By J.C.
Published
26 minutes ago
Dujardin Games
The Mille Bornes was created in 1954 by Edmond Dujardin, a resident of Arcachon. 70 years later, the history of this famous board game is still partly written in Gironde.
Le Figaro Bordeaux
It’s a board game that has traveled many miles from its native Gironde. In 1954, after two first attempts (Autoroute and Stock-Cars), Edmond Dujardin, printer and publisher, invented his third family board game, Mille Bornes, whose success continued. In 2023, more than 275,000 copies of this game have been sold in France. A great success for a game first produced by hand in the basement of a house in Arcachon, with all the cards painted by hand.
Originally from Tourcoing but based in Arcachon since 1947, Edmond Dujardin called on the graphic designer Joseph Le Callennec to create the illustrations for Milles bornes. A collaboration crowned with success since the game became a success in France in the 1960s. Over the years, the appearance of the cards has been harmonized but the spirit of the first version remains, still notably with the snail, the duck , the butterfly, the rabbit and the swallow around the different kilometric value cards.
A “prestige” version for the 70th anniversary of the game
According to the games publisher Dujardin, based in Cestas (Gironde), sales of Mille Bornes in its classic version have reached ten million copies and the game is now distributed in eleven countries. In 2024, ten different versions of the game are sold. 70 years after its creation, Mille Bornes still seems to hold up since 78% of 5-14 year olds know this game, according to a study by Junior City. But not everyone perhaps knows that the 1000 terminals of its name refer to the length of the old national road 7, which was until 2005 the longest national road in France, with nearly 1000 kilometers connecting Paris in Menton (Alpes-Maritimes).
Bought several times, the Mille Bornes has never strayed too far from its native Gironde. Edmond Dujardin died in 1964, barely ten years after creating what made the Dujardin company successful. After him, his family took over the reins and the company remained based in Arcachon until 1972, before moving to the neighboring town of La Teste-de-Buch. The publisher Dujardin was then bought by Regain-Galore then by TF1 Games in 2007, whose French headquarters is in Cestas (Gironde). To celebrate your 70the anniversary, the Mille Bornes is published in a “prestige” version, using the original illustrations, all in a metal box… in the shape of a terminal.
Dujardin Games
#French
