Personalized Guess Who

Intro: Personalized Guess Who

My girlfriend and I were playing Guess Who one afternoon and I thought to myself how great it would be if all of the characters were people I know.

So, I set out to improve upon the dynamics of the game by replacing all of the original face cards with cards of my own creation. Now we can ask questions such as "Has your person ever lived with me?" or "Does your person have a substance abuse problem?"

The fun-level of the game has reached a mind-blowing new high.

STEP 1: Go Get Things.

You will need:

- Guess Who? board game
- 24 images of your friends or relatives (of decent resolution)
- Photoshop software
- Files included in next step
- A printer capable of printing double-sided color prints on cardstock - OR - $10 and a Kinkos
- Exacto knife
- Ruler or straight edge
- Someone to play with

(Note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This does not change the cost of the item for you. I reinvest whatever proceeds I receive into making new projects. If you would like any suggestions for alternative suppliers, please let me know.)

STEP 2: Download These Files.

I'm making it easy for you. All you need to do is download these files and use the existing template to add your own friends and/or relatives. This will make better sense in the next step.

The zip file should contain:
template.psd (the file you will be manipulating to create the face-side of the cards)

and the images for the back side of the cards:
YellowLineQuest.tif
RedLineQuest.tif
BlueLineQuest.tif

Alright, I have uploaded some PNGS as requested by those of you using GIMP instead of Photoshop...

BUT BE WARNED!

To convert from PSD and TIFF to PNG I had to convert the files from CMYK to RGB color mode. This ultimately is not ideal for printing. And I'm not sure how converting CMYK to RGB (and then ultimately printing in CMYK) will affect the final output.

Also, during formatting, the template file was flattened by Photoshop into just one layer, so it is not particularly helpful any more.

STEP 3: Preparing the Files.

First things first... After downloading the files open up "template.psd" in Photoshop.

I'm assuming that if you have Photoshop, you have some level of comfort within the program. Even so, I will try to explain it as best I can for those who don't

With that said, open the file and make sure the guides are visible like in the picture below. If you don't see the guide lines go to the menu bar on the top (view --> show --> guides). By selecting this you should turn on the guide lines.

Next make sure the "Snap to Guides" option is selected. Again go to the top menu (view --> Snap To --> Guides).

Now your file should be ready to begin work.

STEP 4: Cut Out and Insert Your Image Into the Template.

Find an image of a person you plan to use and open their file in Photoshop.

Select the "Polygonal Lasso Tool" and enlarge the part of the image you want to use to fill the screen. Carefully and slowly outline the person with the "Polygonal Lasso Tool."

When you are done and close your selection you should have a blinking outline. Now would be time to copy your selection (edit --> copy). (see secondary picture)

Go to your template and paste this image into it (edit --> paste)

In the coming steps we will actually resize and reposition the image to make sense in the template.

STEP 5: Reorder the Layer (optional).

Once the image is pasted into the template it is a good idea to figure out the proper layer order.

For instance, I decided I wanted this image to be above the caption "Face 5" so in the layers menu I literally dragged the new layer I pasted from its initial spot in the menu to the spot right over layer "Face 5". (see secondary picture)

NOTE: Since none of the layers overlap, reordering the layers isn't necessary, but it will make your file more organized should you need to change something later.

STEP 6: Resize the Image.

Once the layers are in order you now have to resize the image.

The first thing you are going want to do is delete any image that may already be a place-holder for "Face 5."

Once done, select "Free Transform" (Edit ---> Free Transform). Now you can resize your image.

BUT WAIT!

Be sure to check that little chain link on the menu bar in the top and resize the image from the corner. (See secondary image)

Scale the image so that it fits nicely within the guides alloted to it. For reference, look at the other images already there.

STEP 7: Repeat and Rename.

Repeat the copying, pasting, reordering and resizing of your images 23 more times until all of your faces are present.

Once all the faces are in their places it is time to change the caption below them to the appropriate name.

With the "Horizontal Type Tool" select each name (Randy, Danica, Face 14, etc...) and change them one by one to the names that match the image above it.

STEP 8: Duplicate the Image and Delete Layers.

Duplicate the image three times.

On the first one, go to the bottom of the layers list and delete the blue and red layers. The background is now yellow.

On the second image, delete the yellow and blue layers so that the background is now red.

On the third, delete the red and yellow layers so that the background is now blue.

STEP 9: Flatten the Images and Save.

Flatten the images by going to (layer --> flatten image). Save each one as a TIFF.

STEP 10: Resize the Yellow Image.

You need to make the yellow image larger because those cards are slightly bigger than the red and yellow cards.

As such, it is time to increase the size of the yellow image. Go to "Image Size (Image --> Image Size) and change the pixel dimensions to 2855 x 2332 and hit "OK."

Save the image.

STEP 11: Print.

If you have a printer that can print double-sided color images on cardstock and you know how to use it, then you are all set.

Print the yellow, blue and red images lined up front to back.

