Friday, May 11, 2012

FDQ: Do You Add Bling to Your Games?

*Our weekly FDQ is your chance to share your stories or thoughts on various boardgame topics. We love to hear your comments!  And, if you have a question or an idea for an FDQ let us know on Twitter, in a comment below, or just e-mail us!*

When scrolling through the pictures on Board Game Geek, it doesn't take long to find gamers taking matters into their own hands. Custom Crokinole boards. More evocative minis. Carved, knitted, painted: whatever a person's other hobby, it is combined into the hobby of gaming to create something of beauty. So that's today's question: do you add custom bling to your games? Answer in the comments!  Feel free to share pictures.

@FarmerLenny holds forth:
I'm not very good with my hands, so often custom bling is beyond me. However, I do like to make my games special where I can. I sometimes follow my sister's lead in Canasta Caliente, allowing the winner of the previous round to wear the coveted chili pepper necklace. I had great plans to pimp my copy of the 1962 version of Acquire...until I found the 1999 one at a reasonable price. How do you improve upon those skyscrapers?

It's not exactly a case of adding bling, but I did create a new storage solution for Dominion to make all of my expansions fit in one box (just like everyone else). And if a game is complex, I'll usually make (or find) an aid so players know what options are available to them. (Though I eschew aids for something like 7 Wonders because the aid can easily become a crutch; the iconography is easy enough to master after one game.)

I do have two bling dreams for my games: a custom draw bag for Ra and a new carved king for El Grande. If these projects ever come to fruition, you can be sure you'll see them here.

@Futurewolfie mutters:
When most of the games you buy are from Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight, everything is pretty blinged out already.  Most of the "bling" I've considered adding is in the way of storage solutions - trying to find good plastic storage for SmallWorld tokens, or card boxes to keep Twilight Imperium organized (neither of which has been successful or completed in any fashion...).

However, I do have lots of minis, and the best way to bling out minis is to paint them.  I'm no minis painter - I have neither the patience, nor the dexterity.  Fortunately, a good friend and fellow gamer has invested some time into minis painting.  I hope to get my Battlestar Galactica minis painted next week, and eventually my Star Trek: Fleet Captains minis detailed.  Unfortunately none of this has been done yet, so I have no pictures to share.


4 comments:

  1. I was wondering if I was the only person who did this. Thanks for posting the article!

    I collected all the expansions for Carcassonne, but I didn't care for lugging all the boxes to conventions. I found a nice ArtBin case and made decals for both sides. It's nice to have a dad in the sign business. The decals are printed on adhesive-backed vinyl.
    http://coreyyoung.com/gamemods/cbox1.jpg
    http://coreyyoung.com/gamemods/cbox2.jpg

    I also found colored dice bags for each player color. All the components each player needs fit nicely in each. It really speeds up setup time. You'll notice that my meeple have the decals from the Spielbox bonus set.
    http://coreyyoung.com/gamemods/cbags.jpg

    I play a bit of mahjongg when I can find players. My friend got me a nice set with bamboo backs. I made these trays which hold the tiles at a nice angle and have space for the exposed tiles. They are exactly 18 tiles wide, which really helps speed up building the walls.
    http://coreyyoung.com/gamemods/mjtray.jpg

    For 7 Wonders, I made one die with all 10 wonders on it, and another with A/Bs on it for determining the who gets each wonder. It's not that useful, but we do use the A/B die quite a bit.
    http://coreyyoung.com/gamemods/7wdice.jpg

    And lastly, when I was a freshman in college, I took a class in copper enameling. Don't ask. Anyway, I made the cover for this box, then built the box. I used to use it quite a bit, but I've since found a terrific padded bag that opens into a rolling "tray" of sorts.
    http://coreyyoung.com/gamemods/dicebox.jpg

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  2. Thanks for sharing! The Wonder die is a really cool idea. Those Carcassonne boxes are SLICK.

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  3. I have one of my two pimped-out games shown at http://boardgamemadness.blogspot.com/2012/05/pimp-my-boardgames-wine-box-card-case.html?m=1

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  4. 18AL, as much fun/work to construct as it is to play:
    http://boardgamemadness.blogspot.com/2012/05/pimp-my-boardgames-18al-looking-sharp.html

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