Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Making Rules and Gathering the Board Game Parts
Decide what kind of board game you want to make. Choose a subject or theme to base your game around. Create a set of rules of how the game will be played, what each player will do on his turn and how the game is won. Write down the rules or type them up and print them out.
Find a board game you or your family no longer plays. If you don't own one, buy a board game from a local thrift store. Choose a game that has a board that is the size you'd like to use for your own game. You then can house your game board, directions and game pieces in the same box.
Find playing pieces you can use for your game. Choose playing pieces from games you no longer play to use for your own game, such as plain red, yellow or green tokens. Alternatively, buy small wooden or plastic tokens from a craft or party store that you can use as playing pieces.
Creating the Game Board
Measure how long and wide the board of the game is. Cut a piece of white freezer paper that will fit the length and width of the board. Cut the piece of freezer paper so that it overlaps the game board by about 2 inches. If the game board is too large to be covered by one piece of freezer paper, cut two pieces of freezer paper of equal length and fit them over the game board.
Lay out the cut piece of freezer paper onto the game board with the glossy side down. Arrange the paper so that it completely covers the game board with approximately 2 inches of paper hanging over each edge. Fold the excess paper over the board and tape it down on the backside using several pieces of packing tape. Smooth the paper out onto top of the game board to make it fit snugly while at the same time being loose enough that the paper won't tear when you fold the board. Tape the freezer paper to the backside of the board on the three other sides of the board.
Outline your playing path on the game board top. Use a pencil to draw out the playing path of on your game as well as any spots or "rooms" that may be on the board. Use an eraser to erase any drawing mistakes. Use a ruler to help you measure a game path and trace around square or circular objects to create various objects on the board.
Color in your game board. Use colored pencils to color in the playing path, starts and finish and any other spaces or "rooms" that are on your game board. Use various colors or color schemes to make the board bright and attractive to the eye. Markers or crayons can be used instead of colored pencils although they tend to be messier to use than colored pencils.
Creating Playing Cards
Use small note cards as playing cards in the game. Depending on the rules, players of your game may have to pick cards that command them to do something, such as "Move back two spaces" or "Lose a turn." Decide how many playing cards you want in the game and then buy that same amount of 3-inch by 5-inch note cards.
Lay the note cards face down onto sheets of old newspaper in a garage or on the lawn outside. Choose a color of spray paint that you want the cards to be and lightly spray the backside of each note card with the spray paint until each card is completely colored. Allow the paint to dry. Alternatively, you can choose to color the backside of each note card using a marker or colored pencil though that method will be more time-consuming than spray painting the note cards.
Open your computer's word processing software to a new document. Choose a font and font color you'd like to use for your playing cards. In 10 or 12-point font, write out commands for your playing cards such as "Roll the dice and play a turn." Keep your commands left-justified and don't let your typed commands go past the 3-inch mark at the top of the document otherwise the command won't fit on your note card when printed.
Print off your typed commands. Cut out each command and glue the each command to a note card using a glue stick. Glue the command to the opposite side of the note card that you previously spray painted.