I decided to make my own board game. It was a pretty fun project. The hardest part was coming up with an idea that worked and making up the rules. I’ve playtested it a few times and it is actually pretty fun to play. I doubt I’ll ever do anything with it besides play with a few friends, but it makes me feel really great to see how well it turned out.

The key for me on this project was being able to create the design in photoshop (although if you don’t have photoshop I hear gimp, a free alternative, is great). I looked into companies that would make a board for me but the pricing just wasn’t feasible for me. Maybe there is someone out there who can do it for a good price, but I couldn’t find them. I found a tutorial on how to make a board which really worked great.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Folding-Game-Board/

It is obviously homemade but still looks well-crafted. I also looked into sites that will make custom dice and found a couple. It is a little pricey but within the realm of possibility. If anyone is interested I can find the sites that looked promising. But if you are just making it for fun with friends in family taping some small images to the dice works fine. I was worried it would cause issues with rolling but it really didn’t.

So here are the board and dice that I made. Actually there are a lot more dice. 12 for 2 players. Without going into a lot of detail, or posting the rules, the game is called Elemental, and uses the theme of the four elements. You have to fill each of the rings with your pieces. The first person to fill them all gets to attack the other player and try to win. Placing and removing pieces is based on dice battles.

This was a great project. My advice is work out the game in advance, keep it simple, mock it up and try playing it. Adjust it so that the gameplay is fun and then work on getting it made. I’m a little bit of a hypocrite because that’s 100% not how I made mine. I had the board firmly in my head first and then worked up a game to fit it. Which worked, but doesn’t seem like a good strategy. :) Most of all, have fun.