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Aha! I can pretend to be an expert! by Thedalek · 2003-12-22 02:45 · Score: 2, Informative · on Making Your Own Board/Card Games?

This is actually an area in which I have a reasonable amount of experience.

For card games:

You have two options for getting a good looking deck made cheaply. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets of cardstock ($7.00 - $10.00 depending on where you go) and have that precision cut someplace like Kinko's or CopyMax (in OfficeMax). Standard playing cards are usually 2.5" x 3.5", although some are 2" x 3". At any rate, you should be able to get at least 10 cards from each sheet, possibly more, giving you about 2500+ cards.

Alternatively, you can go to your local print shop and have them precision cut some 12-point semi-glossy stock for you. It will look a lot nicer, and shuffle better, but it will cost you much more (I paid $20.00 for 300 cards).

Before you print, you should make sure your card graphics are going to print at the right size. I did things the hard way in Paintbrush, which generally prints at 96dpi, so each card had to be 240 x 336 (for 2.5 x 3.5). More powerful paint programs are capable of resolution scaling and size specification. YMMV.

Now you're ready to print. Arrange your card graphics in page layouts. I generally use 8 cards per page so that there's room between them. Print out a page on regular paper. This is going to be your carrier page.

Get some semi-adhesive sticky notes. Cut the sticky part off and tape it, sticky side up, in the middle of each card graphic on the carrier page. Stick a card on each sticky note so that it completely covers the previously printed area. Print the page again, making sure to have it oriented such that it prints the right way on the cards. Peel the cards off, stick blank ones on, print the next page of cards. Repeat.

You'll probably want to get a corner-rounder punch from your local crafts/scrapbooking store. Do not get the one offered at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It will wear out after about 200 punches. Expect to have a sore thumb by the end of all this.

Pawns: Bearwood sells pre-painted pawns in a wide variety of colors, as well as a wide assortment of cubes, disks, and other potentially game-related items, all at a reasonable price. Note: Only the pawns come pre-painted.

Boards: I was lucky enough to find 8.5" x 11" thick cardboard sheets at the worst job I've ever had. They were being used in a shipping warehouse as padding material for heavy books. I absconded with several dozen, but I haven't seen them elsewhere.

If, however, you are wanting to make your board out of modular pieces, such as hexagonal or square tiles, your best bet is to find a game which already uses the same size and shape tile, and then print out, cut, and spray-mount your own graphics onto those tiles.

For hexagonal tiles, a copy of The Settlers of Catan gives you 38 3-inch diameter tiles for about $20.00 - $38.00 (depends where you buy it). Some places have been liquidating an old Fantasy Flight game called Thunder's Edge for $10.00, and it contains 30-50 Catan-sized tiles(I don't recall the exact count). Lastly, Fantasy Flight sells a game called Maelstrom for $20.00. It contains 150 hexes, but they are smaller than those previously mentioned. Check this pdf to see just how big they are.

For square tiles, a copy of Carcassonne has 84 1.75-inch tiles if it contains the River Expansion (72 if it doesn't), at a cost of about $20.00. Larger tiles may be available in other games, but I lack knowledge of them.

For circular tiles in a variety of sizes, nothing beats a good big set of Diskwars or Range Wars, going cheap at most of the places that sold it. Check

I still think that there wou

Aha! I can pretend to be an expert! by Thedalek · 2003-12-22 02:45 · Score: 2, Informative · on Making Your Own Board/Card Games?

This is actually an area in which I have a reasonable amount of experience.

For card games:

You have two options for getting a good looking deck made cheaply. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets of cardstock ($7.00 - $10.00 depending on where you go) and have that precision cut someplace like Kinko's or CopyMax (in OfficeMax). Standard playing cards are usually 2.5" x 3.5", although some are 2" x 3". At any rate, you should be able to get at least 10 cards from each sheet, possibly more, giving you about 2500+ cards.

Alternatively, you can go to your local print shop and have them precision cut some 12-point semi-glossy stock for you. It will look a lot nicer, and shuffle better, but it will cost you much more (I paid $20.00 for 300 cards).

Before you print, you should make sure your card graphics are going to print at the right size. I did things the hard way in Paintbrush, which generally prints at 96dpi, so each card had to be 240 x 336 (for 2.5 x 3.5). More powerful paint programs are capable of resolution scaling and size specification. YMMV.

Now you're ready to print. Arrange your card graphics in page layouts. I generally use 8 cards per page so that there's room between them. Print out a page on regular paper. This is going to be your carrier page.

Get some semi-adhesive sticky notes. Cut the sticky part off and tape it, sticky side up, in the middle of each card graphic on the carrier page. Stick a card on each sticky note so that it completely covers the previously printed area. Print the page again, making sure to have it oriented such that it prints the right way on the cards. Peel the cards off, stick blank ones on, print the next page of cards. Repeat.

You'll probably want to get a corner-rounder punch from your local crafts/scrapbooking store. Do not get the one offered at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It will wear out after about 200 punches. Expect to have a sore thumb by the end of all this.

Pawns: Bearwood sells pre-painted pawns in a wide variety of colors, as well as a wide assortment of cubes, disks, and other potentially game-related items, all at a reasonable price. Note: Only the pawns come pre-painted.

Boards: I was lucky enough to find 8.5" x 11" thick cardboard sheets at the worst job I've ever had. They were being used in a shipping warehouse as padding material for heavy books. I absconded with several dozen, but I haven't seen them elsewhere.

If, however, you are wanting to make your board out of modular pieces, such as hexagonal or square tiles, your best bet is to find a game which already uses the same size and shape tile, and then print out, cut, and spray-mount your own graphics onto those tiles.

For hexagonal tiles, a copy of The Settlers of Catan gives you 38 3-inch diameter tiles for about $20.00 - $38.00 (depends where you buy it). Some places have been liquidating an old Fantasy Flight game called Thunder's Edge for $10.00, and it contains 30-50 Catan-sized tiles(I don't recall the exact count). Lastly, Fantasy Flight sells a game called Maelstrom for $20.00. It contains 150 hexes, but they are smaller than those previously mentioned. Check this pdf to see just how big they are.

For square tiles, a copy of Carcassonne has 84 1.75-inch tiles if it contains the River Expansion (72 if it doesn't), at a cost of about $20.00. Larger tiles may be available in other games, but I lack knowledge of them.

For circular tiles in a variety of sizes, nothing beats a good big set of Diskwars or Range Wars, going cheap at most of the places that sold it. Check

I still think that there wou

Scotland Yard by indros13 · 2003-12-10 07:30 · Score: 1 · on Boardgame Recommendations For Xmas?

I've been a long time fan of this game, where detectives chase the mysterious "Mr. X" around London by mass transit. It's rather funny in that sense, but I've always enjoyed playing. The only problem is that I haven't seen Mr. X win among a group of experienced players in a long time.

Game details and a few customer reviews here. I guess it also got the Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year award in 1983.