Well, I was indeed able to talk the boys into a round of Mille Bornes. The three of them clocked over 4500 points (toward a goal of 5000) by game’s end. Me? 3500. Then we played Carcassonne. The three of them racked up respectable scores. Me? I had seven points on the board until game’s end, at which point my partials got me up to about 40 points.

See, you definitely want to play games with me; I’m quite good at making sure other people win, and I still enjoy the game for the experience itself so while I may show some disappointment I don’t bring the whole party down because of it.

Still, it’d be nice to win on occasion…

Don’t ask me what got into my head, but I’ve spent most of the afternoon so far in a minor frenzy of cleaning my room. I’ve rearranged, sorted, junked and tidied. I also found something I totally forgot I still had. (Granted, with my faculties, that just means it’s been a few months since I re-re-re-discovered it, but anyway.)

I found the old Mille Bornes game box that has been in my possession since Mom and I parted ways. Seriously. The box even has the old scoresheet that my sister and I recorded a few games on, way back when we were youngsters. Along with cribbage and Easy Money (a Monopoly knock-off that Sis loved and I feared, mainly because she won almost every game), Mille Bornes is one of those games that defined “play time” in our house.

Parker Bros. released the “French Card Game,” Mille Bornes, back in the 1950s. The premise is fairly straightforward: Each player starts with a hand of cards, including milestones, hazards, safeties and repairs. The goal is to reach 1000 miles, while preventing other players from doing the same. It’s playable by 2, 3, 4 or 6 people, in partnerships if they so choose.

I think I’ll see if the Sunday evening crowd is interested… hmmm…