Make Your Own Board Game

Make Your Own Board Game

Students will be randomly placed in groups to create a board game to be used as a review. A minimum of 30 questions must be included, along with easy to follow answers.

A winner should be able to be determined after 30 minutes of play.

All materials needed must be supplied with the game.

Introduction

With a little creative thinking and the materials in your own house, you could make your own board games

Step One

Make up a theme for the game. It could be based on adventure, business, family life or something else. The object could be to reach a goal before the other players, or to eliminate them in some fashion.

Step Two

Create the rules of the game. Write them down for your players to study.

Step Three

Design the board on paper first. Decide how many spaces will appear on the board and what will happen on each space. Make sure you have an evenly divided number of good and bad things that happen on the board.

Step Four

Make the actual board itself. You can use many different types of materials, from cardboard and paper to finished wood and cloth.

Step Five

Add the playing pieces. Small toys, figurines and pieces from other games can work. Make sure the pieces are noticeably different from one another.

Step Six

Add the remaining objects and pieces. This includes dice, tokens, cards, play money and any other prizes included in the game.

Step Seven

Find a group of friends or family members to test out your new board game. Above all, make sure they have fun playing it.

Tips & Warnings

Always remember that simple is better. If the game is easy, it will be more fun to play.

Some things to think about:

Add a start and a finish space.

Add a path, maybe one that's short but dangerous, or a long but easy one.

Add a gimmick like put in items or a jail; use your imagination for this step.

Add spaces where you have to draw a card and print or hand write cards on heavy card stock paper (examples: Hit three green lights in a row - move ahead twelve spaces; Flat tire - lose two turns while repairing it; etc.

Have a few test plays by yourself to see if it is too hard or has too many spaces.

Cut small figures out of paper to use as game pieces, or use Legos or other building material.

Get ideas from other people.

Make it colorful and eye-popping.

Name it! Come up with something of your own - try not to use a name out of a movie or comic book.

If you want people to play your board game make it unique - people won't want to play it too much if it's already been done.

You could base the game on a movie or your life.

Add something like spaces that take you to other spaces or a space that gives you triple of your next roll. Remember to use your imagination.

Try playing around with rules. Rather than moving a set number of spaces, for example, have a player be allowed to move freely for a set time period.

You could have an objective instead of a finish space such as find a golden nugget or land on the water fountain 10 times.

For the base of the game you can ask for a clean take out pizza box from a restaurant or buy some from a restaurant supply.

Minute timers, dice with 6 to 32 sides, and replacement playing pieces are available at game and comic book stores.

For really young players, instead of a standard dice with numbers make a colored dice which corresponds to the colors of the game spaces, or make cards with one or two squares of color (for move ahead to the next square of that color - like in Candyland).

Make it 3-D

Board Game Rubric
Your game will be graded according to the rubric below. By default, the game will get a single grade for the group. I'll ask for your input about the contributions of everyone on your team and will adjust the group grade upward or down for individuals if necessary.
Board Game Name / Authors
Beginning
1 / Developing
2 / Accomplished
3 / Exemplary
4 / Score
Practicality / The game would take considerable effort to set up and play...more effort than it's worth. / The game would take a fair bit of effort to set up and play in the chosen context / The game is fairly easy to set up and play, but a few glitches are apparent. / The game is very easy to set up and play in the context it was designed for.
Rules
Simplicity / Rules are unclear and too long. There are rules that add complexity without adding to playability or learning. / The rules are not entirely clear or complete. There are rules that could be eliminated without harming the game. / Rules are fairly short, clear and complete, but could be streamlined a bit. / Rules are short, clear and complete.
Review
Effectiveness / The content is incidental. One can play without reviewing much. / Significant effort is spent on things that have nothing to do with the content. / Winning and reviewing are closely entwined, though some mental effort is spent on aspects that are just about the game. / Winning the game requires reviewing the content. The two are matched completely.
Elegance / Elements of the game contradict elements of the content and/or seem gratuitous or merely decorative. / Elements of the content are used as elements of the game, but it seems a bit contrived. / There is solid congruence between the game elements and content elements / Game elements and content elements are mapped onto each other in multiple ways that seem surprising and apt.