Mille Bornes

December 26, 2023:

It's quiet this morning after Christmas at our daughter' s home in Arizona. The coffee's strong. The heat is cycling on, the dog has been out and is crunching on her breakfast. Two red Christmas stockings lie on their sides, random boxes of Tic Tacs, lip gloss and Lindt chocolates spread across the coffee table, along with the spurned new toothbrushes.

We played a new game last night, divided into two teams of two as the sumptuous Prime Rib dinner moved through our digestive systems.

It's called Codenames - billed as "a fast paced party game that's sure to keep the whole group entertained, great for families, friends and total strangers alike." 

The six of us divided into two teams and it was interesting to see how everyone worked through the puzzles - both as clue givers and clue receivers. You see, part of the fun is giving clues that you think might strike a chord with your team - while at the same time baffling your rivals.

Addendum: January 10, 2024:

 I think that when we packed up the car to depart on Wednesday, we were likely even in our wins and losses though I'm sure the children, being rivals as well as siblings, would disagree.

Codenames wasn't the only game we played together. Many rounds of Monopoly - or Mono Poly as Rowan dubbed it, along with Apples To Apples, Yahtzee and one more try with one of our old family favorites - Mille Borne.

Mille Borne has been English-ized since Arthur and I played it back in the 1970s. Gone are the all the French words with the exception of "coup fourre" and of course, the game's title.

Our old cards underneath the smaller
modern ones

All Mille Borne players look to the coup fourre to win the game for it provides certain advantages as well as adding to your point total. Coup fourre translates from the French as as 'dirty trick' or 'foul play' when you take a cursory glance at Google. But it actually comes from the world of fencing where it is a counter-thrust where one parries his opponent's thrust and counter attacks in the same maneuver.

The children and their parents were not fans of the game when we introduced it to them a couple of Christmases ago and it's still true after giving it another go this year. As the kids would say, "Grandma, it's lame."

So that new version of the Mille Borne game came back with us and if you'd like to play it, I'm donating it to Goodwill and maybe it will still be there when you check.

And Arthur and I might just give our old card game another try one of these winter evenings!