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How to Make a Checkered Board

Checkers, or "draughts" as it's known in Europe, is one of the oldest board games. Remnants of a version of the game were found in what is now Iraq, which, though slightly different board than what a modern checker board looks like, was carbon dated to 3,000 B.C. You can easily make your own checkered board out of a square piece of cardboard and few other tools.

Things You'll Need

12-inch square piece of cardboard
Ruler
Pencil
Black marker
Red marker

Instructions

- 1
  Draw a line 1.5 inches from one edge of the cardboard with a pencil and ruler. Continue making lines across the cardboard that are 1.5 inches apart. You should have eight equally spaced rectangular sections across the board.
- 2
  Turn the cardboard ninety degrees and draw a line 1.5 inches from one edge of the cardboard with a pencil and ruler. Continue making lines across the cardboard that are 1.5 inches apart. Your cardboard will have a grid pattern on it, with 64 squares that are 1.5 inches on each side.
- 3
  Color the top left corner square in red permanent marker. Color the square beside it in black permanent marker. Continue alternating the colors in the squares of the top row of the checkerboard; the last square in the top row will be colored black.
- 4
  Color the other rows in alternating black and red as you did in Step 3. Make sure, however, that there are no black and red squares beside, over top of or underneath each other. See Resources for how the checkerboard should look.
- 5
  Leave the checkered board in a dry area for about 20 minutes to allow the marker to dry.

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