Friday, December 27, 2013

How to Make a Personalized Monopoly Game!

I'm back from the holidays! I hope everyone had a great time with their friends and family, wherever they may be. I gave this personalized Monopoly game as a gift to my parents and they thought it would be a great blog post, in case anyone else wanted to make one! This is great if you're family a.) has a lot of inside jokes and b.) loves playing games. Note that while you can purchase some on Etsy for $200, you can just as easily make your own for almost a quarter that price if you have access to the following:

1.) Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Word
2.) A Kinko's nearby
3.) A lot of patience and creativity

If you have those three things handy, you can make one yourself for anywhere between $50-$100!

STEP 1: Making the Board
Start by going to BradFrostWeb's site to download his Monopoly template. From here, you'll be able to download the entire Photoshop template and edit the names of the tiles, add photos, customize the pricing, do anything and everything you like to personalize the board. FYI: this will be the longest step. You'd be surprised how nit-picky you'll get and which jokes to include/leave off the board.

Note that if you want it to be completely authentic to the original, you may have to scour the internet to find similar fonts for free like KabobLight for the property names and KabaleMedium for the "OPOPLY" name in the middle, but with a little Google searching, you should be able to download the fonts for free.

STEP 2: Making the Cards
Once you have your board completed, next comes the community chest/chance cards. In this example, I used titles of books my mother and sister wrote this year ("A Mind Like This" by Susan Blackwell Ramsey and "Giant Dance Party" by Betsy Bird). I recommend using orange and yellow card stock paper and making the templates in Word. I fit 8 squares of 1.75" x 3" onto a sheet (only 6 pictured here) and for the text, I used Brush Script Std in size 18 for the title and Calibri for main font text, however the size changed depending on how much I wanted to write. I Google-searched as many images of "Mr. Moneybags" as I could find, then copy and pasted them into a Word doc to look authentic.

Note: you'll want to print on the front AND back of the cards. Keep this in mind, as one side will need to say the name of the card, the other side will have the juicy details. I probably went through 6-8 pieces of paper, just to make sure the title was evenly lined up on the other side of the paper.


STEP 3: Making the Deeds
If you have already decided what colored properties will be for what, then it won't be too difficult for you to make the property cards. These also come from the template you downloaded. A few things to note:
    1. If you choose to go with a thick, white, semi-shiny card stock paper, make sure your template is not near the edge of the paper. I found, after multiple trials and errors, that the closer the template was the edge (like if I wanted to try and print 8 deeds on one sheet), it was harder for the printer to catch the paper and therefore print correctly.
    2. If you print these at home, chances are the white font of "Title Deed" might not be legible. Perhaps if you bold the font it will be clearer, but otherwise it's very hard to read.
    3. I didn't print on the backs of these cards but you certainly can if you like. The main reasons I didn't were because it says how much the mortgage is on the front of the card AND I didn't want to deal with the front and back printing like the community chest/chance cards.

STEP 4: Assembling the Board
You'll need to find an 18"x18" game board - I found one for cheap on eBay and after scouring the internet, I don't think you'll find anything cheaper! Next: find a Kinkos in town. Take your Photoshop file, put it on a thumb drive, and take that thumb drive to Kinko's and ask for an 18" x 18" sticker. It'll take 24 hours to make but well worth it! Very carefully, apply the sticker to the game board. This may take several attempts and you might see bubbles but try to rub them out as soon as you can so they don't stay. If you have someone to help you, that might make things easier, but I did it by myself so it's not impossible to do alone.

STEP 5: Acquiring Remaining Game Pieces
You'd be surprised what else is involved in a Monopoly game! There's:
* game pieces (car, dog, thimble, etc.)
* money
* hotels and houses
* dice
* and most importantly, a box to carry the game and its pieces 

If you want to make it even more personalized, you can find specific game pieces to match the player's likes/hobbies! As for the box, I simply printing out sections of the game board and Mod Podged them to an existing game box (note: this was not a Monopoly box, as I found I originally couldn't get the board to fit!). 

What I later found out, and did do, was cut the board and the sticker so that it was easier to fold into fourths. Don't worry, your board will still look great, just remember to do this with either an x-acto knife or sharp scissors but be careful!


And there you have it kids! Your very own Monopoly game!


