Have you ever wanted to make your own board game? In this post, I am going to show you how you can design your own DIY Monopoly Game. These instructions can also be used to create any other kind of board game that you would like.
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One thing that is important to note is that I use Microsoft Publisher to design board games. This is a simple program to use that many people already have on their computers. If you have Microsoft Office Suite, you should have Microsoft Publisher included. You could also use another program to design your game, but for this post, I am only showing you how to create it in Microsoft Publisher. Also, the free templates included are Microsoft Publisher files, so you will need that program in order to edit them.
If you are interested in purchasing Microsoft Office 365, you can buy it here.
In order to make your own DIY Monopoly game, you will need some sort of box, game board, and pieces to use.
When I create my own board games, I always reuse an old game. It will be helpful for you if you can find a used Monopoly game because the game board will be the correct size. Plus, you can reuse certain items in the game such as the houses and hotels.
Obviously, you don’t have to get a used Monopoly game, but it will be easier. If you don’t care if you use different items for the houses and hotels, then you could use a different old board game.
I typically buy used board games at resale stores or garage sales. You can also purchase a game from Ebay or Amazon, but it will cost you more money.
For this DIY Monopoly game, you can customize it to whatever theme you would like!
If you don’t have a specific theme in mind, here are some ideas:
After you have chosen your theme, you will want to brainstorm what properties you want to use and if you want to change the name of any of the other items in the game. For example, when I created my Harry Potter Monopoly, I chose different locations in Harry Potter to use for my properties. I also changed the name of the chance and community chest cards. Other things I changed was the currency symbol. Then, I had to come up with the different scenarios for the chance and community chest cards. You can also change up jail and free parking. I also decided to call my houses and hotels huts and manors, but that is up to you and whatever theme you are doing.
You may end up having more ideas than you need, but you can always get rid of them later. One thing that helped me decide on the properties names was whether or not I could find a picture for that space online.
If you are planning to make your own Monopoly game, you can create your own templates or use the ones I’ve created for FREE.
These templates are located in our Resource Library along with lots of other free printables you can use. If you have not signed up for our resource library yet, you can click on the picture below.
Once you sign up, you will receive an email with the link to the resource library and a password to use to access the printables. If you have already signed up, you can go ahead and check them out!
The templates use Microsoft Publisher, so you will have to have Microsoft Publisher installed on your computer in order to open them. When you click on the pictures in the resource library, the files will download as zip files. Each zip file contains a template, so you can just download the ones you are interested in. If you have trouble figuring out how to download or open the zip files, feel free to email me at jessica@nowthatsthrifty.com and I can help you.
Once you have all the files downloaded, you can start editing them.
Depending on the theme you choose for your game, you might want to download some cool fonts from the internet that you can use. For example, when I created my Harry Potter Monopoly game, I downloaded several free fonts that make it look more like Harry Potter.
You can find a lot of free fonts from these sites:
Once you download any fonts you would like, make sure you install them. Then, they will show up in the font list on Microsoft Publisher. If you need help figuring out how to install fonts, feel free to email me at jessica@nowthatsthrifty.com and I can help you out.
One of the cool things about creating your own board game is making it look exactly like you want it to. It’s nice to be able to create it on a computer as well because you don’t have to be good at drawing to make it look neat.
Images can really enhance the design of your game (especially the game board). I have found that the best way to find images is to Google them.
Although, you will want to make sure that you are using images that will print clearly. The higher the resolution, the better they will look. You can refine your search results by size on Google in order to only look at larger images. Just click on tools and then the down arrow next to size. It will give you multiple options to choose from. I would suggest large.
If you are looking for an image for the background of your game board or box lid, you will want it to be as large as possible. These images will be printed big, so you want them to be as clear as possible.
Possible places that you may want images are:
After you have downloaded your images and fonts, you can start editing the templates.
Each Monopoly template has the basic text typed out. You can replace it and change the font styles to match your theme.
If you’ve never used Microsoft Publisher before, it’s similar to Microsoft Word but easier to move around pictures and text boxes. You can add images and text boxes anywhere in the documents.
You can also move items in front of or behind other items. So, if for example, you wanted to add a background to the game board, you can insert the picture, resize it to fit, and then send it to the back.
Publisher also has the option to add guide lines to your document. These do not show up when you print but can be helpful when aligning different items in your document.
When you are editing your game, make sure to save the changes every so often so that you don’t have to start all over if the program gets shut off accidentally.
Each file also has a page at the beginning that explains what size and kind of paper to print on.
Once you have all your templates filled in, you can print them. Most items can be easily printed at home. You can certainly print the game board and box lid at home as well, but you might consider having those printed professionally.
You can get step by step directions on how to put together your game by reading our instructions in our DIY Harry Potter Monopoly Game post.
Comment down below any questions you have or any problems you have making your game.
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