Welcome
Mille Bornes Basics

Object

You win the game by becoming the first player to reach 5000 miles over a course of several hands. You score mileage by playing ‘mile marker’ cards. You win a hand by being the first player to reach 700 miles.

Mille Bornes in a nutshell

Each player is dealt seven cards with the remaining ones placed face down to form a draw pile.

The first player then plays cards to follow to rules of the road. If he has a ‘Roll’ card, he can play it, allowing him to play mileage cards in later turns. If he has a ‘Hazard’ card, he can play those to slow down his opponent’s progress. If he has a ‘safety’, he can play that to prevent future hazards. If he has nothing he wishes to play, he can right-click on the card to merely discard it. Play then continues to the next player.

When a player reaches exactly 700 miles, the hand is over. If the ‘winner’ of the 700 mile race feels brave, he can opt for an extension to take the hand to 1000 miles.

Quickie Games

A quickie game is one where only a single hand is played. The winner is the first to reach 700 miles.

Points Games

Standard Mille Bornes games use points. Points are scored at the end of each hand, based on mileage and playing skill. The first player to win 5000 points over successive hands wins the game.


Game Play

Starting a Game

A new game is started whenever the player selects ‘New Game’ from the menu, or clicks on the screen when all the cards are face-down. As soon as play starts, the computer deals each player seven cards, and the player begins his turn.

Taking a Turn

Each turn begins with the player filling his hand up to seven cards. The computer does this automatically for him.

To play a card, the player merely needs to click on one of the cards in his hand. If it is a legal play, the card is played onto the appropriate area of the screen.

The player may also choose to discard a card. He does that by right-clicking a card in his hand.

Roll

Before any distance cards can be played, the player must play down a ‘Roll’ card. This card must also be played after any hazard card has been remedied. Roll Cards are obviously very important to keep in the hand.

The exception to this rule is the Right of Way card. This is a safety that overrides the use of the Roll card. With it, the player is always assumed to have the green light, so long as his car is otherwise working.

Distance Cards

These are cards with the milestones on them. Each one represents a distance of 25, 50, 75, 100, or 200 miles. When they are played to the table, they are added to the player’s distance total. The total distance ‘moved’ by a player during the hand is displayed to the left of his hand pile.

The 200 mile cards have a couple of penalties. First, only two can be played by each player per hand. Second, playing a 200 mile card eliminates the ‘safe trip’ bonus in scoring.

Hazard Cards

There are four types of hazard cards.  The player plays these against his opponent on his ‘battle’ pile. When a hazard is displayed, the player cannot play distance cards until he either remedies that hazard, or plays the appropriate safety. The hazards are Accident, Flat Tire, Out of Gas, and Stop.

The ‘Speed Limit’ card is a special hazard that plays on the ‘Speed’ pile of the opponent. It doesn’t actually stop the opponent from moving, but it does prohibit the use of any distance cards greater than 50 miles.

Remedy Cards

These cards cancel the effect of a hazard card played on the player’s battle pile. There are five different remedy cards. The Gasoline card fixes the Out of Gas hazard. Repairs fixes Accident. Spare Tire fixes Flat Tire. Roll fixes Stop. And End of Limit fixes Speed Limit.

Safeties

A safety is a more powerful remedy card. It is played into the ‘safeties’ area of each player’s side, on the right hand of the game board. When played normally, a safety will not only cancel the effects of a hazard, but also prevent that hazard from being played again for the rest of the hand. A safety can be played even if the hazard it cancels has not yet been played.

When a safety has been played, the player automatically receives another turn.

There are four safeties. Extra Tank stops Out of Gas. Puncture-Proof stops Flat Tire. Driving Ace stops Accident. Right of Way, the most powerful card in the game, stops both Stop and Speed Limit hazards.

Coup Fourre

If an opponent plays a hazard card, and the player has the corresponding safety card in hand, he can play the safety immediately and score a ‘coup fourre’. This move provides a bonus in points at the end of the hand, and is marked with a special symbol next to the played safety.

Ending a Hand

A hand is over in one of a few ways. The first is when one player reaches 700 miles and chooses to not take an extension. That player then wins the hand.

The second is when a player reaches 1000 miles once an extension has been played. The player reaching 1000 miles wins the hand.

The final way is when both players are out of cards, and there are none remaining in the draw deck. The player with the highest total mileage wins the hand.

If the last bit of distance in a race is claimed when there are no draw cards remaining, it’s called a ‘delayed action’ and provides a bonus to the winning player.

Scoring

At the end of each hand, in a points game, the score for each player is tallied up and added to their total. The first player to reach 5000 points wins the game.

Each player receives points for the amount of distance that they covered in the hand.

Completing the trip adds 400 points.

Each safety played adds 100 points.

All four safeties played by the same player adds 300 points.

Each coup fourre adds 300 points.

Winning an extension adds 400 points.

A delayed action trip adds 300 points.

A safe trip, where no 200 distance cards were played, adds 300 points.

A shut out, where the opponent covered no distance, adds 500 points.


Game Options

File Menu

New Game: This starts up a new game with the current settings. Anything about the current game will be lost.

Quit Game: This exits Mille Bornes, but why would anyone want to do that?

Options Menu

Sound: This turns on the sound effects for the game.

No Sound: This turns off the sound effects.

Play Hand: This sets up and starts a ‘quickie’ game. The winner of this game is the first player to reach 700 miles in one hand.

Play Points: This sets up and starts a ’points’ game. The winner of this game is the first player to reach 5000 points.

Help Menu

About: This calls up basic information about the program.

Card Scores: This calls up a display listing the point values of each card.

Manual: This calls up this help file.


Acknowledgements

Dear Mille Bornes Player,

This game wouldn’t have been possible, of course, without the original card game by Parker Brothers, Inc. I was exposed to this classic game as a child, and it’s remained a personal favorite for many years. Kudos to Winning Moves, Inc, for continuing the production of this fine game.

I would like to thank my wife, Shayna, and my daughters Mina and Jennifer, for giving me the time to get this pet-project done. I would also like to thank Steve Lane for reminding me of what I had forgotten about Windows programming.

This game goes out to Stacey Fletcher, a wonderful and dear friend. I hope she enjoys this as much as I have.

Sincerely,

Neale Davidson