09-04-2008

Make Your Own Board Games

Over the last few years, I’ve put together a few homemade versions of board games. Websites such as Board Game Geek and Game-it-Yourself! feature lists of games that can be made at home. Some can be printed, cut out, and playable in a matter of minutes. Below are a few of my favorites.

Glik

Player: 2-4
Time: 30 minutes

Glik

Glik is an abstract game where players try to move their colored pieces from their start square to their goal area. The board is made up of cards, most of which are randomly placed at the start of the game, adding an element of chance. Pieces move in a straight line until they encounter a wall, a neutral piece, or a player’s piece. In addition to Glik, the same board cards can be used to play the game Glak.

Rat Hot

Player: 1-2
Time: 30 minutes

In Rat Hot, players act as merchants, trying to stack their goods near each other, while guarding themselves from rats. Players take turns placing cards onto the board, attempting to balance defensive and offensive strategy. Cards can score points simultaneously for the player and the opponent, plus the game can end abruptly if too many rats are exposed at once.

Holiday

Player: 2-8
Time: 40 minutes

In addition to web-published games, I’ve also made my own versions of games. For instance, I made a homemade version of an otherwise out-of-print game called Holiday. I used the open source vector graphic program Inkscape along with Creative Commons licensed artwork from the Open Clip Art Library to make my own version of the board.

holiday_a007d

In Holiday, players bid for control of a charter plane and the ability to determine the plane’s next destination. Each destination city has a number of sights, each with an ideal day to see them. Players score points by playing one of their sight cards in the appropriate city. The closer you are to the sight’s ideal day, the more points you get. The game ends once any player has played all their cards. The player with the most points wins.

Others

In addition to the games above, I’ve also made homemade versions of Micropul, Hive, Hey! That’s My Fish!, and En Garde. And I have more in the works, including Snake Pit, Space Junkyard, and Pico 2.

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Posted by Matt in Austin, creativity, games | RSS 2.0

2 Responses to “Make Your Own Board Games”
  1. rissahoney Says:

    Hi, just wondering how you know if you are able to make homemade versions of games or not? You mention that holiday is out of print, but when I followed the En Garde link I noticed that the last published version was in 2007, so is it just that the companies don’t bother to sue you for a homemade version, or are you actually allowed to make your own??

    Thanks

  2. Matt Says:

    rissahoney,

    It’s my understanding that the copyright of games is a lot like the copyright of recipes. You can copyright your particular lasagna recipe, but that doesn’t keep me from using your recipe to make lasagna at home myself. I know that there is more subtlety to it than that, but that’s a quick explanation.

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