Do-It-Yourself Board Games

Board games and card games have always been a big part of our family celebrations. Over the years we have bought and played various board games until we pretty much got tired of them. In my quest to find more board games, I found many of them to be too expensive considering that most of the time the games get old once you go through all the cards. This is when I started thinking about how many of these games I could make myself! Who needs to spend $20-40 for a board game just because it has a fancy board or fancy pieces? This article will give you all the information you need to make various games yourself! The best part about most of these homemade games is they can never get old because you can always add more questions to your stack. These games work great for parties of all ages and really encourage you to use your imagination. Enjoy!!

Game #1: Would you Rather? Board Game Cost: $24-30

Supplies Needed: Paper, Computer or Pen, a Shoebox, Checkers or coins or something similar

How to Make: Write a bunch of "Would you Rather?" questions. For example, Would you Rather... eat ONLY ice cream for a month or give up all sweets for a month? Browse the internet for ideas and collect questions from your family and friends as well. Cut out questions so each is on its own piece of paper. Store these questions in a box.

How to Play: Give each player one red and one black Checker. Player 1 pulls a Would you Rather question out of the box and reads it aloud. All players secretly grab one of their Checkers to indicate what they think Player 1 will answer (Red for the first choice, Black for the second) . Players reveal their Checkers and all that choose the same as Player 1 get a point. Player 1 gets a point for each person that correctly matched his answer. Play continues with Player 2 and so on for as many rounds as you'd like, making sure everyone gets an equal amount of turns

Game #2: Pictionary Board Game Cost: $15-30

Supplies Needed: Paper and colored markers or a chalkboard and chalk, a stopwatch or clock

How to Make: Rig up a paper stand or chalk board or come up with another way to easily hold the paper (tape, pushpins, etc). If you aren't very creative, go online for a list of items to draw, but I prefer coming up with them on the spot.

How to Play: As a group, decide on a short list of categories. I.E. Movies, Famous Places, Events, Things, etc. Decide on a time limit for each turn (30 seconds, 1 minute). Set the "winning" score. Player 1 starts by telling his team which category he is going to attempt. Player 1 comes up with a phrase/word to fit the category, and whispers it to a player on the opposing team. Start the timer and start drawing! Earn points if your team guesses the phrase within the time limit. Switch back and forth between teams until a one team hits the winning score.

Note: This same concept can be used for Charades to replace "Guesstures"

Game #3: Hollywood Squares Board Game Cost: No longer seems to be for sale, but cost me around $15

Supplies Needed: Ideally 12 People would play, Trivia cards from any board game (or print off from the internet), Paper and pen

How to Make: Draw 9 empty squares on a piece of paper. Choose 9 people from your party to play each square and write their names in the corresponding squares. If you don't have 9 people, then assign multiple squares to the same person until all are filled.

How to Play: One player will be the Host, 2 players will be the contestants - one is the X the other is the O, and 9 will be the "squares". Flip a coin to decide who goes first. Player 1 chooses a square (which coincides with a person). The host reads a question to the chosen square. The square answers the question, either with the truth or a lie, but either way trying to be convincing! Player 1 says whether they Agree or Disagree with that answer; If they are correct, they get the square; If they are incorrect, Player 2 get's the square. Draw an X or O in the box accordingly UNLESS it would cause Player 2 to get a tic-tac-toe. Players can only complete a tic-tac-toe on their own turn. Take turns until someone has tic-tac-toe. The original board game I have says to repeat this 2 more times so you play 3 rounds in total and the best of 3 is the winner, you can do that too if you have the time.

Game #4: Memory (idea submitted by fellow writer - Reviewer11) Board Game Cost: $12-35

Supplies Needed: Idea 1 only needs Construction Paper or Index cards and Pens/markers; Idea 2 needs a printer or copy machine; Idea 3 needs photos that were printed with duplicates

How to Make: Idea 1 - cut paper into equal number of squares. Draw 2 of the same image on 2 squares (make it as similar as you can). Repeat for the remaining squares. Using Construction paper is best because you can't see through it. Idea 2 - Print out pairs of images or print one set of images and use the copy machine to duplicate them. Try to use heavy paper or index cards so it doesn't show through. Idea 3 - just make sure every picture has a duplicate.

How to Play: Turn all the pictures face down and mix them up real good. Arrange them face down in rows and columns. Player 1 flips over two cards. If it is a match, Player 1 takes the cards and takes another turn. If it's not a match, Player 1 flips them face down and it's Player 2's turn. Play continues in this manner until all cards are gone. The player with the most pairs in the end wins.

Game #5: Imaginiff Board Game Cost: $25

Supplies Needed: Paper and pen; Playing cards (enough so each person can get a full set of A-6 cards.

How to Make: You can optionally write Imaginiff questions ahead of time and store them in a box OR you can wing it during game play. Example question: Imaginiff were a flying object. Which would he/she be? Choices: 1) Blimp 2) Biplane 3) Glider 4) Frisbee 5) Lear jet 6) Brick. Writing in advance may make it easier if you are worried about not having ideas during the game, but making each player come up with them on the spot could be real funny!

How to Play: Decide on how many rounds you want to play. Player 1 either picks or makes up an Imaginiff question about the player to his right and reads it aloud. Each player picks a card that matches what answer they choose (A=1 or 2 through 6). On the count of three all players reveal their card. The players with the most popular answer each get a point. Play continues to the right for the number of rounds you designated in the beginning.

Trivia Tip: When it comes to Trivia games, you can't always make the questions yourself. However, you can forget the board game itself and instead just buy the cards! Many games now sell trivia card refills as a separate purchase for a lot less than the game. Forget about buying the whole $40 game and instead just buy the $10 refill cards. This works great for any kind of trivia game and you can come up with your OWN rules and your OWN scoring system to make it fun. A lot of times the price you are paying is for the board and the pieces, but in reality the fun is in the unique trivia questions. You could even use the board and pieces from another board game if you really feel the need to race around the board. However a lot of times the board just gets in the way, especially if people can't remember when to move or where.

Overall: You can turn a lot of pricey board games into a cheap or free version just by putting some effort into it. Not only is making it yourself cheaper, but a lot of times it is more fun and more personalized because you came up with the questions yourself. I admit that some games you HAVE to buy because you can't play them without all the pieces, however I encourage you to take a closer look at each game you are about to buy and see if there is anyway you can recreate that game on your own. Encourage your friends and your kids to make their own games based on board games, or to make something up completely!

A final reason to make your own games: People hate learning a lot of complicated rules, which many board games have. Instead, make your own game with fewer rules and your party goers will appreciate it! Enjoy!!