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When I say France, what immediately comes to mind? Is it the food, the wine, the fashion, the history, the weather? France is famous for so much more than wine and cheese, and its rich and colourful history makes the perfect setting for board games. I have assembled here a list of all different France-themed games with my merry band of bloggers. Hopefully we have managed to get a good cross section of games that will appeal to everyone, please let us know your favourite in the comments section.
As a kid I spent much of my holidays in the central regions of France. Whilst my parents drank copious amounts of red wine and croissants, I got excited about going to McDonalds with their cool happy meal toys, riding bikes, swimming in lakes and choosing all my new stationery from the hypermarché. Not your typical experience probably, but I look back on it fondly and I honestly think that at that time, the only thing that might have improved it would have been more board games…
The Bloody Inn - Hannah Blacknell
Halloween is now past us, but one of my favourite macabre-themed games still managed to make the list. The Bloody Inn by Pearl Games is probably in my opinion the best artwork in a game. It is unlike any other game I have played, and for me that gives it HUGE table appeal.
The game itself is a mind bending management of cards. But where this really shines is in the theme. In this game you are running an inn in olde worlde France. You’re a pretty shady character and like Thenardier in Les Mis, you are stealing from everyone who enters your pub. In fact, not only that but you have also realized that it pays better to let them rent a room and then kill them off and steal all their belongings. During the game you will bribing policemen and grave diggers, building annexes to keep all the bodies in and generally just trying to launder as much money as possible. It sounds like an awful theme for a game, however this is backed up by such a brilliantly designed game. It is smooth like butter and a joy to play. I love the theme and how it all comes across in the gameplay too.
This is a relatively small footprint game and can easily be played on set in an actual pub provided the table is clean enough to not damage that beautiful deck of cards. If you want something a touch different then you need to get this one tried out.
Paris City Of Lights - Hannah Blacknell
If you like tetris style polyominal games and small footprint games, then I honestly think that there is no better example than Paris City of Lights by Devir. This is a game played in two halves. During the first you select your pieces and then during the second half you are placing those games to try and maximise the points you gain. The whole placement revolves around the lights, your buildings want to be lit up to score best.
There are a number of ways you can be particularly nasty to your opponent. This may be set in the city of love, but there have been a fair few sighs of rage when myself and my husband have played this one. The trouble is that the second phase of the game is played inside the box, and this is a small square box and not all the tetris pieces will fit in even when you do not take into account the spatial horror your opponent may deliberately inflict upon you. Any tiles that you are unable to place will hurt you in the end, so it is best to place everything.That is easiest with the smaller tiles, but the bigger tiles score so much better. So it is a balancing act between getting the best score and not running the risk of being unable to place your tiles. There will also be special tiles in play that will help you increase your score significantly, but playing these will mean you are not playing one of your own tiles. Running that risk again of being unable to finish.
This game takes Patchwork and dials it up to 11 in terms of the agonizing decision making. Theme wise, this is the epitome of France, the theming is very Parisien with Moulin Rouge style art pieces strewn throughout the game denoting the actions.
Dinner In Paris - Favouritefoe
The smell of baked croissants and the taste of frites takes my mind directly to Paris which is a place I have visited many times. Indeed, in another life, I may have been a Parisian (had it not been for a father who spent his youth impressing girls than working on his career prospects!). I digress, however. Another way I am mentally transported to the home of the Eiffel Tower is by playing Dinner in Paris.
Dinner in Paris is a wonderful puzzle of a game. In it, you want to be the most successful restaurateur by opening a range of eateries to please your patrons. To gain a cool 3D restaurant, you must have the required ingredients which you can draft and spend on your turn. There are public and private spatial goals which provide further point scoring possibilities.
These involve building terraces in front of your restaurants. They are bought using the income generated from your growing empire. Specific spaces on the board also provide one time bonuses but you must be aware of your opposition. Space for the latest pop-up patisserie is limited and adjacency rules can prevent you from opening in the perfect spot!
