Vintage Monopoly Game Mover Keyring

I found an awesome old Monopoly set in a charity shop (thrift store) recently... at least, it would have been awesome if it hadn't been missing so many of its pieces! I bought it anyway, because I loved the wooden houses and hotels, but particularly the old die cast movers. I wasn't sure they were even Monopoly movers at first, so different they were from the ones we all know and love now. But when I showed them to my father he instantly confirmed that they were, dating from the 1950s. The tank wyas his favourite, and he squabbled with his brother to be the tank every time that they played. So I thought that, at long last, he deserved a tank of his own! I decided to make it into a keyring for him. I love the patina on the tank. I love how every little dink and scratch and chip is evidence of its previous life and the games played using it! But you could use other discarded game pieces to nice effect. There are so many awesome game parts that are no longer played with.

This is a nice simple project and requires little in the way of tools and equipment:

• Game pieces
• Keyring finding
• Screw-in eyelets
• Jump rings

You will also need two pairs of pliers (or one pair and a jump ring opener) and a drill with a small drillbit - mine was 1.4mm

First, you need to drill your game mover. Use a very small drill bit, but ensure you can still thread the yjump ring of the keyring finding through the hole, as they are heavy-duty and can be a little large. I used a 1.4mm drill bit, and a dremel in a drill press stand for maximum control. Be careful if you are using a plastic game mover, as the drill could melt the plastic very quickly. Depending on the game mover, you may wish to drill a hole and then fix an eyelet in the hole - if you do this, you will need to use a drill bit the same size as the eyelet screw.

I decided to use a house and hotel from the game on my keyring. Because they were soft wood, I used the screw of the eyelet to make the hole - if it were a harder material I would have pre-drilled the hole. As it was, I simply used a pair of pliers to screw the eyelet into place.

The jump ring on my keyring finding is heavy gauge and far stronger than any jump rings that I had, so I decided to attach it to the main fob - the tank - directly. Using pliers, open the jump ring by sliding its two sides away from one another - not by pulling the two ends apart - if you pull the ends apart the jump ring will get misshapen and you won't be able to close it again.

Once the jump ring was open, I threaded on the tank and then closed it again. I attached the house and hotel using smaller jump rings.

And with that, the keyring is finished! I really like how it turned out and I'm sure my father will love it. There are so many cool old game pieces no longer wanted or used, I think this is a great way of making them useful again. I hope you do too!