Craft Corner

Bored With Your Board Games? Make Your Own!

One thing I’ve realized is that between school and home, kids have a lot of rules they have to follow…so when they get the chance to be in charge, wow do they love it!

Maybe you don’t have time to make a board game from scratch, but you can use parts and pieces of the games you do have to make a new one. You may find mixing up games is more fun than playing them straightforwardly!

Think about your favorite games and look at the components that make them your favorite, is it quest-based like Life? Do you have to think fast, like the card game Speed? Is it action-based like Pictionary or Charades? Do you like word-based games, like Boggle, or with numbers like Uno, Rummy, or poker? Do you like games with action cards, like the community chest cards in Monopoly, or maybe you want there to be a learning component to it - land on the blue squares and you have to answer a math problem or spell a word.

Pick a board to use - Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Sorry, Life?

Now you need the pieces…Monopoly pieces, Chess pieces, Clue pieces?

Establish the goal. Is it getting to the finish first? Is it collecting things along the way? Is it having the most money at the end? Maybe you have a point system.

Next, you need to know how you will advance on the board; Dice, spinner, direction cards?

OKAY, NOW FOR THE FUN PART, MAKING UP THE RULES.

I’ll let you in on a secret, kids love rules that change in their favor. If you let them make up all the rules, and you don’t write them down, I assure you those rules become very fluid. I suggest you let your child(ren) make up 2-3 rules, you write them down, then you make up a couple to help the game move along. Are there pitfalls that send you to the beginning? Or are there ways to advance quicker? Are there questions you have to answer? Or instances where you have to give something to another player? Or is there a pot in the middle that is won by landing on a certain square?

THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO START IF YOU’RE FEELING STUMPED:  Pick 2 or 3 games you are going to mix up  Game board is ____

 Game pieces are ____  The Goal of the game is ____ (to finish first, to win the most money/coins/etc, to answer the most questions correctly)  Use to move on the board (dice, spinner, direction cards)  Rules: If, then ____ (blue=stuck for three turns, roll a 6=move double amount of spaces, land on red, must answer trivia question)

If you are interested in creating a game from scratch, there are templates you can download here: printabletemplates.com/graphics/board-game/

Crooked Beauty will be hosting a board game-making class Sunday, November 6th. Go to crookedbeautyart.com for more details.