You are at home, you have good dexterity, some materials: do you want to build do-it-yourself board games? Read this article: you will find beautiful ideas!
If at home - or in the garage, in the cellar, in the laboratory - you have boxes, caps, wood, in short, recycled material, time, desire and some DIY tools ... You have all the credentials to build some do-it-yourself board games. da-te, a great activity to carry on with the family! Review our previous article, then read on!
Checkers and chess | DIY games
To play exciting games a checkers and chess you must first draw the board on a square cardboard with rulers and markers. For the lady pawns of two different colors are enough (or caps and stones, different objects). For the chess you have to find a way to distinguish the pieces: an idea is to easily download some images from the Internet, print them (or draw them), cut them and glue them on solid bases such as caps. Alternatively, with some time available, you can glue the aforementioned images on cardboard behind which you can put a "foot" to make them stand upright. Who will be the new Magnus Carlsen?
Monopoli
No way, Monopoly is either loved or hated. But how to build it at home?
You have to draw a board: it is not necessary that there are 40 squares, it can be totally random (as a good story teaches…). But if you don't know how to orient yourself on land costs, keep referring to the original versions. A fun idea is to use the streets of your city (it becomes a knowledge game, if done in the family), then you can make the contracts with cardboard ... And, yes, the most boring part is printing the money, but with a printer at home the operation is quick! Two dice, a few pieces (a cap, a button, a pebble…) and may the best Uncle Scrooge win!
Pictionary
One of the easiest DIY games to make. Get a pen and paper. The various players suggest things to each other to draw, perhaps giving themselves a limit or a theme (example: objects in the house). End.
Shanghai | DIY games
You know those long toothpicks that are used for barbecues (which we skipped so much for Covid-19?). Well, this year you can turn them into shangai, a game of Chinese origin, popular in Europe since the 70s. You can also play with them by not painting them. If not, choose 5 different colors (e.g. red, yellow, green, blue, black) and mark the scores, but I don't see why not to overflow with the imagination. However, the original includes 41 pieces:
- 1 black stick, worth 20 points
- 5 blue sticks, 10 points each
- 5 green sticks, 5 points each
- 15 red sticks, 3 points each
- 15 yellow sticks, 2 points each
Sudoku of colors | DIY games
Ah! You did not know this! Well, to make it happen you have to draw on a sheet - or trace on a wooden panel - a grid of 9 × 9 boxes in which each 3 × 3 square is more trodden. Then you have to cut 81 square cards (or carve them in thin wood), colored or painted in groups of 9 of 9 different colors (example: red, yellow, green, blue, orange, purple, pink, black, white). The challenge is two (or with imagination, more). Alternatively each places a colored piece on the grid, of their choice. The game is collaborative, you have to be able to create a complete and correct scheme: exactly as in the classic sudoku you do with the numbers from 1 to 9, here it is done with colors.
For the little ones, you can make a 6 × 6 rectangular sudoku puzzle divided into 6 rectangles of 2 × 3 boxes, using 6 colors.
Triangle at 15 | DIY games
On a cardboard - or wooden - base you have to draw a triangle made up of 15 circles: one on top, two below, up to the base of 5 circles (see drawing). Then take 14 caps the size of the drawn circles (from a jar or from Nutella) and arrange them on the circles so as to leave one of the three vertices empty. The ideal is to paint the used caps as well. The game is simple: the pawns are eaten as a checker, bypassing the one in front. Will you be able to stay with a pawn in play?
Twister | DIY games
An extremely popular game among teenagers, for physical contact… Necessary. How to build it at home?
You need a sheet, an object with which to draw quite large circles (about 30 cm in diameter) and four acrylic colors: red-yellow-green-blue are not necessary, as long as they stand out. With them you will easily build the game plan trying to draw the circles at the same distance (with the help of rulers). While the colors dry, draw the roulette wheel on a square of cardboard, on which you then fix the hand (another shaped cardboard, very sturdy), pointed with a sample holder. If you are really good at DIY, you can build the roulette on a painted wooden panel. Alternatively, increase the game to six colors (orange and purple) and use two dice (possibly constructed) by adding two “wild cases” in addition to the four classic limbs.
In short, what games will you make these days at home? Let us know in the comments and keep following Techigames!
