Create Your Own Printable Board Game

There are many games you can purchase for your family to play, but the cost borders on the outrageous so avoid spending too much and create your own printable board game.

Buying board games can be very expensive with many hovering around $40, and some even costing over $100. Board games certainly help to pass the time, but with bills to pay, the price tag is just too steep for many families. Instead of buying all of these games you’d like to play, try creating your own. It's fun and easy to do and can be a family craft project on a rainy day. The game can be pure fun, but it can also be educational.

If you are not sure what kind of game to make, then use Board Game Geek as a resource. This site is the online expert in all things board games where you can find nearly any board game ever made. Use these games to inspire you on your quest to create your own printable board game.

Every board game needs a set of rules so you know how to play the game. You can easily manufacture rules by going over your list of ideas. As you think about your game, always write everything down as you never know what will wind up in the rules later on. Think about such things as how you want pieces to move, how turn order is figured out, and if spaces will make players do something, or will cards do that? Once you know how you want your game to play, you can begin to create the actual game.

So ask yourself these questions:

• What is your game about?
• How do you win?
• Will the game be pure fun, educational or a little of both?
• Is your game a straight dice roller where players move on a linear track or will players need to roleplay, play games etc.?
• Do you need dice or can a spinner be used?
• Will you use cards in conjunction with board spaces?

Brainstorming is a large part of deciding how to create your own printable board game. There are a lot of questions you can certainly ask yourself about your own game. The thoughts can come to you like a waterfall cascades down the cliff. The only thing you can do is write them all down! Put them in a program like Word or Notepad for easy reading, and you have your final edits you can just print them out.

Laying out your board game can make or break the playability of the game. If the flow of the game is too complicated, people can become bored. Looking at popular board games can give you ideas on how your game board could be simplified. Designing your board and laying it out is a lot harder than actually making it.

When you have your game board designed and transferred over to a program like Photoshop, you can begin to figure out how you want to print it. There are several inexpensive ways you go about this:

• Print your board game out on normal paper and tape the sections, if any, together.
• Use card stock instead of regular paper and tape them together or, better yet, glue them to foam board.
• Purchase an actual game board and use sticker paper to print your game board out on and then affix to the board.

The materials you will need are very minimal and can be as simple as paper and scissors. You can use glue, tape, card board and stickers.

Monopoly has its "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards as well as title deeds. Games like Trivial Pursuit use cards exclusively in order to win the game. Other games use cards to determine movement, special effects and the like. If you want your game to utilize cards then make sure all of your thoughts are in order as card content is easy to lose track of.

Making actual cards to play with can be difficult or easy, but regardless of the method you choose, the end result has to have playable cards. This means that making cards out of notebook paper doesn't work well if you plan on shuffling and dealing them out to players. Your only option is to create your own and print them.

The easiest way is to design your cards in Photoshop and use playing card stock to print them on. This card stock is available from a few retailers on the Internet and is not very expensive. Unlike other cards in games, they won’t be coated in plastic so that means they will not be as stiff as normal cards. The stock is perforated so it's easy to separate them and start playing. If you don't want the added expense, you can print your designs on regular card stock using playing card templates. You will need to print the crop marks and use a pair of scissors to cut the cards apart.

Without game pieces to mark your spaces, playing the game will prove quite difficult. Unless you are good at whittling wood or injection molding you have three options:

1. Steal pieces from games you own.
2. Buy pawns from a store like Cheapass Games.
3. Use a penny, pebble or candy.

With your rules in hand and your couch cushions' treasures of a penny, an old Tic Tac and a corn chip have been raided, you can lay your cards out next to the board and get ready to play. All you need now are your friends or family to come out and play, and watching them enjoy something you created will be reward enough. Remember to have fun because that is what playing board games is about.

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