication about by whom or where it was made, all that follows is just (educated) guesswork. This said, it is obvious that this game draws heavily from the much-better-known British game Wheeling. If you can help with this one, please contact me.

The two-fold board is not too big. It measures 39 x 25 cm, and it is backed by an unmarked plain red paper. As you can see, the track is only 50 squares long (as opposed to the "original" 100-square-long Wheeling track), and the direction of the race is clockwise (while Wheeling's is anticlockwise). However, the similarities between both games are more than passing coincidences.

The race finishes at this building, which I cannot recognise, and I would not dare to guess whether it is an actual place, but it is the equivalent of Wheeling's Anchor's pub. On top we see what looks like a French flag. This, and the fact that I found the game in France, incline me to think that the game can be French.

However, the order of the colours is wrong: in the French flag, blue is the colour nearest to the flagpole. Furthermore, the central colour, though it looks white at first sight, is actually yellow on a closer look. The flag could well be Rumanian (or even Andorran or Moldovian, though in both cases we would need a coat of arms in the yellow stripe), but still the order of the colours would be wrong.

The lady cyclist on the upper left corner also reminds strongly of the ones depicted in Wheeling (though you might counterargue that all women cyclists of the time looked quite similar, as can be seen in other contemporary games). Nevertheless, the telling detail in this upper left corner is not the lady but the "150 klm" mark, which, by the way, is the only readable thing in this board (*). What is crucial is that the distance is indicated in kilometres, not in miles. The use of the metric system rules out any British (or American) origin of the game and thus reinforces my theory that the game is French.

 

(*) unless you can read this.

Though we only have the game's board, we can be sure that there were other elements in the game, possibly included in a separate box. The different elements to solve race incidents found on the track are very similar to the ones in Wheeling (or in Cycling for that matter: Wheeling was not the only game to use these). We can be quite sure that the game included cards as in the other games. Most probably it also included a die or teetotum, cyclists or at least counters, and of course the rules of the game.

The illustration of the starting line on the bottom left corner of the board also provides quite a lot of information, which, unfortunately, I am not too good at deciphering. I am sure that some among you are better prepared to interpret the bicycles, the dresses, the condecorations, or the pennant.

If I were to make a list of games with fallen cyclists, it would include about half the games on the site.

 

Finally, I admit I assume with no proof that this game is a Wheeling spin-off and not the only way round. Of course, you can never know, and since I still don't know who copied from whom in the case of games like Wheeling and Cycling, they might have copied from this one too. All I have is my instinct, and I find it hard to believe that this game could be a precursor of Wheeling.

As said above, if you can help with this game, please contact me.