Nice work. Thanks for posting. There is a big rail line getting taken up in Missouri not far from where I live. I leave you to fill in the blanks about my thoughts of this. Anyway. I like the opener spike design. As to board games: Catan stuff and Scrabble tiles. Cribbage boards.
Interesting site for anyone interested in creating an “…opoly” game http://hubpages.com/games-hobbies/make-your-own-monopoly There are actually several sites for similar templates. The pic that led me to this site was this 600 hour laser created version 
apologies - I do not know the exact craftsman for photo credit - beautiful job ( I like the inlay look for the property colors)
more pics at http://imgur.com/gallery/mdoPg
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Bookmarked! Thanks! A custom …opoly board has been on my GF to do list for some time.
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If you build one, an alternate technique to using the hinges for the folding board is to use puzzle-piece joints to join the two halves of the board. I like them because they let it fit together pretty tightly when playing but allow it to disassemble easily and are less obtrusive than the hinges (they also don’t have issues with the barrel marking the board when they’re folded).
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Always wanted to create my own Monopoly game money using real banknotes. The big problem, banks tend not to keep notes from countries undergoing hyper-inflation, always thought Zimbabwe would be good but you try getting hold of the currency. Another problem, or opportunity, very few countries have 1 currency unit notes, Monopoly “1 dollar notes” might have to be 10, 100, or even 1000, I guess you create your own inflated values for properties.
“Go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not pick up one hundred billion dollars”
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Now that is super rad! Nice work. thanks for sharing 
I have kept numerous bills and coins from every country I have been to. Never had a reason for it.
Now I wish I had kept more.
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I believe you meant:
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That’s a really great idea actually. I’ve been browsing all over www.banknoteworld.com. I might have to do this.
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Real banknotes’ big attraction for me is their durability and they tend to be far more colourful and interesting than the original Monopoly money.
This was a useful question, i wish i had access to a definitive answer to some of these things myself.
I am an old-school gamer and coder. As a kid i owned a LOT of the classic (thinking Avalon Hill and the likes) and i still purchase some of the better ones.
I recently hosted an 8 hour game of the original Civilisation - it was a blast (next stop teaching them Advanced Squad Leader)
As a coder i have long wanted to take some of these forgotten games and breathe life into them (‘Kingmaker’ for instance) but am horrified at the hassle involved in chasing down the IP.
Does anyone here know of a authoritative source for game IP ownerships?
(tongue in cheek response…)
That’s easy. You just push ahead with re-producing the IP, and suddenly the courts show up and tell you precisely who already owns it. You never have to lift a finger!
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Ha.
@bdm
this article has some tips on where to start looking:
https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/how-to-determine-if-your-intellectual-property-already-exists.rl
Might be able to find stuff here as well:
https://ipassessment.uspto.gov/
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Well now… THAT was perfect (though 5 quick searches have crushed my dreams)
Thank you very much for the excellent links
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(tongue in cheek response…)
That’s easy. You just push ahead with re-producing the IP, and suddenly the courts show up and tell you precisely who already owns it. You never have to lift a finger!
Unfortunately where money is concerned (and games are ca$h-munnie$) this is only the first step.
The next step is that an out-house developer gets a call from the IP owner and they start working on the game since they figure there must be a market for it.
One thing to remember is that game mechanics can NOT be copyrighted. So, you are perfectly free to make a mechanically identical game, so long as the theme isn’t copied exactly.
In the board game industry this can sometimes be construed as a “dick move” but for a lot of these older IPs, I doubt anyone would put up a fuss.
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More gold… thank you very much.
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Hey, thanks for the links! Bookmarked!
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I started a Tsuro at our local makerspace. About half way through the front side engrave (the back side was already finished) the laser crapped out, and shortly after the makerspace closed down. Really looking forward to actually finishing it. I also have designs for Risk, Lutso, themed Monopoly, and Catan. Board games are one of my favorite things to design and build with a laser cutter.
Here are the files for Tsuro. I had to remove the index guides for file size reasons, but that shouldn’t matter with GF 2 sided engraving, right? 
Tsuro Final Files cleaned.zip (9.6 MB)
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One of the projects I’m looking forward to is making my own Pai Sho board and pieces. It’s a game shown in “Avatar: The Last Airbender” cartoon. I"m sure it will take me longer than I expect, and I expect it to take about a year to make. BUT it will be AWESOME when it’s done! 
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