As a fledgling game designer, I spend alot of time building prototypes. I've gotten quite good, with the help of modern publishing software, at cranking out decent looking games using sticky label paper and bits (board, pawns, dice, etc.) that I borrow from my large pile of thrift store acquisitions.
I've discovered that this "talent" is also useful for making copies of
real boardgames -- not just prototypes. Of course, being a game designer, I feel it's important to always support my brethren by buying the
actual game. That's assuming, naturally, that the actual game is still available.
By this I mean that I put my game-copying hat on only when I want an out-of-print (OOP) game and I don't care to spend a hundred or more dollars to obtain a copy on the second-hand market. By doing this, I'm not robbing the designer of income. I am robbing the second-hand sellers of income, I realize, but this doesn't keep me up at nights.
Here are some of my creations (pictures coming soon, I hope):
Montage: Out of print word game from Prince Joli Kansil. Used an old Deluxe Scrabble board and the tiles from approximately three sets. I'm proud that my copy looks nicer than the original version.
Black Vienna: I changed it a little, and made the suspects
games. So now you're not looking for the three criminals, but three games that were stolen from your collection. This was pretty easy to make since it's basically a cardgame. Just add a big handful of chips and you're on your way.
Comeback: I used to own this tiny little Reinhard Staupe cardgame. In fact, I might still own it. But it's so tiny, I lost it. I'm sure I packed it in with a larger game at one time. If I still own that larger game, maybe I'll see Comeback again someday. If I traded it, then someone got a bonus and never told me about it. However, this also being a small cardgame, it was easy to make a copy of. I even have a nice little wooden box for it, which is very classy.
Big Boss: I used Upwords tiles and a little cut-and-paste action to bring this Wolfgang Kramer back to life. It's not as impressive as the original, of course, but I'm willing to "trade looks for a certain morally casual attitude."
Dog: My latest creation. This is a four-player Ludo/Pachisi/Sorry "variant" (if that's the word) that has a neat partnership aspect. From my understanding, this game is in the public domain, even though Schmidt currently has a version out. I didn't feel like paying $30 for Partnership Pachisi, so I whipped up my own copy. If someone discovers that this game is not, in fact, public domain, please keep it to yourself.
