Real events are often turned into games. There are so many games based on sports, politics, raising families, dating, wildlife, wars, game shows, movies, space, the stock market, real estate, medicine, law, science...........Reality can make a great game. Try making a board game from your own experiences. If you enjoy hiking in the woods it could be fun designing a game about hiking. Maybe there are millions of squirrels in your yard whose acrobatic attempts to get to the bird feeder could translate into a silly boardgame. Perhaps a school science fair, the cafeteria food line or a memorable field trip stimulate game ideas. When designing games, there are no rules and your imagination is the limit.

What about the game parts?

There's a ton of stuff you can use as pieces to a game. There are some game parts that are commonly found in most games......

Tokens are the markers used to represent the players on the game board. They may also be used for keeping track of other aspects of the game such as, points, wealth, weakness, strength, happiness, food, whatever. You can use them on the board, in a pile, on a chart, again, its your game.

Chips are similar to the tokens and can be used in the same ways. Most often they represent money and treasures. You can write on some types of chips with a permanent marker, but use crayons or stickers until you are sure you like the art.

Dice add a random, unpredictability to games. They are the most common element of board games.You've used them in many, many games, yourself. Dice can be rolled to
determine: how many spaces the player may move, how strong the player is, the value of a treasure, the speed of a
race car........ Use as many as you want. Have different color dice do different things. Remember, the more a game relies on dice and spinners for game play, the less skill and strategy may be needed to play.

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