Los Angeles fans, brace yourselves! This DIY Chutes and Ladders board game is hilarious, colorful, and the perfect addition to your game night. Download the file and make it yourself with the tutorial below.
You guys. YOU GUYYYYYSSSS!!!
This project has been a dream of mine for a couple of years and we can finally share it with you!
I had the idea to create games based on cities we’ve lived in, and it’s here.
We teamed with illustrator Hailey Nowak to make a Los Angeles-based Chutes and Ladders game for you to play on your next game night! (She also made this one for us.)
I am so, so pumped today and I hope you absolutely love this one.
Psst — before you get the download, be sure to sign up below for my VIP group. I send these folks my very best downloads, DIYs, and family ideas.
It’s Not Shoots and Ladders
You know what’s funny? When I was researching Chutes and Ladders as a board game, I found that when most people type in the name of the game, they spell it ‘Shoots’ rather than ‘Chutes.’
Initially the game originated in India and was a part of a series of dice games that included Pachisi. Eventually it made its way to the UK where it was traditionally called Snakes and Ladders.
And eventually when it began selling in the US it was renamed Chutes and Ladders – a chute, of course, being another name for a slide.
Make a Los Angeles Chutes and Ladders Game
Materials
Make Time: About 5 Minutes (See Below!)
We’re taking a bit of a different approach to “making” this game because we found a totally rad site online that lets you print out your own board games!
So I admit it, we cheated on the DIY front a bit. But the quality of the printed game board is really fantastic for the price (about $16 before shipping), and I didn’t think that we could DIY it any better or cheaper.
That being said, later on in this post there are hacked DIY instructions in case you really want to make it yourself.
No matter which you to, you’ll first need to download our file. (Note: The colors will look a little weird on the download page but after you save the file they’ll be just right.)
How To Order the Los Angeles Chutes and Ladders Game
Then head over to Print Play Games and select an 18″x18″ Deluxe Board from the dropdown menu. Upload the Chutes and Ladders file on the same page and add it to your cart.
Then just check out and your game will arrive in a few days! (FYI, Print Play Games isn’t a sponsor for the post, they just happen to be a perfect solution for our little project.)
We also bought a couple of little people to move around the board.
And the dice from our DIY Yahtzee Game are perfect for rolling on this game too. Just use one to roll for your turn and move the correct number of spaces.
How to DIY the LA Chutes and Ladders Game
If you want to try to DIY it, this part is for you!
Materials
Make Time: 2 Hours
Instructions
- Download the file. It will be an oversized print, so you’ll need to take it to a print shop and have them make an extra large drafting print for you. It should be 18″ x 18″ when printed.
- Cut your chipboard into four 9″ x 9″ squares.
- Cut your printed game board into four 9″ x 9″ squares.
- Spray the chipboard with an even, thin coat of spray glue and mount the four pieces of the game board to the four pieces of the chipboard.
- Once dry, place the game face down on the ground, and be sure the pieces are in order. Use packing tape to tape the horizontal seam between the two pieces on the right. Then do the same with the vertical seams in the center. This should create a game that you can fold into quarters.
- Flip it over and play! Use dice you have on hand and game pieces can be anything you have around the house. Try coins, game pieces from other games, or anything.
What Other Cities Should We Do?
Now, a few things! I have big dreams of making a series of Chutes and Ladders games in different cities, so I have to know — which other cities would you like to see?!
And within those cities, what are some of the things you’d have happen in the game?
I’d love to do NYC and have a subway breakdown send you all the way back to start, because that happened to us way too many times.
Leave a comment and let us know! And have fun! xoxo
Instructions
- Download the file. It will be an oversized print, so you’ll need to take it to a print shop and have them make an extra large drafting print for you. It should be 18″ x 18″ when printed.
- Cut your chipboard into four 9″ x 9″ squares.
- Cut your printed game board into four 9″ x 9″ squares.
- Spray the chipboard with an even, thin coat of spray glue and mount the four pieces of the game board to the four pieces of the chipboard.
- Once dry, place the game face down on the ground, and be sure the pieces are in order. Use packing tape to tape the horizontal seam between the two pieces on the right. Then do the same with the vertical seams in the center. This should create a game that you can fold into quarters.
- Flip it over and play! Use dice you have on hand and game pieces can be anything you have around the house. Try coins, game pieces from other games, or anything.
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