TOTAL COSTS: About $70
$9 (including shipping) for game board on eBay
$50 for sticker to be made by Kinko's
$5 for Monopoly pieces on Etsy
$6 for colored card stock from Michael's
White card stock, Mod Podge, x-acto knife, PhotoShop, Word, money, hotels/houses, and box already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Weeks!
But that's because I had no idea what I was going to call the properties, put on any of the cards, etc. Plus, you'll need 24 hours for the sticker to be made anyway.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 4 out of 5
If you're familiar with PhotoShop (or even if you're not), you'll figure it out fast with help from the original template. Putting the sticker on the board without bubbles isn't easy but with a second person helping it should make it a lot easier. Have fun, be creative, put in as many inside jokes as you can, and hope you land on free parking!

62 comments:

  1. You have seriously saved my life.... cafepress.com strung me along for a month saying they could print my Monopoly board I made for my boyfriend for Christmas - we even delayed opening presents for 3 weeks waiting for it to arrive. They ultimately told me they ran out of the game board materials and my project would be indefinitely post-poned. I have been looking online for hours and now thanks to you, I can actually make it on my own! Amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing how you did it!!!!!

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    1. That's the nicest compliment, thank you so much! If you have any questions during the process, please don't hesitate to ask, I'm happy to help however I can. I hope it works out for you but I'm sure no matter what it looks like, your boyfriend will appreciate the time and effort you put into it :)

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  2. sorry I'm not good with photoshop but how do we make the property cards?

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    1. If you downloaded the template from BradFrostWeb's site, the deeds are provided in that file as well. It's just a matter of going in and changing the name of the cards to whatever you like and printing them out!

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    2. ok i see but how about the money there isn't a monopoly money template and on the monopoly money has "monopoly" on the top

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    3. and how do you open the chance and comunity chest cards in word I'm using a mac i can use windows as well

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    4. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to make the money, however if you could design it yourself and print it out! I cheated and stole the money from another game, even though it all said "Monopoly" on it :)

      As for the Chance and Community Chess cards, I created my own template in Word (and I'm also on a Mac). You can fit 8 1.75" x 3" squares on a Word doc, copy and paste Mr. Moneybags images from Google, and type in whatever text you like before printing it out. If you want the backs to say "Chance" and "Community Chess", you'll have to make a Word template with 8 squares that say "Chance" and Community Chess" and feed the same paper that you just printed through the printer to have the backs printed. Note: it's very difficult to get "Chance" and "Community Chess" centered exactly on the backs - I went through a lot of paper to get it exactly right!

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    5. srry I'm having trouble with the property cards when it comes to water works and electric company. I need to print both sides and how can i do that. (I'm not good with tech)

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    6. I don't believe the Photoshop template provides details on the backs of the deeds - you would have to design the back yourself and print on the same sheet of paper. I didn't print anything on the back of the cards, since it would have been too much of a hassle and the only information necessary is also on the front, but good luck to you if that's what you decide to do! :)

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    7. ok then but how do i print them so they are the proper size?

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    8. I printed the deeds straight from Photoshop, since the template already had the correct measurements in place (about 3" x 2.6").

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    9. How can i fold the board if i glued with regular paper (sticker was to costly)? sorry posted in wrong section

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  3. Consider this editable PDF if you aren't a graphic designer. There are property cards too. http://instillingvalues.com/easy-editable-monopoly

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  4. How can i fold the board if i glued with regular paper (sticker was to costly)?

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    1. With an x-acto knife or sharp scissors, while the sticker is attached to the board, cut the sticker along the creases like I did in the photo above, so it's easier to fold the board into fourths!

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    2. I got card stock paper and tried to print it but, the ink just spills all over the paper what do I do?

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    3. If you have a laser ink jet printer, you shouldn't have the ink run all over. The issue might be with the kind of printer you have or with the type of cardstock (if it's matte, glossy, etc.). If the ink is spilling on the paper, another option would be to print on regular colored printer paper and glue it to the cardstock. Good luck!

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    4. ok turnes out it was the printers problem

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    5. THIS WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!! BEST CUSTOM PRINTED MONEY EVER! I CAN USE IT AT STARBUCKS ALSO! WOOWOOO

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  5. How can i fold the board if i glued with regular paper (sticker was to costly)? sorry posted in wrong section

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  6. This guide is total awesome sauce! You rock! I am to the "print a sticker" step, and seeing how I don't live near a Kinko's, I have to order mine online. However, there are too many options. What am I looking for? What paper weight? What paper finish? Any direction you can give me would be appreciated!

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  7. Loved this blog post and I started making my own game. I downloaded the template but Ive never used photoshop before. How do I actually edit and change the place names?

