Flamme Rouge Review

2–4 Players

30–45 minutes

Card-driven racing game

8 Plays Prior to Review

Spoiler — it’s a ‘wheelie’ great game

I know…it’s bad! For the 1% of you that continued reading beyond the headline, I apologise. But don’t blame Flamme Rouge for my comedic shortcomings, this is a fantastic game, and if you read on I’ll tell you why….oh and I’ll keep the puns to a minimum — I promise!

Off to the races

Racing games are a genre that I’ve always been intrigued by, but hadn’t had a chance to play. I’d heard that racing games generally don’t work well at 2, and with a minimalist collection ( under 30 games) and a typical player count of 2 (or even 1) I didn’t feel comfortable giving up my precious shelf space for a game that wasn’t optimised for my play style.

Luckily, I was able to try it out at Flamme Rouge at a game night a few weeks ago, and I could quickly see why everyone was raving about this game. It was simple, easy to learn and quick to play — but with a satisfying dash of tactics and a delightfully exciting end game to determine the glorious winner.

In fact I enjoyed it so much, the following day I went out the bought my own copy of the game, with a plan to take it on a weekend visit to my in-laws.

Now I’ve burdened my family and friends with board games in the past, some have gone down well (7 Wonders, The Resistance) and some not so well (Greed, Deep Sea Adventure) so I was quite curious to see how they’d react to this rather different style of game. Although I figured my father-in-law’s love of cycling would at least get my foot in the door.

I sheepishly coaxed the board game box onto the kitchen table and gave them a quick ‘elevator-pitch’. I got some nods of approval and a commitment to try out the game after dinner.

A few beers and a delicious local, artisanal pizza later — it was time to set up.

On your marks — get set!

A track jigsaw tile — very satisfying to snap together!

The set up of Flamme Rouge is pretty easy, you pick a track card, and follow the instructions putting the track jigsaw pieces together. The game has a recommended starting map (pretty much just put the jigsaw pieces in alphabetical order) and for more challenging routes, you flip track pieces over to reveal uphill and downhill stretches.

This little mini-game of putting the track pieces together feel pleasantly nostalgic, reminding you of chunky wooden train tracks you’d piece together as a kid. It’s also simple for new players to help out with, getting them engaged with the game from the very start.

Once this is done you hand each player their two cyclist figurines and the corresponding sets of movement cards, one for the Rouleur and one for the Sprinteur.

These two decks of cards effectively control how your cyclist figurines will move across the track.

The Rouleur is more steady in their pace, while the Sprinteur can go very fast or slow. Effectively the Sprinteur has more lower value and higher value cards — a wider range, while the Rouleur has a narrower range of movement cards. Learning how to use these two types of cyclists together is a key part of the tacticts needed to win the game.

Each round players blindly draw 4 cards from each cyclist deck (one at a time), selecting one movement card and returning the rest of the cards to your deck. Once players have picked their movement cards, they reveal them simultaneously with the other players — taking turns moving their cyclists forward on the track starting with the lead cyclist.

Any cards played will now be discarded from the game meaning you’re constantly reducing the number of available cards in your hand.

User your cyclists wisely!

While there are some additional rules around ‘slipstreaming’ (gaining a free movement point by staying 1 space behind an opponent), the fundamental play revolves around picking a value card and playing it to propel your cyclists forward.

But beware, blaze too far in front of the pack and you’ll have to pick up 2 movement value ‘exhaustion’ cards. These will clog up your decks and make it harder for you to pull out win. It again adds to the tactical quality of game, preventing players from automatically playing the highest cards they can get their hands on.

Take the Yellow Jersey

To win Flamme Rouge you need to get one of you two riders across the finish line. To clarify, your cyclist has to be furthest across the finish line after all players have finished their last turn.

This can lead to some nail-bitingly close finishes and adds a lot of drama and excitement for the end game.

Changing pace

Choose one of the many track configurations-more complex maps include up and downhill stretches.

Once you’ve played a round of two of the basic game, you’ll probably be ready to try some more challenging track set-ups which include uphill and downhill stretches. The uphills reduce all cards to a maximum of 5 movements, while the downhill increase all cards to a minimum of 5. Meaning that you could burn stronger cards to get up the hill and get rid of weaker cards on the downhill. Really adding a nice tactical layer to the game.

Why I love this game

So remember I was about to play Flamme Rouge with the in-laws? Well we ended up playing it 3 times that evening and twice more the next day! It was a fantastic hit, and probably one of the most successful board game ‘introductions’ I’ve made. I don’t think this is an accident, Flamme Rouge is a fantastically fun, lighter game that packs a tasty amount of challenge, and heres why I love it:

  • Easy to learn and teach — the sparsity of components and the logical flow of the game make it very easy to teach — even to non-gamers
  • Great components — nice track pieces, serviceable cyclist minis, fantastic artwork and good cards.
  • Very clear win condition — cross the finish line! I find that getting people to understand what they have to do to win in a game can be a big hurdle so when ever the game is set up around this, it just makes it that much easier.
  • Dynamic gameplay — you never quite know exactly who’s gonna win till the last turn or two, and people who were blazing ahead at the start can fall behind by the midpoint
  • It’s thematic — for a game that centres around numbered cards, you really do get a sense of the cycling theme. Almost feeling your chest start to heavy and your legs ache as you propel your cyclist up a hill. Only to feel imagine the cool breeze through your hair and your legs gingerly dangling to the side as you cruise the downhill.
  • Doesn’t outstay it’s welcome — 4 players can get a game done under an hour (even faster for 3 players)
  • Some good variability in the box — although from what I hear, this is enhanced by the expansions.

Overall this game has brought me and my family a huge amount of joy and entertainment, and it has become our ‘go-to’ family game to play with non-gaming relatives and friends. It’s certainly one I’ll be adding to my tiny collection (haven’t figured out what I’ll have to get rid of to keep it yet though!).

Anything else to note?

At first I was quite put off by the cycling theme. I’m not especially opposed to cycling, but nor am I a die-hard fan. That being said, it didn’t end up bothering me at all and the whimsical art and expressive faces of the cyclist illustrations added a nice dose of theme.

I would say that you have to keep in mind this is a lighter game. Although the variable tracks do offer some variability I can see more experienced gamers itching for a bit more variety — which is where the expansions come in and I can certainly see myself getting these to enhance the experience.

Apparently there’s also a campaign/tournament mode that works with an app which would likely enhance the experience for the more competitive amongst us.

Beyond that I don’t have much to add, smart, simple, fun game and one I’ll be cherishing for the long term!

Board Game Minimalist

Written by

A board game newbie — sharing views on my minimalist board game collection & my struggle to keep it that way!

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