DIY Family Board Game
This DIY project is a quick and simple way to make a family board game that everyone can enjoy.
20/01/2019
If your family loves playing board games, this classic German board game is an easy DIY project that you can make in an hour or two. While we used wooden beads to craft the board you can easily substitute with glass or plastic marbles.
YOU WILL NEED:
Piece of pine 400 x 400mm
Masking tape
Rust-Oleum 2X spray paint in assorted colours
24 wooden balls or marbles
Large screw, nail or punch
Printer to print out coloured template
TOOLS:
Drill / Driver plus assorted bits
Sander plus 120- and 180/240-grit sanding pads
Countersink bit
Hole saw
Tape measure and pencil
Scissors
Clamps
Hammer
HERE'S HOW:
1. Print out the template. Position the template centrally on top of the pine board and fasten down around the edges with masking tape so that the template won't slip.
2. The template has circular game elements indicated with a small cross at the centre. Place your screw or nail on top of each cross and lightly tap it with a hammer or punch to mark the board.
GOOD TO KNOW: Do this precisely to mark all the crosses.
3. Pre-drill a shallow pilot hole where marked, drilling exactly at the centre of the marking you made with the nail or screw.
4. Use a countersink bit to drill a circular depression for each game element. Drill very lightly and not too deeply.
5. This next step is optional and you can use a hole saw to cut out the dice hole at the centre of the board. Drill the hole halfway through from the top down and then flip the board over to continue to drill out the remainder. This gives neat edges on both sides of the board.
6. For this game board each player is a different colour and you need to spray the area for each player in a different colour. The easiest and most efficient way is to use spray paint. Use your paper template and roughly cut out the colour bits for section. Tape this onto the board and simply spray the exposed holes with spray paint. Allow this to dry thoroughly. Sand off all excess paint around the holes so that you only leave paint inside the recessed holes.
7. This family game - based on a the German game Mensch ärgere Dich nicht - allows for up to eight players, and each player has three counters to move from start to finish. That makes a total of 24 counters - wooden beads or marbles - needing to be colour-matched to the game elements on the board. Make sure to use exactly the same spray paint colours that you used above on the board.
GOOD TO KNOW: Stick the wooden beads on the end of a skewer or sharp pin to make spray painting easy. You can stick the pins in a piece of polystyrene or an empty egg carton while it dries.
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