Video gaming is a fun and fulfilling hobby enjoyed by many people all over the world. But it definitely isn’t the same as sitting down with some friends face to face and playing some non-digital games in a room together. They make great Christmas gifts, too.

No hardware requirements, no internet lag, and all fun, all the time. But often, board games can get pretty pricey. Thankfully, we’ve found some resources and tips on how to make your own analog games on the cheap! Check it out.

Guess Who

This classic is fun to pull out and play with friends, but it can get boring super quickly if you’re already familiar with the stock cartoon images of different faces. A nice change-up would be to print out images of your own family members or mutual friends of whoever is playing to make the game more personal and fun.

All it takes is to gather images from Facebook or any other social media site, print them out and stick them over the classic set you or your friends already own. Alternatively, you can make little pegs of your own on bits of card and play it that way. If you’re the crafty sort and are good with carpentry, you can even try making your own set like this lady did. Fun!

Monopoly

Everybody’s played Monopoly before and it can be great fun with your friends. But you don’t have to put money down on a new set if you want to try out the funky themed ones like Star Wars Monopoly or Adventure Time Monopoly. You can just make your own.

Just download this free Monopoly board template and fill in the empty boards with your own labels. After labelling your own cards and printing out your own Monopoly money, you’re all set to play your very own ultra-customised set of Monopoly! These make great gifts too.

Make Your Own Origami Dice

Before play most board games, you need dice. Sure, you can use a dice app on your phone, but who likes not having it when the phone is charging or having your roll interrupted by a phone call?

What you can do instead is make your own dice out of paper. This tutorial shows you how to fold your own origami dice. While it is made from paper, you’d be surprised at how sturdy it is. And since it’s made of paper, you can write anything on them, not necessarily numbers. Use it as a fun and super cheap way to decide games and determine moves!

Full-Sized Cards Against Humanity

Hanging out with adult buddies who don’t mind a bit of crude, dark, and irreverent humour in their card games? Then you’ve probably heard of Cards Against Humanity. The official game just comes with a stack of cards, so it’s pretty easy to replicate. In fact, they even have their own official downloadable pdf versions, free for anyone to use.

However, if you seek it out, you’ll find that the sizes for their official pdf versions are quite smaller than the proper cards. We’ve found a resource that lets you print full-sized Cards Against Humanity cards for free. Try this out for a super inexpensive, closest-to-authentic experience of playing the game. You can even print out your own blank cards if you’re keen on coming up with black humour on your own.

We hope out little tips and tricks above can help and encourage you to go out and make your own board game for some cheap but fulfilling fun with family and friends! Did you know playing games can teach you a lot about financial management? It’s true! Check out our article on that very subject and see for yourself.

Image credits: Generation Bass’ photostream and Cut Out + Keep

 

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