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How to Make Board Game Pieces and Token Stands

Board games have been around for centuries and still remain a popular gaming niche market today. One reason board games have survived is that players have the ability to directly customize their own games. One such way to customize a board game is by making your own game pieces and standing tokens. There are a number of materials and ways to build game pieces. Shrinking plastics, such as Shrinky Dinks brand film, are very useful for creating game pieces, because the finished products look very professional and are durable.

Things You'll Need

Shrinking film
Scissors
Baking sheet
Cardboard
Binder clips

Instructions

- 1
  Create a digital image of your game piece. The images can be created by using a number of imaging programs that are free to download, such as GIMP, which has many similarities to Photoshop. NanDECK is another useful free tool for designing game pieces and cards. It uses script codes to design the layout of text and images of game pieces.
- 2
  Size the digital image so that the pieces will not become too small after the shrinking film has been heated. Typically, the pieces will shrink by 50 percent but this amount can change, depending on the brand of shrinking film you are using.
  
  If you would like to add a stand to the pieces, you'll need to leave enough material at the bottom of the game piece so the stand will not obscure the design. Measure the height of the stand and double it to get the proper height of material to preserve at the base of your game piece.
- 3
  Lighten the color saturation settings on your printer prior to printing your images. To do this, you may need to explore the menus for your specific type of printer until you find the options to adjust the color saturation and brightness settings. Lightening the colors in your game piece will prevent the colors from overdarkening during the shrinking process. You may also want to print a couple of test game pieces first to see if the colors are at the correct settings before you commit to doing an entire batch of game pieces.
- 4
  Insert one piece of shrinking film paper at a time into your inkjet printer based on the manufacturer's directions for your printer. Print the game pieces onto the shrinking film and let the sheets dry before handling them.
- 5
  Use the scissors to cut the game pieces to your desired size. Place them on a piece of brown corrugated cardboard and place the cardboard on the baking sheet. Closely follow the directions for baking included with the package of shrinking film. Allow the game pieces to cool before you proceed to Step 6.
- 6
  
  This binder clip lying on its side is forming the shape of an "A."
  
  Add the token stands. To do this, fold back the wire handles of the binder clip so that they rest against the sides and form the shape of an "A." Then hold the binder clip by the wire handles between your index finger and thumb. Squeeze the rounded end of the wire handles toward each other. As you do this, the mouth of the binder clip should open, allowing you to place the game token inside. Release the handles of the clip to allow the game piece to be secured inside the binder clip.
- 7
  Remove the wire handles of the clip. Choose one handle and raise it enough so that you may grip it near the rolled hinge on either side using your thumb and index finger. Compress the right and left wires that make up the handle toward each other until the handle slides out of the rolled hinge. Repeat this process for the handle on the opposite side. Stand the game token up along the base of the metal clip.

Board Games