Updated Altoids Tin Game Cabinet! 19 Games + Cards and Dice!

Hello! In the past few weeks, I've spent a LOT of time obsessing over the idea of having a transportable game cabinet in an Altoids tin. Some might say I've spent "tOo MuCh" time working on this, however I beg to differ. I first got the inspiration from this site, and I decided to pursue it. The only problem was that there was a lack of boards and accompanying pieces! There was work to be done, so I did a bit more digging; I stumbled across this Instructable, and I knew it would be a perfect combo! I decided to derive the best parts from both of them! The ideas in this page are owed to these sites, all the credit goes to them; please don't thank me for compiling these two, acknowledge the other creators!

This game kit will include games like: Yahtzee, Go, Cribbage, Backgammon, Farkle, Chess, Chinese Checkers, Checkers, Duel (see below), Shogi, Othello, 9 Man's Morris, 12 Man's Morris, Liar's Dice, Dice 10,000, Bunco, Beetle, LCR and Pips! There are WAY more games you can add with more materials, but you might need to remove other games in exchange!

The supplies for this are minimal! I had some of the materials laying about, so I only spent about $20 (USD) on this, but you might be spending more than that ($25-30 USD). I made sure to use accessible materials, just about everything should be on Amazon!

• An Altoids Tin (obviously!)
• An accessible printer OR small notecards and a ruler
• Scissors, wire cutters, OR a sharp object!
• Either a laminator OR clear tape!
• Bobby pins OR paper clips
• 8-12mm dice (the smaller, the better)
• Magnetic sheets (adhesive backing or not, there's no preference!)
• A miniature deck of cards, roughly 2. 5" x 1. 8"
• Markers or strong colored pencils (For marking and coloring)

Some of these are flexible, and I encourage you to include games and additions that you enjoy. I tried to fit all of the games included in the previously mentioned guides. Here are some optional materials you might benefit from:

• Doubling Dice (For Backgammon)
• Velcro (for the deck of cards)
• Post-It Notes and a small pencil (For Farkle, Yahtzee or general scorekeeping)
• A hole puncher (to punch out the magnetic sheets)
• Mini sheets of graph paper (For Battleship)
• Small Marbles (These take up so much space, you probably won't be able to fit more than 1 or 2 without needing removing anything :/ )
• Sandpaper (for filing in Step 1)

At the end of this step, the tin should be cleaned and have 2 small holes to fit bobby pins or paper clips! These holes will fit the bobby pins (or paperclips) used to hold the boards in place during travel.

Materials needed:

• Bobby Pins or Paper Clips
• The Altoids Tin
• A knife, wirecutters, or a sharp object
• A marker (if need be)
• Sand paper if the cuts are too rigid

Steps:

1. Make sure to THOROUGHLY clean the tin! Any dust or powder will make the paper sticky! I used isopropyl alcohol and a clean, dry paper towel.
2. Mark the area of the cuts (don't make them too wide, but make them large enough to fit a bobby pin). There should be 1 mark on each side, a few centimeters from the hinges.
3. Cut into the tin, making sure to follow the holes well. Use a file or sandpaper to wear down the tin if it's too thick to cut into. After cutting, you can use the sandpaper to smooth ridges and make sure there aren't any sharp pieces of metal. Please be careful!
4. Insert your bobby pins or paper clips (see below)

IF using paperclips:

1. Unravel the paper clip to one long strand.
2. Twist or break off half the clip, leaving a few inches of metal
3. Fold it in half, making sure the crease point is well folded! (this is important for keeping the pages down)
4. Repeat twice!

At the end of this step, you should have several small game boards; they need to be large enough to play on, but small enough to fit in the tin without folding or bending the cards! The PDFs for these sheets are under this step, of course created by the owners of the posts mentioned previously. Duel is my favorite of all of these, however the URL has been shut down. Using this Wayback Machine link, you can find the rules and guide to this game! It is played with a standard set of cards, and is modeled after the MTG trading card game.

The Yahtzee sheet may need to be adjusted or folded; I tried to scale it, but it might not have come out correctly. If you happen to create or find a better version, please put it in the comments :)

Materials needed:

• A knife, wirecutters, or a sharp object
• A laminator OR clear tape
• An accessible printer OR small notecards and a ruler
• The documents below

Steps:

1. Download and print (or copy) the PDFs below. They should be everything you need, but if you find other boards or more ideas for games, I would LOVE to put them in the document!
2. Cut the borders down to make sure they fit in the top of the tin! Don't make the same mistake as me...
3. Either laminate or use clear tape to fully cover the slips of paper; this might not be the most protective, but it's better than nothing, right? Make sure the edges are completely covered!
4. Try to fit the pieces into the top of the tin, where the Bobby Pins stick into the tin. If needed, cut down the tape or paper.

At the end of this step, you should have a finished set of pieces! This part is a bit difficult, so I recommend finding a quiet place to work. The hardest part for me was following instructions correctly, so I tried to make the instructions clearer.

P.S. The author of the previously mentioned Instructable (ATTILAtheHUNgry) wrote the list, I clarified it.

Materials:

• Magnetic sheets
• Scissors OR a hole puncher
• Markers or strong colored pencils
• *Patience*

Chess: Round checkers pieces with small pictures, each symbolizing a piece. I tried my hardest, but they didn't come out very well! :(

Go: A 9x9 Go board uses 81 pieces, so I punched out 81 pieces from the magnetic sheet. I think a hole punch is really handy here, with so many pieces. The magnetic sheet naturally has both a white side and a black side, so to differentiate pieces, simply flip them over. The Backgammon pieces, Othello pieces, Nine/Twelve Man Morris pieces, and Checkers pieces are all just a subset of these 81 Go pieces!

Backgammon: Just 30 of the 81 Go pieces. I used the two extra Farkel dice to simulate a doubling cube.

Nine and Twelve Man's Morris: Just use Go pieces as well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Shogi: The small pieces might be too small, just write small English equivalent

 Chinese Checkers: I took the Go pieces and colored the parchment with markers

Cribbage: 3 players with 3 pieces each = 9 pieces; not too hard!

Farkle: All you need are six dice and post-its.

LCR: You just need 3 dice with the treatment proceeding this. I wrote L, C, R on each respective side and drew a dot on each remaining side of a die.

Checkers: Use Go pieces.

Othello: Use Go pieces.

This part isn't necessary, but I just wanted to give some sides notes and ideas :)

• I put masking tape over the nutrition facts and replaced it with some inside jokes :'>
• I put a small magnetic piece under the tin where the magnetic pieces should go; it won't help much with keeping the pieces down, but anything helps, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• I etched a small face onto the front of the tin (which I thought added a nice touch)
• Because the of the bobby pins, the tin wouldn't stay closed, so I put a hair tie around the tin
• I made sure to put the 𝕎𝕚𝕘𝕘𝕝𝕪 side of the bobby pins on the inside of the tin, so the boards won't be pulled out or something wacky!
• I stuck a small piece of velcro underneath the cards and where they sit, so the deck won't shift around in your pocket; this also keeps the cards in place!
• I put a pair of tweezers above the pencil, so if I need to grab small pieces quickly, I won't need to suffer for 3 minutes...

I really think the finished product is fantastic, and I applaud the previous 2 posts for this idea! I've played so many games of Farkle at dinner while working on this project, I think my family's sanity is slowing dying. Of course, I would love to hear what other ideas YOU -- yes, you -- have, and any improvements or modifications I could add or edit. If you feel I didn't give enough credit or could elaborate on a particular section in the project, just comment so!

I would love to hear your feedback!

(Not to mention grammatical errors, I hate writing mistakes >:c )