How to Design House Games

Draw the outline of a house on a piece of construction paper. Make the outline large, filling the paper with it. Draw a second outline that exactly follows the path of the first outline, but is about 2 inches above or below the first outline.

About every two inches, draw lines connecting the two outlines so that squares and other polygons form. These polygons are the stepping stones of the game path. Players must travel the path from its first stepping stone to the last to win the game.

Add designs to make the game board (the construction paper) look like a house. Inside the outline you drew, draw things you would see inside your own house, or inside a haunted house, mansion or castle. For example, draw beds for a bedroom, a staircase, doors, and ghosts for a haunted house.

Create or borrow the game tokens or pieces. Borrow a die from another board game. Gather a few pennies or nickels, one for each player. The penny will be a prize that each player collects when she answers a question at the game path's midpoint.

Borrow player tokens from another game. Each player gets a token that represents himself. He will move the token step by step along the game path.

Create the trivia questions for the game. Get a stack of 3-by-5 inch index cards. Write five trivia questions related to homes and houses on one side, and the answers to the question on the other side.

Begin game play. Choose which player will roll the die first. Whoever gets to roll will move their player token toward the game's midpoint, which is the highest polygon at the roof of the house-the Roof Square. This player moves her token by the number of steps shown on the die.

Another player will ask the active player a trivia question from one of the index cards. If the active player answers incorrectly, the turn goes to the next player. But, if he answers correctly, he can keep his turn and roll the die again.

Each player must land exactly on the Roof Square and answer a question correctly to earn the penny. Once he earns the penny, he must move toward the last square on the game path. When he reaches the last square, he must answer another question correctly to win the game.