How to Make an Ancient Chinese Board Game

Decide on how large a Go board you want. Traditional Go was played on a grid with 19 x 19 lines, but most beginners start out with 9 x 9-inch or 13 x 13-inch sets.

Decide on what to use for Go stones. You need two sets of round pips to serve as player tokens. You can use pennies and nickels, different bottle caps, toy coins, or markers from some other game. For a 9 x 9-inch game, you will need at least 50 of each color.

Consider printing out a Go board from a game site (see Resources). Printing out a board saves you some trouble, because all you have to do is tape it to the poster board

Decide on the size of your squares. Go squares can be from about 2 centimeters to as large as you want them. Keep in mind that they have to be big enough so that you can put stones at each corner. One inch is a pretty good size to start with.

Draw the first line near the bottom of the cardstock. It should be the length of the grid and perfectly straight. For example, if you have 9 lines with 1 inch between them, it should be 8 inches.

Draw out the rest of a square. Use the straight edge and right angle to make perpendicular lines at each edge of your first line. Then draw a line connecting the two new lines at the top.

Draw a grid. Fill in the lines using the ruler to measure out an even distance between each. For example, if you want a 9 x 9-inch grid that is 8 inches long, draw a parallel line every inch.