Mountjoy

A card game about racing your mates up Britain’s best-known hills. Pack the right kit, read the weather, pick your route. First to the top wins.

For 2–4 players or solo. About 20 to 40 minutes. Ages 10 and up.

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Each turn, pack or walk

It takes five minutes to learn, and every turn is a small decision about what to carry and when to push on.

Pack

Take two cards from the trail market or the deck. You’ll need the right mix of Path, Scree, Rock and Bog for the climb ahead.

Walk

Spend cards to finish the stage you’re on, then move up. Pay exactly with three or more cards and you keep your pace: a free card.

Weather

The day’s weather is dealt face up at the start. Wind makes exposed ridges cost more, rain soaks the bogs and clag hides the market.

Routes

Take the long way round, or gamble on a scramble like Crib Goch or Striding Edge before the wind picks up.

Kit

A rope, walking poles, a flask of tea: play a kit card for its trick or its number, never both.

Six real mountains

Start gentle and work up. Each mountain plays differently, with its own shortcuts, weather and stages that need two kinds of terrain.

  1. Pen y Fan

    SO 012 215Easy, 886 m, Bannau Brycheiniog

    A short, popular climb from Pont ar Daf. The best first walk.

  2. Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)

    SH 609 543Moderate, 1,085 m, Eryri

    The classic. Take the steady Pyg Track or gamble on the Crib Goch ridge.

  3. Kinder Scout

    SK 085 875Moderate, 636 m, Peak District

    Low but notorious: a plateau of peat bog where the top is hard to find.

  4. Helvellyn

    NY 342 151Hard, 950 m, Lake District

    Up from Glenridding by one of the famous edges. Often blowing a hoolie.

  5. Scafell Pike

    NY 215 072Hard, 978 m, Lake District

    England’s highest, from Wasdale Head. Long, rough and often in cloud.

  6. Ben Nevis

    NN 166 712Severe, 1,345 m, Lochaber

    Britain’s highest. Long, cold and wild, with snow possible in any month.

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We’re planning a Kickstarter in 2027. Leave your email and we’ll tell you when it goes live, with the odd playtest invite along the way. No spam, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

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