Touring
1926 "Improved Edition"
by Parker Brothers Co.
ManufacturersParker Brothers
DesignersWallie Dorr Co
PublishersWinning Moves
Parker Brothers
Publication1906
Years active1906–1976
GenresTake That
LanguagesEnglish
Players2, 3, 4 and 6
SkillsMedium
Media typeCards

Touring is a specialty card game originally designed by William Janson Roche[1] and patented by the Wallie Dorr Company and produced in 1906. It was acquired by Parker Brothers in 1925.[1][2] It is widely believed the popular French card game Mille Bornes was derived from Touring. After several revisions, Touring was discontinued shortly after Parker Brothers picked up the American license of Mille Bornes.[1][2] However, the game of Touring was reissued by Winning Moves in 2014.

Updates to editions

The original Wallie Dorr edition was a small red box with 100 cards. They updated the game to a side-by-side wider box which Parker Bros used for their first edition of the game after they purchased it.

Periodically the Parker Bros. Co. adjusted the card art and subsequently, the images became more modern, and increased the mileage cards. Until the final edition, game play remained unchanged, just the denominations of miles increased as the trip length and comfort of automobile travel increased. The final edition reversed the trend, using artwork closer to the original Model-T-era cars and adjusting the card totals with an addition of two new delays.

Original rules

Two cards from the 1926 edition

The players run a race of 50 or 100 miles, as agreed before the game starts. A player cannot play the mileage cards (1, 3, 5, 10 Miles) unless they have a Go card in front of them. If both players are in City Limits (played by either), they can't play the 10 Mile card ("Speed Limit 5 Miles per Hour"); they can remove this card's effect by playing the Country! card (which affects both players). They lose 1 or 2 hours if an opponent plays a Collision ("Delay! 1 Hour"), Out of Gasoline ("Delay! 1 Hour"), or Puncture ("Delay! 2 Hours") card and must discard an "hour's" worth of cards for each hour (5 miles in the city, 10 miles in the country). To resume driving, they must also play a "Remedy" card (Hauled In for a collision and Gasoline for Out of Gasoline, nothing for Puncture) and a Go card. To win, the player must exactly match the total mileage (50 or 100 miles, as agreed).[3]

Play variant

In each copy of the directions were an option to play progressive touring, in which multiple tables of 4 would play simultaneously.

Cards of select editions

Winning tableau for card game "Touring", as well as its other cards and the box it came in. 1947–1957 edition
Edition
(Card count) 		Mileage   Delay Remedy Movement
Qty Type Qty Type Qty Type Qty Type
1906
(100) 		20 1 Mile 3 Collision 8 Hauled in 15 Go
10 3 Miles 2 Puncture
10 5 Miles 3 Out of gasoline 8 Gasoline
12 10 Miles 4 City limits[a][b] 5 Country[a][c]
1937
(99) 		19[d] 1 Mile 3 Collision 8 Hauled in 15 Go
10 3 Miles 2 Puncture
10 15 Miles[e] 3 Out of gasoline 8 Gasoline
12 30 Miles[f] 4 City limits 5 Country
1957
(99) 		19 5 Miles[g] 3 Collision 8 Hauled in 15 Go
10 15 Miles[h] 2 Puncture
10 25 Miles[e] 3 Out of gasoline 8 Gasoline
12 45 Miles[i] 4 City limits 5 Country
1965
(99) 		19 25 Miles[f] 3 Missed the Curve[j] 7[d] Wrecker[j] 13[k] Go
10 35 Miles[f] 2 Broken Spring[j]
10 50 Miles[l] 2 Brake Adjustment[m]
12 75 Miles[n] 2 Burning oil[m]
  3 Stop to Refuel[j] 7[d] Gasoline
3[d] Populated Area[j] 6[o] Freeway[j]
Notes
  1. ^ a b Also counted as a movement card.
  2. ^ Restricts playable mileage cards to the lower two denominations.
  3. ^ Lifts restriction on playable mileage cards.
  4. ^ a b c d Count reduced by 1 card compared to prior version
  5. ^ a b Distance increased by 10 miles compared to prior version
  6. ^ a b c Distance increased by 20 miles compared to prior version
  7. ^ Distance increased by 4 miles compared to prior version
  8. ^ Distance increased by 12 miles compared to prior version
  9. ^ Distance increased by 15 miles compared to prior version
  10. ^ a b c d e f Several cards were retitled (Old → New):
    • Collision → Missed the Curve
    • Out of Gas → Stopped to Refuel
    • Puncture → Broken Spring
    • Hauled In → Wrecker
    • City Limits → Populated Area
    • Country → Freeway
  11. ^ Count reduced by 2 cards compared to prior version
  12. ^ Distance increased by 25 miles compared to prior version
  13. ^ a b New delay
  14. ^ Distance increased by 30 miles compared to prior version
  15. ^ Count increased by 1 card compared to prior version

In popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Heli, Rick. "History of the "Take That!" Card Game". A Spotlight on Games. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  2. ^ a b Augustyn, Frederick J. (2004). Dictionary of Toys and Games in American Popular Culture. Haworth Reference Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-7890-1504-8. Mille Bornes: Brought to the United States by Parker Brothers in 1962, ... Parker Brothers had a popular antecedent to this game called Touring
  3. ^ "US Patent 836537 A". Google Patents. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
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