Cycling Game

This is one of those games that feels like it has always existed.

Long before screens, apps and batteries, there were French summers, scraped knees, sandy hands and small rituals passed down without anyone ever writing them down. This cyclist marble game sits firmly in that tradition. If you grew up near a beach, a campsite, a park or a dusty patch of ground anywhere in France, chances are you’ve seen some version of this being played.

Five hand-painted cyclists, a single marble and a racing route drawn directly into the sand. The rules are learned in minutes, but the joy comes from the ceremony of it all, smoothing the track with your palm, flipping a coin for starting order, lining up at the start line like it’s the Champs-Élysées. You flick the marble, place your rider where it stops, and slowly inch your way toward glory. First rider over the finish line wins. Marble off the track? You miss a turn. Cycling, after all, has always been cruel.

Games like this are often described in France as jeux de plein air, outdoor games, and they sit in the same cultural space as pétanque or boules. Not competitive in a modern sense, but quietly serious. Played slowly. Talked over. Returned to year after year. The Tour de France didn’t just create heroes on television; it created a whole generation of kids re-enacting races on beaches and campsites with whatever they had to hand.

Each pack comes with five cyclists, all individually painted, each one full of character and charm. No two sets are exactly the same, and every pack includes one guaranteed British rider, just to keep things sporting. They’re as happy being raced as they are standing on a shelf or desk when playtime is over, little objects that carry stories even when they’re standing still.

A game, a ritual, a tiny peloton in your pocket.

Allez.