Board Games

Chess in the Park with chessmen and staircase (in the background) created with a Maker Pen.

The Bauhaus design of chess pieces by Josef Hartwig is well suited for chess in Rec Room.

Playing on the Playfield in the Park

Many games can be played on checkerboards, e.g., chess, draughts, etc. (see the list on boardgamegeek.com). In Rec Room, most of these games can be played on the checkered playfield in the Park by creating a Custom Room and creating the required pieces with a Maker Pen from the Sandbox Machine. See the Custom Room ^BauhausChessLarge for an example.

Tips

• Since the checkered pattern is quite large, the pieces should be about human size.
• The cloning function of the Maker Pen can be used to create many identical pieces.
• To avoid that pieces are pushed over by accident, all pieces should be pushed slightly into the ground when placing them such they cannot move without being picked up.
• The Maker Pen can also be used to build staircases, ramps, or large boulders for players to overview the game.

Playing on a Maker Pen Checkerboard

You can also create a checkerboard with the Maker Pen. This allows you to create the board and the pieces in any size and in any location. See the Custom Rooms ^BauhausChessSmall and ^BauhausChessMedium for examples.

Tips

• Use the snapping, group, and clone functions to create and position the tiles of the checkerboard. To save ink, create the whole checkerboard without ever going to "Play" mode.
• Once the checkerboard is ready, activate "Play" mode and use the edit function to freeze the checkerboard such that players don't accidentally pick it up. Also freeze any other objects (e.g., tables) that players might accidentally pick up.
• The cloning function of the Maker Pen can be used to create many identical pieces.
• To avoid that pieces are pushed over by accident, all pieces should be pushed slightly into the checkerboard when placing them such they cannot move without being picked up.

Games Without Moving Your Opponent's Pieces

Connect four; image by Red Drummer

Some games don't require any player to move (nor remove) any of their opponents' pieces. For example, Connect Four, Battleship, Mastermind, Halma, many races like Snakes and Ladders, etc. In those cases, each player can use one Maker Pen and keep their pieces in "Edit" mode (the default mode in "Advanced" mode) such that the other player(s) cannot accidentally push them around nor pick them up.

Tips

• Use the clone function of the Maker Pen to create many identical pieces.
• In "Edit" mode, objects don't fall down but just float in space, thus, you don't need to worry about any supporting structures, etc.