My family played card games like Kaiser, Canasta, Rummoli, Whist, Cribbage, Up and Down the River and Hearts growing up. I was only introduced to Euchre on one of the first visits at my in-laws. I discovered, since moving to Grande Prairie, that it is a favourite of my husband’s entire family.
We play a lot of board games with my brother in-law and his wife but there are times when we just pull out a deck of cards and play Euchre. It has become customary for the men to play against the women.
I noticed that the question that kept arising during our games was, ”what is trump?”, after we were already playing down cards. We had been using the 8’s and put whatever 8 was trump on the top. Sometimes we would forget to change the 8. I thought that creating a score board would somehow help us remember and move the peg.
There is always some debate over who won how many games the last time we played. This board will keep track of the number of games won. We played on the weekend and, sadly, the men are now ahead 2 games to 1.
Making the board
We had the opportunity, while we lived in Trenton ON, to get 7/8” Maple hardwood flooring from a guy that we were in Pipe Band with.
Dylan milled and dried the wood for us.
We had measured what we needed but ended up having quite a bit left over after we finished the floor.
I am finally finding projects for these leftover hardwood flooring cuts.
The sides were trimmed of using the Table Saw. The left side cut is great as stir sticks for paint or stain. The right side a nice grooved section that I may use to stand wood slices up.
No wood is scrap.
I typed out all the letters and numbers to the size and font that I wanted then traced it onto tracing paper from my IPad screen.
Carbon paper was used to transfer it onto the wood.
I can now use the tracing paper template over and over. I currently have a binder with all the tracing paper templates I have done so far categorized by theme (Christmas, gnomes, games)
After I burned everything on, I painted the two red suits.
The drill press was used for the holes.
I was at eye level with the wood so my drilling wasn’t as even as it could have been.
Next time I will stand on a stool so I am looking down.
The last step was a few coats of Matte Polycrylic to finish it off.
Value Village had a small plastic box of a variety of pegs plus some dice in a bag all for $2.99 so I bought it for this project.
Amazon does sell a value pack of metal pegs for around $20 that I can get for future projects or I will grab some in St. Albert at Mission: Fun & Games.
Because the maple flooring pieces are so varied in grain and colour, each of these will be unique.
I am thinking of other games that I could make a similar board for.
Farkle, Canasta and perhaps Bridge are some ideas but there are often some slight scoring differences based on house rules.
Anyone have any other suggestions?
This story, reminds of our late friends CEC and Ardoise Kendal.
We played kaiser or rummy tile with them.
Trying to remember who’s turn to start or deal became a real joke.
We decided we should have a hat on to tell us the dealer, but, then, who would remember to pass the hat.
In the end we never did anything about it, but sure had lots of laughs.
those look great!! I’d love a couple if you want to make/sell some!
Thanks! I will make a few more and will reach out when they are finished to see if you are still interested.
Great idea always love playing euchre