Family Project

Remember last November when it was Blog Every Day Month (or something) and I blogged about some of our favorite family games? Do you remember? Or did you skim over those because you do not care about our games? Well, hmph. Anyway, we brought a lot of our favorite games with us to New Zealand, and some of them have become quite popular. For instance, a few people have asked us, "Do you guys know how to play Liar's Dice?" To which we have responded, "Are you kidding? You know how to play the dice game BECAUSE of us!"

Anyway, we somehow got it into our heads that it would be fun to introduce Survive! Of course, the problem was that we don't have it, and Parker Brothers hasn't made it for years. The only family members that own it are Eric's parents and that is because Bry and Bri found it on eBay (I think) and gave it to them. "No problem," Eric thought. "We'll just make it."

Yes, we will make the board, 16 sand hexes, 16 jungle hexes, 8 rock hexes, 14 boats, 40 men with points underneath, 5 whales, 5 sea monsters and 6 sharks.

And then we set to work. We are now almost finished, and we are really absurdly pleased with ourselves and how everything is turning out.

Eric worked really hard to create the board. He traced the hexes that he printed and had laminated, first with pencil, then with a Sharpie.
Then he painted it blue and created the islands in the corners.

I used Make'n'Bake clay and a steak knife to create the shark fins, whale tales and sea serpent heads. I'm ridiculously proud of those sea serpents. Look at them! They are scary and green.

The cheapest part of the game were the metal washers and and garage sale stickers that will be considered men.

Eric has made some boats, and soon we will cut the excess off the board so we can have the hexes on cardboard rather than just laminated paper. I'll post a picture when it's all complete.

Of course, it is worth noting that it is actually costing us more to put the game together than it would to have just bought a version off eBay. But, think of the quality time! And the fun we've had!