Pin the Hat on the Robot Game

If it's a birthday party, you have to have games. If it's an Instructables party, you have to have robots. So.....Here's an Instructables Robot game for your party--Pin the Hat on the Robot!

There are two ways to make the game--

The New School Way, and the Old School Way.

The New School Way--Find a picture, Enlarge it on the computer, Print it, Trim it to fit your backing, Make Hats, and Play it.

The Old School Way--Find a picture, Turn it into a grid pattern, Enlarge the grid, Transfer the grid pattern onto your backing, Ink it, Color it (if you want to), Make Hats, and Play it.

I'll show you the New School Way (Steps 1-7), then I'll show you the Old School Way (Steps 8-17).

NEW SCHOOL

Foamcore--20in. by 30in.

Paper--A4 or 8 1/2" X 11"

Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Word

Tape or Pins

OR

OLD SCHOOL

Foamcore--20in. by 30in.

Graph Paper

Pencil

Ruler

Wide-Tip Marker

Eraser

Paints or Crayons (Optional

Tape or Pins

The New School Way utilizes software to make the design. Here we go!

Since this is an Instructables Robot game, go online to find a picture of an Instructables Robot. The larger the picture is, the less pixilated (smudged, or looking like a Lego block sculpture or a Minecraft picture) the picture will be when you enlarge it to poster size. Save the picture on your device.

I used Microsoft Publisher. As a New project, choose the More Blank Page Sizes option. Use the 16 X 20 inch template (or create a 20 X 30 template).

Paste your image onto the template, click on it, and use the corner arrows to enlarge it to fit the size you want for your gameboard.

Print it out. You will get multiple sheets of paper, each with a portion of the picture--a simple jigsaw puzzle.

There will be a small white border on each page.

You don't want the white page borders on your gameboard, so cut off the top and right white borders of each page.

i also trim off some of the outside sections of the page that aren't part of the picture. When you glue the pages to the backing, you'll use less glue.

Glue the top row of page pieces first, starting from the top-right page (unless you cut off the left-edge borders).

Glue the next page so that the trimmed edge covers the white border of the previous page.

When you finish the top row, glue the next row, covering the white edges of the pages you've already glued.

Continue glueing rows until the picture is complete.

If this was the Pin the Tail on the Donkey game, you would need to make a bunch of donkey tails. Since this is a Pin the Hat on the Robot game, you need to make a bunch of party hats. You could find online pictures of party hats and print copies, or cut out triangles or conical shapes from colored paper, OR......

Extend the party fun by letting your guests make their own party hats for the robot! Print blank sone shapes, give the players crayons or markers, and let them design and color (or decorate) the hats!

You can write the player's name on the hat, if you want to avoid confusion and fights in the game.

1. stick a pin or a loop of tape on the hat.
2. Blindfold the player.
3. (Optional) Turn the blindfolded player around three times to confuse them.
4. Point the blindfolded player toward the gameboard and laugh as they stagger, blindfolded.
5. Let each player have a chance.
6. Winner is the hat closest to the top of the robot's head (Possible extra prize - the hat in the farthest or most embarrassing place).

The Old School Way enlarges the picture using a grid system. Here we go!

Find the image you want to use and save it to your device.

Print the image from your device onto graph paper. I used graph paper that was three squares to the inch.

Using a ruler and a pencil, draw a grid on your foamboard gameboard. I made my grid with one-inch squares.

Using your graphed picture as a guide, draw with a pencil the picture onto the enlarged graph on the foamcore. The parts of the picture in each square are to be copied into a square on the bigger grid.

Use the wide-tip marker to ink in the lines of the picture (Not the lines of the grid!) Try to make it look as much like the original as you can.

After giving the marker ink time to dry, use a good eraser to rub out the lines of the grid.

I left this gameboard picture black and white.

(Optional - Use paint, markers, or crayons to fill in the colors of the picture.)

See Step 6 for instructions.

1. stick a pin or a loop of tape on the hat.
2. Blindfold the player.
3. (Optional) Turn the blindfolded player around three times to confuse them.
4. Point the blindfolded player toward the gameboard and laugh as they stagger, blindfolded.
5. Let each player have a chance.
6. Winner is the hat closest to the top of the robot's head (Possible extra prize - the hat in the farthest or most embarrassing place).

Now you have two different ways to make your own Pin the Hat on the Robot Game. Make it a part of your Instructables 20-Year Birthday party.

Have fun!