Portable Backgammon

This is a portable backgammon game designed by me and easy to make by hand sewing or on a sewing machine. I have included pictures here using a sewing machine, but I have made many of these portable cloth games by hand sewing. The great advantage of these games is that they come with their own bags, the cloth "board" and even the draw strings for the board.

All you will need to do is add pieces and print out the instructions to be included. You can find the material for this board game on Spoonflower by clicking here -- it actually includes two board games, Backgammon/Tables and Nine Men's Morris. Tables is a similar version of Backgammon and great for young children just learning to play the game.

You will need to add only the tokens or pieces for each game (I use class pebbles from the dollar store because they are plentiful and cheap), dice (available online or borrow from another board game) and the printed instructions. Those are available free here. The instructions are designed to be printed on a single sheet of paper and folded zine style to be included in the bag. For Backgammon, I have listed two booklets, because there are so many variations. For Nine Men's Morris, there is an easily foldable one-page zine. On the same site is a link to a great video on how to fold the zine.

• 1 yard of the game material in basic cotton, with the image centered
• 15 each of two different colored glass beads (stones and other tokens will also work just as fine)
• a set of dice (these can be purchased online, or can be borrowed from another game -- for links on where to purchase them, check out this guide)
• sewing materials (this can be a needle and thread for hand sewing or a sewing machine with thread)
• scissors
• iron (this is optional, but it does make the game board come out really nice and crisp)

I find the drawstrings that go in the game bag to be the most fiddley part, so I usually get them and the game bag out of the way immediately. One long drawstring is included on the printed material yard that comes from Spoonflower. You can cut that out right up to the black line, without going over the line and into the primary color of the drawstring.

First, fold one quarter of the drawstring into itself, and then fold the entire drawstring in half. It is similar to if you were making binding. Here is Youtube video by Din Life that illustrates the technique, shown at about time 6 minutes, 20 seconds in the video.

Once you have sewn that, be sure to cut it in half. To finish the bag, two drawstrings will be required.

For now, just set them both aside while we make the drawstring bag that will carry your fabric gameboard, the pieces, dice and your zines with the instructions.

Included in the design of the fabric that you purchased is a matching drawstring bag. This will carry your game pieces, your dice, the instructions, and the board game itself. Let's get started making that!

If you have never made a drawstring bag before, here is a great video on Youtube. There are some videos that feature hand sewing as well, as in this one by Din Life.

Here is another one that is really good. The shape and material has been designed for you, it is only a matter of sewing it together.

Once you have completed your drawstring and the bag, you are more than half way there. The only remaining tasks are to sew your board front and back together and assemble your game!

The next step is to sew the board game front and back together, leaving a space so that you can turn it inside out. Some people might add a piece of ribbon sewn into the seam so that when they turn it inside out they are able to roll it up and tie it closed.

Here is a quick pro tip -- I usually cut the back of the game right to the edge of the black line, but I give some extra white space, or seam allowance around the front of the game. What this allows is the ability to pin the back to the front and clearly see where the seam allowance is. When you turn the game right side out there will be less white material showing and the game board front will match neatly with the game board back.

It is important to use pins to hold the material in place. The right sides of both the front and the back of the game should be facing each other, so that when you turn them right side out they are usable.

*Important -- do no sew a complete seam around the game board. If you sew it shut, you will not be able to turn it right side out. Here is a good video that demonstrates both essentially what you are doing as well as the blind stitch to close the game board. The only difference is that you will NOT be added a pillow in between the two layers.

Once you have sewn almost all the way around the game board, trim the corners (demonstrated in the video) and turn it inside out. You can use a pen or a knitting needle to turn the corners out completely. This is usually where I iron it flat on a low heat setting.

The last part of this step is closing the opening that allowed you to turn the game board. With a needle and thread, you can quickly stitch a blind stitch to close the gap. You can also do this on the machine if you are not concerned about the look of it. This is often called invisible stitching or blind stitching. Here is a great video that demonstrates the technique, if it is not familiar to you.

This is the final moment you have been waiting for!

Find those drawstrings, and using a needle and thread or a safety pin, thread them both through the channels of the drawstring bag. If you are not sure how exactly to do that, review this video starting at 5 minutes, 15 seconds for a demonstration.

Put your pieces in the bag, fold up your board and insert it in the bag, and you are ready!

But wait, what about the instructions? Did you print them on a single sheet of paper and fold them into a zine? Did you include them in the bag? Be sure to do that. Backgammon has two zines -- Part 1 and Part 2 -- because there are many variations. Nine Men's Morris has only one zine, but there are some variations that include 12 men which may be easier to play.

Here are two videos on how to prepare and fold one-page zines -- video 1 and video 2.

On each of the booklets there is a tiny little set of scissors that indicates how far you will need to cut into the second fold.

Looking for the links to the zines for these games? Check out this page, which will have the zines for Backgammon, Part 1 and 2 and Nine Men's Morris, plus a load of other game zines I have created. The links will take you directly to a Google Draw file, which will allow you to directly print the document or download it as a JPEG and print it to your size specs.

Thanks for trying this out and please send me feedback on the game design and information. I would love to hear your perspective.