Games of Chance

In this category you will find various games of chance. Let’s mention the French Jeux de Courses, used as gambling in bars and cafes but as board games within the family. We will also have the lotteries with their display of prizes, lotto games and roulette games.

Jeux de course

The JEU DE COURSES is a French mechanical game contained in a wooden framed box, in which tin lithographed horses race around a course when a lever is drawn and released at the side. Each horse is a different color, and the players choose their horse; the horse that ends at the But (goal) is the winner. The popular French parlor game usually featured a horse race but we also have exceptionally plane, car ou cycle races.

The JEU DE BAGUE, the ring game, is very similar except that the goal is to pick a ring with a lance held by the rider.

Originally, these games were commonly used in bars and cafes as gambling. The bet was then placed in a cup in the center of the track. These bar games could have much more track, sometimes more than 10. But they are no longer toys and have no place in the Christmas catalogues. We find in the Christmas catalogues toys versions with cups, but never with more than 6 tracks.