Spill-Proof Monopoly Board

Game boards are fun. Except when you can't find a place to put them for the entire time it takes to play the game (especially when playing Risk or Monopoly). Wherever you put them, it seems, they got knocked over or rattled so much that keeping the game organized enough to actually play is a chore instead of a fun group activity.

One day, though, I had a revelation! What if board games didn't take up any table space? What if they were mounted so that they could be either a decoration or a game... or both simultaneously?! What if you could play Monopoly on the wall?

See a test of my wall-mounted solution in the video above.

You will need the following:

• Hot Glue
• A Monopoly Board
• Four Thin Strips of Steel (or other magnetic metal)
• Corrugated Cardboard (I would have used acrylic, but I didn't have any on hand.)
• Sixty Small Rare Earth Magnets (get them here)

Attach your magnetic metal strips to the back of the property squares all along the four sides of the board using hot glue. The goal is to make the properties magnetic on the front of the board.

For metal, I used some old, bent-up curtain rods that I flattened out. If you want a more professional look, just go down to your local hardware store and buy some light, magnetic metal strips.

This step requires a bit of creativity on your part because I don't have a printoff for the dimensions of my card holder. I made the card holder because I needed something to hold the cards on the board when the board was mounted on the wall (obviously). All I did was fold a small cardboard slot for the "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards and then hot glue them onto the board.

I would have used acrylic instead of cardboard to achieve a cleaner look, but I don't have acrylic or a laser cutter (I know a laser cutter isn't necessary for cutting acrylic, but it sure makes it easier).

Making the houses and hotels stick to the board while it is hanging on the wall is easy. Just put a small dab of hot glue inside the indentation on the bottom of the house/hotel and then press a magnet into the hot glue until it is flush with the outside of the piece. Let it dry. The piece should now magnetically stick to the board.

Making the playing pieces stick is a little bit more difficult. For the hat and bucket just follow the instructions for the houses and hotels. For the other pieces, just do your best to glue the magnet on in an unobtrusive way.

Now you can hang the board on the wall. I rested the metal on the back on a nail on the wall and it has worked great! To play the game, you'll need another small container in which to store the bank's money and the players' property cards and money. Just store this small container in a safe space until you're ready to play, then take out your cards and roll the dice!

If you liked this idea and want to see a more professional version (also a wall-mounted version of Risk!) please vote for me in the Epilog VIII contest. If I won the laser cutter, I would engrave a map of the world into sheet of steel and create a decorative (but still usable) wall-mounted, spill-proof Risk board.

If you have any comments or ideas for improvement just leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!