DIY Network

Tile Game Boards and More Make classy game boards from tiles and follow up with giant pick-up sticks. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-106

Make cool tile game boards and giant pick-up sticks with help from Michele Beschen.

Game boards don’t have to be tattered cardboard relics—with help from Michele Beschen, they can be works of art. The B. Original host shows you how to take hard-surface tiles and turn them into cool, classy game boards that you'll want to keep on display. And, they're as much fun to make as they are to play!

Michele Beschen also takes the gaming action off the boards with a how-to for making a giant-sized version of pick-up sticks.

To try your hand at some more complicated game boards, check out Michele Beschen's Chinese checkers and cribbage game boards made from wooden TV trays.

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Tile Game Boards

You can model your game boards from store-bought boards, or research game board ideas online. When choosing your tile, keep in mind the amount of surface area for the game you're creating. Here are some of Michele Beschen's creations:

Nine Men's Morris

Alquerque

Checkers

You can use almost anything as game pieces.

Materials:

hard-surface tile (granite, ceramic, marble etc.)
ruler
pencil
automotive pinstriping tape
X-acto knife
small wooden balls, finials or other "feet" for board
contact adhesive
materials for game pieces (your choice)

	Figure A
	Figure B

• Flip your tile over and use contact cement to glue the feet to the back of your tile. You can use small wooden balls, tiny finials or any other material you choose. Paint the feet, if desired, before gluing them on.

• Once the glue is dry, transfer your design to the tile front. You can pencil it in, transfer using graphite paper or just eyeball it if you have a very simple, geometric design.

• Use automotive pinstriping tape to create your final design (figure A). Be careful not to stretch the tape as you apply it. Use an X-acto knife to trim the tape, and burnish down all edges.

• For dots, you can use a hole punch and contact paper—look for fun designs like the woodgrain Michele Beschen chose (figure B). You also can use dot labels from an office supply store.

Even little kids can play with these giant pick-up sticks.

Materials:

30 dowels, ¼" diameter and 36" long
sander (a bench sander is best)
paint
container for finished sticks

• Cut the ¼" dowels to 36" long if you haven't already done so.

• Sand down the ends so they taper to a blunt point. Michele Beschen recommends using a belt sander for this if you have access to one. If you use a belt sander, roll the each dowel continuously as you sand so you don't get a flat side.

• Paint the ends of your tapered dowels. You will need:
  
  1 black
  8 green
  7 red
  7 yellow
  7 blue

• For a container, Michele Beschen used a piece of heavy cardboard tubing, capped the bottom with a piece of wood and covered it with comic strip decoupage.

• For standard-size pick-up sticks, you can simply paint regular bamboo skewers.

Let the games begin!