Design your own Board Game

Step 1: CHOOSE THE GAME First, write down ALL your ideas. 1 Step 1: CHOOSE THE GAME First, write down ALL your ideas. 1. Pick a Game Style: movement, strategy, card, etc. 2. Plan your educational purpose: what’s the player’s age range. 3. Set your Goal-Decide HOW players will win: Reach the finish line, beat the clock, overcome and pass the others? 4. Name your Game. 5.Now, Write out the BASIC rules!

1 – Plan these answers in your Rules: How many players will there be? How long should the game be? What choices will the player make, and when do they make them? How will the player make these choices? How will one player's choice impact the other players? How will the players interact with each other? Are there any choices that can be made by one player, but not by the others? How does the game progress? Is it strictly turn-based, or is it in rounds with phases? What actions will the player be able to take? How will the outcome of an action be determined? What is the player's goal—getting to the final step happens how? How can the player win? WHAT ARE THE 12 FACTS THAT YOU WANT TO SEE THE PLAYER KNOW? Even if you don't know all the answers yet, you may find that keeping the questions in mind while working will lead you to the answers.

Step 2: RESEARCH What is the point of the game, and what are the facts your player MUST KNOW, in order to play and/or win the game? EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE: 2->List at least 12 FACTS you want to teach during the game, and that each PLAYER NEEDS TO KNOW.

Step 3: SKETCH THE DESIGNS on paper first. Figuring out the look and rules of your board game will provide you with the ability to carefully craft your perfect board game. Now, what does it look like? What colors, shapes, themes, places, and objects appear in your game? Your sketches can also act as a guide during your stage when you put your board game together after designing it on your computer. The sketch can be a detailed or simple as you want but laying Out your ideas on paper will make building game easier in the long run.

Step 4: CREATE all the necessary Pieces After your board has been finalized you need pieces to play your game. Like the board there are a variety of options available to getting pieces for your game. 1) Make board game pieces (USING things from around the house) There is nothing wrong with using tools already available to you. Look to your existing board games or small items around your house to find the pieces of your game 2) 3-D designs and printing, maybe? Thanks to the massive number of 3D printing companies the price of reliable 3D printers have dropped considerably. This makes 3-D printing objects in your own home feasible. Another great advantage of this is that you don't need to design things yourself.  It is also possible to order prints of your design online if you do not have access to a 3D printer. Thingiverse- game pieces is a great resource that has objects that makers, designers and engineers have uploaded to the public. Just searching board game pieces brought up a number of cools designs that are ready to be printed. Be creative with this process and use what is available. Any OBJECT can really work as a board game piece so don't fret over this step.

What objects do you need patterns to build good pieces from?

Pattern the game parts to be Printed on Colored Paper and assembled…CREATE ALL PARTS.

Step 5: EVALUATE THE GAME Build the game board & any pieces so you can PLAY! Not all board games need a board but many do. There are a variety of ways that you can construct your Game board from the simple printed out sheet to a crafty foam stamp or laser cut piece of wood. Draw it out. Using cardboard or paper found from around your house you can design your board using simple tools such as pens, pencils, markers and paint. OR, USE your computer design tools! 2) Print it out in black and white. Using a design software such as Inkscape or Gimp you can design a board for your game with a little more precision. Using a design software also allows you to become more complicated or integrate board. Using Word templates or Powerpoint as an image maker also might be very simple for you to create with. 3) Build it for durability to actually be used. Templates and blank printables are always an option for you to snip and use in your creations! Unfortunately product supplies are limited so this will be come an option that changes depending on who you are and where you produce a finalized version of the game.

1 Create the COLORED GAME BOARD as a document, and dropbox it to the teacher as a Word Doc, 11” x 17” final size (Ledger) so it can be COLOR PRINTED LARGE for you mount on posterboard to stiffen it! 2 3 4 FINAL

How FUN Can you make your board PIECES?

NEED a Die, Spinner, or Timer? One important piece for any board game are the dice. Not every board game needs them but well a lot of them do. So lets figure out ways to get your game pieces interesting…. 1) Print or design your own die? Using your favorite modeling software you can always design your own dies to be as special as you want. Of course if you don't have a design software but still want to print things out you can always use existing designs from online resources such as Thingiverse. For a simple die design, crafted a design that is print ready and fulfills all your six sided die needs. 2) Spinner center? Create that dial piece with anything long (straw) and add a point end to it, then glue it to the top of a center brad in the circle. 3) Time Out? Completing a task in a game within a certain time is always difficult. Collect an egg timer, or make a Snowglobe settle for your time, or even have the energy run out of a mechanical desk toy to count out the time.

Parts of the game in the digital age…. join the 21st C Parts of the game in the digital age…..join the 21st C. You must play your game without lost pieces…. http://e.ggtimer.com/ http://www.online-stopwatch.com/eggtimer-countdown/full-screen/ http://www.online-stopwatch.com/eggtimer-countdown/ http://www.virtualdiceroll.com/ https://www.random.org/dice/ https://www.freeonlinedice.com/ (also has a virtual coin flip on the site!) APPS: iOS Dice by Benoit Layer OR Android Dice: by Teazel Ltd Forfeits https://www.mathsisfun.com/data/spinner.php http://wheeldecide.com/ https://illuminations.nctm.org/adjustablespinner/

Need Playing Cards? MAKE THEM! Not all games require action cards or other chance cards. For others it is what makes the game unique and interesting. Having the knowledge as to what resources can be used can create some great cards. 1) Hand made cards Using paper, cardboard or any other household material you can produce your own playing cards. Simplicity at it's finest. I chose to hand cut and designed cards for my game. 2) Printed Out Cards Another option is to print out your cards. Using Microsoft word you can design your cards to be printed out on a ink printer. A design software allows to create more eloquent cards. Either of these options allow you to design cards and print them out at any time. Perforated Business Cards from AVERY are great solutions! 3) Virtual Application- Flash Cards Within mobile applications there are a number of flash card apps designed to help people memorize a certain subject. Using this existing technology you can produce your own game cards and cut back on paper waste. App Advice has a list of the 5 best flash card application for mobile devices. Any of these applications will provide you the means of producing your own playing cards. I like Studyblue because of its easy User Interface.

Step 6: TEACH US facts so we can RE-CREATE the PLAY! By this point you have all the core pieces for making your own board game. - You own special board game - The Rules - The board - Player pieces - Die - Playing Cards While not every board game uses all or any of these pieces they are common across every board game. The idea is to make your own game fun and enjoyable without heading to the store. Be as creative and innovative as you can be when you build your very own board game and show the world what you created. I don't know about you but I’m ready to grab my friends and start have fun.

RESOURCES FOR MORE IDEAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_board_games https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/how-to-learn-board- game-design-and-development--gamedev-11607 https://www.pinterest.com/pamdyson/diy-board-games-for-play- therapy/ http://hubpages.com/games-hobbies/board-game-templates http://primaryflynn.blogspot.ca/2012/04/blank-game-boards.html http://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/games/board- games/?gclid=CjwKEAiA3qXBBRD4_b_V7ZLFsX4SJAB0AtEV0dCI5Sb5fy nQlsRUfClQ-hGAYDuEebq1ftGSRB1c4hoC6e7w_wcB http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/g18/15-best- new-board-games-of-the-year/