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  8. Hey Kat,
    Great blog... thanks for caring enough to help others realize the fun and excitement that you experienced.
    QUESTION: In the LAYERS PALETTE (Photoshop CS5 - extended) I've notice a yellow triangle with ! in it and that symbol appears next to all lines in the palette that have Text in it. That also seems to make the text un-editable, hence un-customizable. Can you give me a fix for this?
    If I can get this project off the ground, it will be built on a stained-cherry wood base with a pool-table green felt center for dropping the dice. I will send it to you to post if you are interested.
    ERIC

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  9. Hey Kat,
    Great blog... thanks for caring enough to help others realize the fun and excitement that you experienced.
    QUESTION: In the LAYERS PALETTE (Photoshop CS5 - extended) I've notice a yellow triangle with ! in it and that symbol appears next to all lines in the palette that have Text in it. That also seems to make the text un-editable, hence un-customizable. Can you give me a fix for this?
    If I can get this project off the ground, it will be built on a stained-cherry wood base with a pool-table green felt center for dropping the dice. I will send it to you to post if you are interested.
    ERIC

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  10. Hi guys, I've downloaded Brad's template but i can't seem to edit the text on the board? Is there something I'm missing here?

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  11. Hi Kat,

    What did you do about the copyright issue with Kinkos? I sent mine out to get printed and they called me and told me it was impossible to do since Monopoly is copyrighted. When I went in to ask about it, they told me that every place I went would tell me the exact same thing

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. How did you guys open the file? I could only open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader. HELP!! Also, how do you edit the names and titles? Do you guys have a video tutorial on how to use the file?

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    1. you need to use adobe photoshop. If you install the fonts that come with the template you just click the text and it will let you edit it

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  13. With the template when I put the pictures on top of the electric factory they go behind need urgent help with this

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  14. I'll build my own and then sent it MB boardgame company and lets them build bunch of coppys and sell it every were in the usa and internashinal countries!

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  15. for the photoshop template of the property cards hpw did you print them??

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  16. I am struggling with figuring out how to replace the images on the game board, for example the light bulb and the train. Would love anyones help with this!

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  17. You paid wayyyyy too much for the monopoly "sticker". Find a local sign shop and ask them to print you a vinyl layout of your file. If you pay more than $30 for 3 square feet for it you're getting ripped off.

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  18. Any visual originator can make delineations and visual portrayals, however it takes an individual who has the experience and a particular arrangement of aptitudes to concoct a logo that unmistakably characterizes the organization. Here are a couple of rules for visual fashioners who are included with logo structure. These fundamental tips can help singular craftsmen or groups of creators in delivering noteworthy, well known, and notable logos that adequately improve brand mindfulness. logo design service

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  19. Sounds cool but complicating. so im not gonna use it. also because i dont wanna take his idea because its copyrighted sooooo. i could probably make something batter on a website this is pitiful

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  20. I really enjoyed reading this post, I always appreciate topics like this being discussed to us. Information very nice. I will follow post Thanks for sharing.
    Kizi Club | Kizigool | GamesHotAZ | Fri1 Girl | STACK BALL FUN | KiziY8 | PaCo Games

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  21. READ CAREFULLY TO HELP SOMEONE
    My name is clara i'm from uk,i want to use this opportunity to disclose a vital information which I was asked not to.i have a brother who work as an anonymous he was the one who told me about this FREE CARD that you can used in buying and cash out a limit amount of money.he further told me their manager specialize in doing FREE CARD that he his going to send me his email but i should not expose him to manager in case he ask me how i got his email, that i found it on the internet so two days after i contacted him he reply was what's your name and how did you got my email which i told him exactly what my brother told me so after that he further asked me how he can be off help to me which i did by explaining my financial situation.After my explanation he asked some question which i answer then he reply by telling me he his a God fearing man that he was touch by my story that his going to help me.i was so happy he didn't rejected my offer.   So after the interaction he ask me to give him some days that he will get back to me,then after a week interval in the morning i receive a package unknowingly to me he was the FREE CARD follow by the instruction how am going to register and used it.today making it a year plus that have been using this FREE CARD.  NOTE;my major aim of revealing this information is because someone out there is passing through financial challenge you can as well reach him via email [officialfreecardmanager@gmail.com]
     TRY YOUR LUCK WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

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  22. Can't download the template. When I tried, it just took me a create your own website site.

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    1. Yeah, I tried to download the template as well and got the same thing. Is there any way this can be fixed?

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  23. how do u bring the community chest cards and the chance cards to a docs?

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