We love Dinner in Paris. There’s a feast of mechanics stirred into the mix and the components are neat. Seeing restaurants pop up is cool.
Carcassonne - Arnaldo Amaral
Few games have survived the test of time like Carcassonne. An absolute staple in anyone’s collection and a gateway for thousands of new board game players around the world, Carcassonne is a tile-placement game for 2 to 5 players originally designed by Klaus Jurgen- Wrede, who was inspired by a trip to the south of France where he studied the trail of the Albigensian Crusade (a religious war in the 13th century).
At its heart, Carcassonne is a tile-placement and area majority game. The gameplay revolves around laying tiles containing cities, roads, fields and monasteries to slowly develop a landscape inspired by the south of France. The game starts with a single specific terrain tile face up and 71 others shuffled face down for the players to draw from. While players build this mosaic, each turn they must choose carefully to either expand their own domains or disrupt their opponents’ plans. As the landscape grows, players must deploy their meeples strategically (knights, thieves, monks, and farmers) to claim territories, score points and ultimately dominate the land and win the game.
But Carcassonne’s triumph isn’t just its gameplay mechanics. It also creates an immersive experience that transcends the tabletop. The game thrives on the balance between individual ambition and collective expansion. Tensions rise as players fight for control over cities and the changing landscape demands adaptability, rewarding well thought out plays and strategies. Whether you just are just starting on the hobby or a seasoned player, Carcassonne will have something for you. It has inspired so many other designers to create their own games, helping modern board gaming become what it is today. It truly is a game that everyone should play at least once in their lifetime.
Verdict: With simple rules and fast gameplay, Carcassonne is the quintessential modern board game, great at any player count and highly entertaining!
Orléans - Tom Harrod
The setting in Orléans is medieval France – about 100km south of Paris – where knowledge is key. Can you assemble your workforce to trade, recruit, and travel the region? Orléans is a bag- building game. Think Quacks of Quedlinburg, but much less on the push-your-luck side of things. You’re still trying to build a bag full of chits, but they’re not ingredients! They’re the good people of Orléans, working hard to help the surrounding land prosper. You start with a few chits, and over the course of the game you decide which others to get, to build a stronger bag.
Like Quacks, though, this doesn’t guarantee you’ll draw them! On your turn you draw a certain number of worker chits from the bag. Then you place them onto your personal player board. Sent the correct quota of specific workers to an area? They recruit a new worker chit for you (to use later on in the game). Plus, that worker gains you an immediate Reward: The farmer helps bring in food. Tradesfolk bring asymmetrical extensions to your board (future deals that only you can benefit from!). Craftspeople help you achieve tasks easier, with less workforce required. Riverfolk bring in the francs. Knights bully more people to work each round (ahem, they let you draw more chits from the bag, which is a good thing!). Scholars, meanwhile, help improve your knowledge, which can prove a huge end-game scorer. Monks are wild. Not because wild as in crazy, but wild as in they can help in any task! Think of them as not leaving the luck of the bag-pull to fate.
As well as recruiting and improving, you can also explore the French countryside surrounding Orléans. You can travel, point-to-point, from town to town either along the roads, or along the Loire river. You’ll want to gobble up food along the way (cheese! Wine!), and also set up trading posts in these towns. Again, for points. This is a Euro-style game, after all! But to travel, you need to send specific workers to the Ship or Wagon sections of your Player Board, too.
Events occur at the start of each round, which have an impact on the current round. Designer Reiner Stockhausen struck gold with Orléans. So much so his spiritual sequel to it, Altiplano, is also a popular hit. Plus, there’s now numerous expansions and stand-alone games within the Orléans series, including Joan of Arc (a roll and write game).
Roundup
That brings us to a close with our France trip. I think that we can agree we did have a few Paris themed ones, but we have really gone all over the country here and all through history too. Are your favourites there?