How to Make Your Own Town Game

Making the Game Board

• 1

  Paint the surface of the wooden board with white spray paint. Allow to dry completely.

• 2

  Draw margins for play spaces around the board using the black paint pen. Draw a line 2 inches from each edge of the board.

• 3

  Label the corner spaces. Moving clockwise, the spaces should read "Go," "Jail," "Free parking" and "Go to jail."

• 4

  Mark the remaining game play spaces. Using the paint pen, draw nine spaces on each side of the board between the corner spaces. Each of the nine spaces should be 1 1/2 inches wide.

• 5

  Paint the 22 property spaces. There are eight sets of properties. Assign each set a color from your acrylic craft paint and paint a rectangle, 1/2 inch wide, at the top of each property space. Refer to a traditional Monopoly board when distributing and labeling spaces.

• 6

  Label the property spaces. Property spaces should be named after streets in your town. The labels should include the cost to purchase the property.

• 7

  Use the black paint pen to label the remaining spaces after places in your town. Railroads can be named for items that symbolize your city (e.g., "Maple Leaf Railroad" for a town known for maple trees) or for local car dealerships. Rename utility companies to those of your own town and change the "Luxury Tax" space to reflect a tax in your community ("Parks and Recreation Sales Tax", for example).

• 8

  Label the center of the board. Use the paint or black paint pen to write the game name diagonally across the center of the board, then label places for stacks of Community Chest and Chance cards.

• 9

  Add a protective coat of polyurethane to the board.

Game Pieces

• 10

  Make the Community Chest cards from the cardstock. Label the back of each card as "Community Chest." The front of each card should give something positive to the player and relate to your town. For example, "Win the Miss St. Louis Pageant. Win $50."

• 11

  Make the Chance cards. Label the back of each card "Chance." The front of each card can give the player something positive or negative, but should relate to your town. For example, "Go directly to Phelps County Jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200."

• 12

  Make property cards. Each card should indicate the name of the property, the cost, the mortgage value and rent. The rent should be shown for one, two, three or four houses or a hotel.

• 13

  Purchase additional game pieces. Play money and two six-sided dice can be purchased from any party supply store.

• 14

  Paint wooden beads to represent houses and hotels. Paint the square beads one color to represent houses and the rectangular beads a different color to represent hotels.

• 15

  Collect small trinkets from around your town to use as game pieces. For example, use a tiny figurine of the high school mascot.