If, like me, you don't have such a printer, go to Kinkos with a CD containing all your files and ask them to:

"Print on white card-stock paper the following sets of images aligned front to back. The red files with the faces should line up with the red files with the question marks. The blue and yellow files should also line up in their respective sets. Also, please don't resize the image to fill the page when you are printing it."

That should be enough to get Kinkos to print it correctly. If they don't, refuse the job and ask them to do it again.

Also, if they charge you more than $10 to have this done, there is something wrong.

STEP 12: Cut.

Cut away the white border from your prints. Flip your image over onto the side with the question marks and cut out the cards along the lines. It works best to cut the big squares into strips and then the strips into single cards.

STEP 13: Assemble the Game.

Assemble the game as normal with one big exception. Replace the cards that actually come with the game with the cards you just cut out.

STEP 14: Find Someone to Play With.

If you can come up with 24 unique people to feature on your cards, surely you can find one of them willing to play the game with you.

Get them to play and enjoy the magic.

Did you find this useful, fun, or entertaining?
Follow @madeineuphoria to see my latest projects.

Comments

[EVM]

Yesterday, I gave the dutch travel version of Guess Who to my friend for her birthday. It has pictures of our friends and some teachers. She absolutely loved it.. Thanks (:

[frenzy]

Congratulations! This comment has won day 2 of the "I Made It" Challenge. Thanks for being a great part of the instructables community!

For More info on the "I Made It" Challenge check out this post.

Thanks and Happy "I Made It" Month!

[randofo]

Personalized dutch travel Guess Who is pretty sweet. Glad to be of help.

[dazzlez]

Thank you for your fantastic instructions! I made a game for my roommate and she loved it. I didn't have photoshop so I downloaded GIMP, and all worked out fine.

[randofo]

Hey. That's great! Glad I was of help

[Kaspr007]

This instructable has been my favourite so far.  I created it for all my friends who party at the cottage.  I took it one step further though and made stickers for the box creating a personalized guess who box.

Many thanks randofo!

Cheers,
Kaspr

[randofo]

This is pretty awesome. I like what you have done!

[nickfarnell]

this is great! i did this for my friends and they all went nuts. great idea!

[Save07]

How do you delete the names and the photos from the original image???

[livingtx]

Thanks for the template! I made this for a family reunion. I wish that I would have noticed the size of the cards are smaller than my Guess Who frame. My cards need to be 1-1/8" x 1-15/16" (or even 2" works for the height). The width is the same, but the height is much different. I ended up just taping the cards from your template on red and blue card stock cut to the right size for my Guess Who frame. I just got a subscription to Photoshop for this project, so I don't know the first thing about trying to resize the template. I have a color laser printer that can print on both sides of card stock. However, the back is about 1/4" misaligned. I may try putting the card stock in where the people that printed last would go first into the printer and see if that helps, but I don't think it will. It's not the way it's supposed to be fed for front/back printing. Thank you for a nice template! I would love if you had this in the 1-15/16" (or 2") height.

[VickyH33]

My son wants an Animal guess who so I'm going to give this a go. I however don't own the original game or the new one so I'm also going to make the cards holders and see how that works :). We have made our own Cluedo game, it has more rooms than the original with more people and implements. Plus our homemade Hexagon shaped monopoly is awesome too :D

[randofo]

Very cool. You should post an Instructable of your version of the game if you make your own board! I, for one, would be interested to see that. :)

[MelanieJ42]

This is a GREAT instructable and your template was perfect. Really. Could not have been easier to use and my pieces turned out gorgeous when printed at Kinko's. My big mistake: I didn't realize the sizes have changed on the current version of the game since this instructable was written, so none of my pieces fit the boards. Before you make this, be sure you can get your hands on an old version (Milton Bradley) of the game because the current one (Hasbro) has slots that are almost double the height and these cards WILL NOT FIT. I don't even want to tell you how many sets I made and cut (and how much money I spent at Kinko's). I was making a few dozen boards to give out at work. This is not the fault of the instructable author, obviously. It's my fault for not checking the sizing. The template and instructions are perfect. Just make sure they are the right dimensions for the board you purchase.

[randofo]

Thanks for the update! Would you happen to know the approximate size of the new cards?

[JessicaD173]

What is the correct image size for the blue and red cards? I didn't change anything and they are too small. Thanks!

[randofo]

I don't know. This game got "lost" years ago, so I can't measure the cards for you. Perhaps you can measure your game board and compare it to the file?

Unless they changed the size of the game board, it should print accurately at 100% scaling.

[LC12345]

I want to make this, but I don't have the software and I'm terrible at these types of things. If I provided the head shots, would you consider making my pages for me then emailing them back to me for me to print? Of course I would pay you for your services. I would appreciate it so much!

[StephanieM166]

TWO QUESTIONS:
1. Why do we save as a TIFF versus something else? More just a curiosity question.
2. Do you think it would be better to print on WHITE card stock? Or would it be better/okay to use COLOR card stock. I have pulled out a red for the red, a blue for blue and a yellow for yellow. I don't want to waste ink trying, so just wondering what your thoughts are.

[MelT8]

Made one for shopkins with my own template! https://youtu.be/GN9ZRvPtOj4

[randofo]

Nice! That came out really well.