First Board Game Attempt - Horse Race

This is my first attempt at a board game design. I’ve been wanting to make this forever, but just needed the Glowforge.

The board will fold in half and hold the horses, a pair of dice, and a deck of cards on the inside. I’m hoping to do this with different types of .25" thick wood and glue everything together. I want to use a butler hinge, I think that’s what its called, to make it fold flush. The first layer will be engraved with the board. The second layer of wood will have cutouts to hold magnets that the horses will be moved along. I’ve never done anything like this before. I work in solid models for 3d printers. I can’t wait to try my laser.

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I like that idea! :grinning:

Looks awesome! Let me know what kind of hinge you end up using, I’ll probably want to use something similar in some of my designs.

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I think something like this unless someone has a better option.

http://www.hardwaresource.com/hinges/furniture-hinges/butler-tray-table-hinge-502/butler-tray-table-hinge-1

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I was looking at using these for my backgammon board, but I’ve not tried it yet.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=41265&cat=3,41241

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So one thing no one has really thought about because laser cutters haven’t been just around like popcorn: you could do really precise hinge mortises and starter holes for screws.

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I’m modeling the whole thing 3d in solidworks, then I’ll slice it up for the laser. I’m hoping to only have to use a screw driver when I’m done to put it all together and not have to use a chisel or drill. Fingers crossed!

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These wouldn’t work well for me because I’m building my board in layers. But these are cool hinges.

I really like it.

Are you planning on using six layers of 1/4" material so the board is 1.5" thick when opened and 3" thick when closed? If so, then my only comment is have you considered placing the magnets in the bottom of the horse pieces and using metal strips, or just a metal layer, under the track? It’ll save you a lot in magnets if you plan on producing any for resale.

Six 1/4" layers is correct. That is a good idea. I was concerned about the power of 2 magnets together, one in the horse and one in the board. But now I have to figure out the metal. I don’t want to do strips, because I would like the horses to align to the correct spot, not just move along the board. Maybe I could do a washer and epoxy it into the second layer. Something to think about.

This was just for me. I’m not planning on selling it. But if someone wants to sell it they are welcome to contact me about licensing the design. :wink:

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Magnet to magnet does have the advantage of them self-aligning. The disadvantages, of course, are that if you place a magnet with the wrong pole up your horse will go flying off its spot and pulling them apart from each other, without a leverage point or sliding motion, can be challenging.

A magnet to steel stays were the player puts it. Assuming the base of your horse fits in the holes on the game board, I don’t see how you’d have problems with the horses being in the wrong spot. The hole in the board would take care of the alignment. Unless I’m misunderstanding something crucial in the game mechanics. Therefore, I think you’d be fine with a metal plate below the top layer.

ploymagnets, automatically align the horses to face towards the finish line!

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The top board won’t actually have holes in it. Thats just the best way I could represent the mark with Solidworks. I’m still learning.

I love this… keep the ideas flowing.

These are cool, but probably cost prohibitive. I can get 100 10mm rare earth magnets on ebay for $5.

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almost certainly cost prohibitive… just “barn-storming” here :laughing:
you could do two magnets each space, one N one S, matched with the pieces, but even if that many magnets fit, it would be twice the work building the things.
the steel washer idea with an asymmetrically shaped cut-out would let the piece stick only in the right place and direction, and you could avoid the issue of aligning the magnets

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