Making a "Magic: The Gathering" Playing Board

Okay, I admit it, I am almost 30 years old and I still play Magic with friends and family.  Sometimes, it is hard to find a table that is clean enough to play a game on without getting my cards covered in sticky stuff.  In an attempt to keep my cards clean, I designed a board that I can use to play magic on.  I did use some pretty sweet equipment for this project that most people do not have in their garage.  All of the equipment I used was at TechShop in Menlo Park. TechShop also taught me how to use the equipment.  For this project, you will need:

-a piece of wood that is big enough to play magic on.  Mine was approximately 29"x24" (which I cut in half to give me two 14.5"x24" sheets.

-access to a table saw: http://www.techshop.ws/take_classes.html?storeId=1&categoryId=25

-access to corel draw and a laser cutter: http://www.techshop.ws/take_classes.html?storeId=1&categoryId=10

-sharp pocket knife

-wood glue, clamps

Step 1: Get the board ready to cut

I drew a line down the center of the board where I wanted to make the cut.  I used a tape measure and a china pen.

Comments

[karossii]

I haven't played Magic in years... but I do frequent shops which have the occasional game, and I often see a lot more cards on the table than you've made room for... Do you think you've made enough room for a full game here?

[pipsqueakboy]

With lands you can stack... but beyond that it wouldn't work well for a deck that involves a lot of tokens.

[JaredBlake]

You have a point, if you have creature cards or a spell that produces pingers.

[jbleazy]

The slots for land on the left can remove the clutter of around 5-20 cards and keep them organized in three slots. Also, I rarely have more than 8 creatures on the field at once.

Buuut, I see your point, I will have to work on an oversize board at some point.

[pipsqueakboy]

Just as an added side note, what if you just had the card slots facing one direction, but with a 90 degree swiveling thing underneath, to make tapping the cards easier? Just something to think about, because using lands could become a hassle if you have to remove them every time you need to use them. Also, would this work if the cards were in cases?

Over all, Loved the ible.

[pipsqueakboy]

I love mtg. I was searching for a good board on instructables for a while, but non of them were very good until you posted this one. Now if only I had a laser cutter...

[weredude]

Wow! I love this game and it's awesome to know that people play it on instructables.

[sevink]

It would look pretty trick if you took the top 2 rows of the "battlefield" and removed them, then put the logo in the middle of that. so you would have much more play area. Just my 2 cents. Also as many people have said, you need to use a program to make the background of your image transparent. There are many tutorials on how to do this with GIMP around the internet.

[Elmacho]

Typically that is caused when you use an image that is not of a transparent background. Even though your background looks white and appears to match the corel workspace, it could be off enough that the laser will pick it up and lase it.

[Elmacho]

Also, if you are using Corel X5, look at the default color space settings.

[Denger]

Regarding your note in Step 7, how did you import the M:tG icons, were they on a white background image?  I can't say for sure, but might the darkened area disappear if you used an image editor like GIMP, Photoshop, or Paint.net to select the background (white) image and delete it prior to importing the image into Corel?  Maybe you could even do this in Corel if it has a layering and editing option like those others.  Good luck!

Great design and 'structable, btw!

[JaredBlake]

Give over. This is sheer genius. This is one of my favorite hobbies and I'm nearly 30. I started back in high school.

Really appreciate you sharing this. Brilliant.

[jbleazy]

Thanks for the comment! I spent a lot of time on it and it's nice to hear that people like it.

[ilpug]

Nicely done, but looks slightly annoying to manage stacks.

[nnygamer]

Looks nice but you should have a photo with cards in it to show it in "action". Another possibility is to design it in strips with hinges so it can roll up for transport.

[jbleazy]

I like your thinking. Expect to see this instructable revised to show the board in action!

I guess my next project will have to be a travel version of the board.

Thanks for the comment!

[Lethis195]

Making a travel one would be easy cut the board the outside columns and put \hinges on it so it would fold up on itself like a game board

[Miss Cabbit]

Ooooh, beautiful clean work. Makes me want to play magic too!

[jbleazy]

Thanks you!!!!

[jessyratfink]

This is amazing! Especially love the "I'd tap that" in the middle. Ohhhh M:tG humor. :D

I haven't played in years, but this makes me want to!