How To Make A Board Game

Game Board Design, Simple Game Pieces Etc.

If you're wondering how to make a board game then you've found a great place to start. Here you'll find the basics including ideas on game set up and design just below. And to make an easy board game for kids all you need is a little focus and some fun creative ideas.

Now don’t get scared off when I say "creative" because everyone has the ability to be creative. Below I go over how to basically set up a math game using a zoo as the backdrop. You can do the same with just about any idea you have to make your board game come alive.

If you've created a board game before or have an idea right now, take a second to share it with others on the submission form below. Bounce around ideas with other people who are creating board games and more. It's free and easy to do!

Various Ways On How To Make A Board Game
And How To Design A Board Game

What You'll Need

Depending on what type of board game you're making here is a list of some of the items you may need to buy or make. Dice, Spinner, Play Money, game pieces, blank cards, game board etc.

Make An Easy Board Game

You don’t need to sit down and think for hours to come up with a fun and educational board game for your kids. Unless of course you want to make a professional one and if that's the case then this page isn't for you. Here I'll run through a list of things to help you make an easy board game that all in the family will enjoy.

Remember if you're making a board game for young kids they'll be thrilled just at the fact that mommy and/or daddy made the game themselves and that they helped out in the design also. That's right, get the kids involved in making the game and they'll have that much more fun playing it.

How To Make A Board Game
How To

First of all you need to decide what type of board game you want to make for your child. It's best if you narrow down the game to one theme. For example math, science, reading, sports/football and so on… Don't even try to come up with a board design until you know what the game is generally about. By doing this you can incorporate some fun design ideas plus twists and turns as you lay the game out.

Once you have a general idea of the game type think about who will be playing this game. Is it for toddlers, teens, adults or kids/family members of various ages?

How To Make A Board Game
Game Ideas

Ok so you've decided to do a math game for your young children and are using the zoo as the theme backdrop. Not a bad idea at all. They can add animals and subtract animals. So not only will they learn math but they'll learn about animals too.

Great! Kids love a challenge so now it's up to you to decide how the game will ultimately be played and won. Will the game be based on ones lucky roll of the dice, luck of the draw, math skills or a little of each. Usually a little of each is the best way to go about it.

Think about how monopoly is played. It uses dice, cards and skill.

So now you have your ideas down on paper and need to draw up a game board. Since I'm talking about a math/zoo theme a square game board will do. Using squares to move from one space to the next you need a starting point and an ending point.

So the starting square could be the Zoo Entrance and the ending point the Zoo Exit. The first to get through the zoo and feed all the animals wins and each animal can eat only a certain amount of food. Now you have a way to enter math into the game. For example, you need to feed the 5 Elephants 10 peanuts each. How players come about getting the peanuts is up to you. Do they roll 2 dice and MUST get a 10 before proceeding to the next animal cage/area, do they draw a card and so on.

Again this is a math/zoo game so make the path through the zoo a winding path curving around various areas. You could add a railroad station and if one gets on the right square they could ride the train around the zoo to a different part. If you were making a baseball game you could have a card that says "you stole second base move ahead 2 squares" or something similar. Basically you want to come up with fun and unique ways that relate to your game board topic and learning angle.

Bring It To Life
How To Make A Board Game

So you have all these great ideas and you've sketched them out on paper. Now you need to make the game come to life and there are a few easy ways to do that. The easiest way is to get an old board game from your closet or at your local second hand store and attach poster board to it, now you have your own folding board game. To make the game with all the graphics you could use a computer graphics program and print out the drawings or do them yourself or even better, let your kids draw and color them and you attach them to the game board with glue.

*Just remember that when designing your board game make sure you sketch it in pencil first before adding all your pictures and colors.

Play Your Game

You almost have a finished product, now you need to play it to see if it really does work. Rarely does a game pass for perfect when it's played the first time. You'll end up changing rules, adding bonus spins and other fun stuff to make the game more playable and fun. For example a place where you're stuck in the cage and need to roll a five to get out, something like a get out of jail in monopoly.

Trust me you'll add a lot of cool stuff after going through the game only a few times. Just don't get too creative and remember you're making the game for kids so Think Easy and Think Fun!

The money, dice, spinner and so on can be bought at a local dollar store usually and even found online. At your local arts and crafts store you can find foam cubes to make your own dice. Or you could also make up index cards with numbers on them that tell you how many spaces to move.

For this math game you could even use flash cards and the answer would be the number of spaces to move, that's a great way to help them learn math and have fun all at once. For a spinner one of the easiest things to do is use an index card and a paper clip. Just punch a hole in the middle of the index card with the paper clip and then bend the clip so it rests on the card with part of the clip beneath the card, they spin around pretty easily.

For game pieces you can also find a ton of cool stuff at a dollar store that would do from erasers to plastic toys and so on. Or use money, pennies, dimes, nickels or quarters. Using money that is from the year the child was born is always fun and that way they always know which game piece is theirs.

Just be creative and think outside the box. Think like a child and what they would have fun doing. Your first game may be a little rough but after making a few games you'll be a pro at making an easy board game for kids to play!

Now you can share your ideas on "How To Make A Board Game" on this page, from directions to game ideas etc. You can even ask questious about "How To Make A Board Game" for others to answer on the simple form below!

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You can share details on game play, the age range it's for, where it can be found and anything else you can think of that people just like you would like to know about the great game you're mentioning.

Also while you're here remember to check out what other people have said about their favorite board games. You can add your comments on what they've wrote, rate their favorite game idea and more. Visitors ideas are found below the submisson form on this page.

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