Make Your Own Board Game

You can use these game board models to relive the gaming fun of the eighteenth century. The images are taken from the Dictionnaire de jeux, an alphabetical encyclopedia of games published in Paris in 1792 and modeled on the famous Encyclopédie of Diderot and D’Alembert.

Step One: Download a Game Board

There are five options (click for full-sized version):

Step Two: Print

You can be as simple or fancy as you choose. Print on plain paper or print on heavy stock and attach to block of marble. Be creative.

Step Three: Devise Rules

You have two main options here: be historically accurate by using a contemporary source (the Dictionnaire des jeux is one place to start – it’s available online at the website of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) or just make up your own rules.

Step Four: Play!

Imagine yourself using a game board like this in the middle of the French Revolution.