Restoration of a very old board game from France “Billiard Nicolas”. This antique board game is from the 1925s.
Game instructions:
In this large traditional wooden game, you can play with 2, 3, or 4 players. Your objective is to score goals without conceding any. You propel the ball using your bulb (press on it to expel air). Each time you concede a goal, you gain a point. If you reach 3 or 5 points, you're considered eliminated. The game continues, and you remain in the game but become neutral. As soon as 3 players have conceded 3 goals, the 4th player wins. This huge ancient game is very friendly. We have a lot of fun.
Inventor:
Billard Nicolas is a board game of skill in the billards family, invented by Nicolas Redler in France in 1894.
What have I done:
I bought this old board game on eBay for 200 €. The board game was very worn out. It had been lying in a garage for a long time, where there was a lot of moisture. As a result, the wood was severely damaged. First, I removed the upper black ring from the base plate. Since the veneer on the base plate was chipped, I had to tear off the entire veneer. Underneath the veneer was a 3 mm thick wooden board. I also tore this off. Then I bought a new veneer on eBay. This was an oak veneer. I glued this veneer onto the base plate and put it into a vacuum bag. This allowed me to achieve the same pressure everywhere on the base plate. On the back of the base plate, the original veneer was still present. It was a bit old, but I didn't want to remove it so that you could still see a little charm from the antique board game, showing its age. I just lightly sanded and cleaned this veneer. The legs of the base plate were also completely damaged. I had to replace them with new ones. For this, I took a piece of wood and cut out circles. I sanded these at a 45° angle and glued them onto the plate. When the base plate was finished, I moved on to the black ring. The black ring had the score counters and the holders for the air pump. I had to disassemble all of these first. Then I lightly sanded the black ring, primed it with gray paint, and then painted it black. When the ring was dry, I put it on the base plate and fastened it with six screws. Of course, I used original screws. I cleaned the screws slightly with a steel brush and then polished them. The score counters were very worn out. So I cleaned all the white and red balls from dirt, lightly sanded them, and painted them. I blasted the metal brackets of the score counters with a sandblaster, sanded them afterward, and then nickel-plated them. Then the score counters were mounted back onto the black ring. I also sandblasted the holders for the air pump, connected them afterward, and then nickel-plated them. Finally, all I had to do was pump the air, clean it a little, and lightly sand the metal tips. Then the air pumps were mounted onto the game's holders. The result looks great. You can play the game properly again. When you turn the game around, you can see the old charm of the game. After all, the game is from 1925. How do you like the restoration of the game?