Introduction: Tubular Board Games Kit

Introduction:

There are dozens of board games around the globe. They belong to national cultures. Some of them have become international. When my children were small, we used to play twelve men’s morris and checkers. We preferred to design our own games. A few weeks ago while cleaning up my cellar I found an old screen (made of vinyl) for slide projection. First I didn’t know what to do with it. Then I saw a juice bottle standing on the shelf and decided to make a tubular board games kit. The result is here. You are welcome to comment and rate it.



Step 1: Materials and Tools

You need a square piece of vinyl or any flexible material approximately 60x60 cm (white).; a set of 24 (better 32) caps from juice or milk bottles of two colors; duct tape. Optional (if you want to make a chess set): paper for origami; felt pens or water colors.
Tools: a pair of scissors; a craft knife; a ruler; a pencil; a permanent marker (black).

Step 2: Make a Basement

Take a sheet of flexible material and cut out a square of 60x60 cm using a pair of scissors.

Step 3: Draw a Telve Men's Morris Grid

With a ruler and a pencil draw a twelve men’s morris grid. Contour the lines with a permanent marker. I used a cap from a water dispenser bottle as a template for circles.

Step 4: Make a Chessboard

Cut 8 lengths of duct tape and stick them on the other side of the basement. My chessboard is 384x384 mm ( the width of duct tape is 48mm). Slice strips of duct tape into squares. While slicing, be careful not to cut out the vinyl basement. If it happens you can mend cuts with adhesive tape. Remove each other square. Draw border lines with a permanent marker.

Step 5: Checkers

Wash and dry 24 or 32 caps from juice bottles. With a craft knife cut out a hole right in the center. The vinyl basement being rolled up should go through the hole with slight friction. I used a 5-kopeck coin as a template. Basically you are done and can enjoy playing checkers games. Having 32 checkers you will be able to play Turkish checkers or hasami shogi (simplified version).

Step 6: Make a Chess Set

Make short cuts on the checkers to fix chessmen into them. I have a book on origami and I borrowed a few ideas from it on how to build chessmen. The pawns, for example, are slightly modified penguins. Children of 5 and up are good at folding origami. If you have small kids you can encourage them to help you. Having folded all the chessmen, paint them with water colors or felt pens.

Step 7: Make a Chessmen's Holder

You need 2 holders. One is for the pawns, another – for the other chessmen. Prepare two checkers more. Punch holes on the rim and insert small bolts. Punch holes in the chessmen. Fix chessmen on the bolts with nuts.

Step 8: Time to Play

It is time to give your kids a lesson of chess.

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