I was thinking the other day. They make generic role-playing game GM's screens. They are like a restaurant menu -- they have clear vinyl open on one side mounted on them so you can slip in a printout.
Anyone thought of mounting clear vinyl on a game board to let you slip in a prototype game board without mounting it with glue?
Anyone tried this?
Very interesting idea, I like it!
I've used the GM screen ones before and the work well. If you made them in the form of a quad-fold board, with each quarter holding a letter-sized sheet, it could be pretty sweet. With a GM's screen it's not a problem that there's a substantial gap between each sheet where the vinyl is "welded," but with a game board it could be pretty confusing.
In my idealized design the clear vinyl part would only be attached on two perpendicular edges, the outside edges (when the board is unfolded), so that all four sheets could butt up against each other.
Great idea! I'm not sure if there's be enough interest to make it worth producing, but I sure dig it.
-- Matthew
For anyone interested in this idea for game boards 12inx12in or smaller, you can go to a local craft store that sells scrapbook supplies and buy 12inx12in page protector. Mount this on a little chipboard/cardboard and there you go!
Slide in any proto boards for up to a 12x12 inch board. You could try to put 4 of those together to make a 24x24 board, but I dont know what side effects you will have.
For a prototype board, I find making it folding is more trouble than it's worth. Just carry the big board around - I never have a box anyway, it looks a lot better, and it's a lot more durable.
So just use a huge protector, and slide your sheet inside - no worries about folding.
But, if you're going to produce it and sell it here, it would need to be folded for shipping purposes...
But, if you're going to produce it and sell it here, it would need to be folded for shipping purposes...
-- Matthew
I was thinking maybe take an old board from a game that you're not using and glue your sheets to it, cutting them appropriately. It would work at least for testing the thing till you get it to production. Just an idea.
Indeed, that works quite well (and there's quite a bit of discussion of it in this forum, with lots of great technique ideas). The vinyl covered board, though, is great if your board is constantly changing. I can tell you as someone who's had to glue down proto boards more than a dozen times for a single game that just being able to slip some sheets into a vinyl foldy hard thing would be a huge improvement. Not unlike the way I use card protectors for early prototypes, and then create more permanent laminated cards after I'm pretty sure they're going to last through multiple playtests.
-- Matthew
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-- Matthew
I was considering making it a bi-fold board instead of a quad-fold board. I was going to seal it along the outside edge, leaving the "loading edge" at the center of the board. That way the two parts would meet flush with no gap between them.