"Rachel's Rings" Memory Game

   Projects are usually most fun when accomplished with somebody else who loves working on them and is excited about the potential. And even though this Instructable is about making a game, it is one of the most fun ones I have made because it was a team effort. 

    This Instructable will introduce you to my niece and co-creator, Rachel. Rachel is 7 and loves to make things. Her room is full of crafts and games that she is working on, and whenever she comes over to our place we usually do some craft or project together. Most times we make something for our cat Eli, because cats are very important in her life. But this Instructable is about a Matching-and-Memory Game that we made together. And because it is a joint project, it is also going to be a joint write-up. Together we will explain each step.

• 20 cabochon ring blanks. We used these. (This is not an affiliate link.)
• one sheet of assorted sizes of acrylic stick-on "Rhinestone" jewels. We used these. (This is not an affiliate link.)
• paper and a colour printer
• a laminator and supplies
• a small piece of thin plywood (For the spinner base)
• a small piece of scrap brass (For the spinner indicator)

Tools

• colour printer
• paper laminator and lamination pockets
• camera
• tweezers
• scissors
• saw
• screwdriver
• hacksaw
• pliers

Joel Says:

Although memory games are very common, we cannot take credit for this specific concept. It is all based on a 1980's game that we had as children. It was called “Rings on your Fingers,” and was manufactured by the Milton Bradley company. The set had a cardboard game board along with plastic rings with sticker labels on the faces. Our family had a set that my mom still keeps in her games cupboard. At this point it is missing pieces and worn, but we still borrow it to play with our nieces when they come over. Not a lot of information exists on the original, but some pictures can still be found over at boardgamegeek.

To play the game, 20 unique rings are scrambled and placed facedown on coloured spaces on a board. Each player gets a card, or several cards, that shows which sets of rings they must collect. During a turn, a player will spin a selector to decide which colour spot on the board they may select from. They can only pick up a ring from one of those spaces. If it matches one of the ring designs on their card, they keep it as a point. If it does not match, they put it back down on the board. The player who does need that ring needs to remember the space and spin that colour to pick it up. First player to complete their set (or sets) wins.

We wanted to make a fancy game set, with prettier rings and a durable board. And we're very happy with the way that it turned out.

Rachel Says:

" When somebody gets their colour, they get to go again because it was their colour on their card. It's as long as people getting all their colour. All the rings in their colour card."

Joel Says:

It is very important that every single ring be unique and easily identifiable, yet also a clear part of a set. 20 rings need to be made for the game in total, broken down into 4 sets. Each of the 4 sets needs to made up of 5 rings. We went with colour, so each set is based around a different central colour theme. (5x Green, 5x Blue, 5x Red, 5x Yellow) So before you begin, make a plan for patterns that you might make and ensure that you have enough jewels to be able to do so. We colored the back of the red rings as well to make them pop more.

It is important that the rings you use have a bezel (Raised Lip) around the face. This allows it to sit flat on the board, even with jewels on the face. Also, make sure that the jewels you use are not too deep. You want them to be flush or a little bit recessed from the edge of the ring.

Because I have large stubby fingers, I needed to use fine tweezers to place the jewels into the ring face. Take each ring from the acrylic sheet very gently, and place it very lightly into the cabochon face. Once you have fit them all in, then press the group down tightly to bond the adhesive.

Alternatively, you could create digital jewel patterns and then print them off on sticker paper and cut that to fit inside of each ring. Or, do a poured epoxy swirl. Or place plain paper inside each cabochon face, and let each kid colour their own set of rings by hand. The options for how you make them are practically endless

Rachel Says:

"There was a sheet of stickers that we put in the rings. We picked 5 of each color and shape. And each color had one shape."

Joel Says:

The board was designed on the computer. 20 squares are needed, 1 for each ring. So I laid out all the squares so they could fit onto an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet. Then Rachel selected 5 different colours and a fade pattern in order to make it fancy. We distributed these across the board equally. So, there are four of each colour spot.

We printed off the sheet, and then ran it through the laminator so that it won't fall apart as easily.

Our board design file is attached below.

Rachel Says:

" Well, the first thing would be you choose the colors that you like. And then put black around for the outside. I like the colors that we put on the board."

Joel Says:

Making the spinner was probably the most technical part of this project. We started by designing the face. It needed five different colours on it to match the five colours of the board spaces. Once it was designed and laid out, we printed it and laminated it, and then cut it out.

We took this paper to the garage, and cut a piece of thin plywood to the same size as it. It was December and very cold. We used super glue to glue the paper onto the plywood. I took a bit of leftover brass from a hinge, and cut it and bent it to become a spinner bar. Then Rachel used a screw to fasten that onto the base.

You do want to make a fairly heavy base. That is why we used the wood. Otherwise the base flies around when people are flicking the spinner.

Our spinner face design file is attached below

Rachel Says:

"We chose the colors matching the board and we laminated it. And then we cut a piece of wood. And then we found a piece to spin. And then we screwed it on."

Joel Says:

The game needs to have each set of rings identified on a collection card. Rather than trying to lay these out on a base to photograph, Rachel put each set of rings onto her hand and we took clear pictures of that. I didn't think of it at the time, but in order to make it fancier, we probably could have painted her fingernails for the picture as well. (We only have a boy and a cat, so I am not very good at thinking of these things for a little girl.)

Once we had clear pictures of each set on Rachel's hand, then we took them back to the computer and created coloured borders. So the red set has a red border, the green set has a green border, etc. We printed these off, and laminated them as well, and then cut them out.

Our collection cards are attached.

Rachel Says:

"I put 5 of one color rings and 5 of another color rings on the other hand. And then I got the other colors on my hands. And Uncle Joel took pictures of them. And then we put red on the card on the outside of the card that was red. And I put black around the red and black around the other colors of the rings. And then laminated it. And that's how we made the cards."

Joel Says:

It was a very busy evening, but we got it all done in one night. And then we played a couple of games yet. Rachel had one set, I had another set, my wife Kat had another set, and Eli the cat was in charge of the last set. But he wasn't very good at playing and Rachel usually had to take his turn for him. Also, the rings never really fit my finger well. But they all looked very nice on Rachel's hands. We found a box we could put the game in, and decided we were finished. Then we all needed to watch Frozen 2 in order to unwind.

Also a big "Thank You" to Kat for taking pictures of us as we worked on this. Rachel and I planned to do this project and Instructable contest together, but that meant we were both too busy to take all the pictures.

Rachel Says:

" We were playing the game and after we finished making the game and then we watched Frozen 2."

We hope you enjoyed this Instructable.