| Project by vipond33 | posted 585 days ago | 3637 views | 67 times favorited | 10 comments |  |
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Quoridor, a fiendish game, for just when you’re sure you’re winning, you’ve lost.
This is simple game to learn and play, right down to a six year old keener, while sometimes frustratingly complex for even a pair of serious adult gamers. The games themselves can be fast and furious or dead slow; winning, however, is quite likely!
There are very simple rules; each turn you move your piece or place a fence restricting your opponent’s progress, and even then sometimes, your very own. Get to the other side first and win.
This version, a direct copy of Gigamic’s, the French manufacturer, was made from a single wide chunk of mahogany, the ends nipped off and then dadoed. The angled side planes come courtesy of a raised panel cutter on the shaper.
It was looking good at that stage but all was not well though. After cutting the grooves the board went berserk. It warped terribly. 1/2” in 16”!!? The slots you see on the bottom edge are where I tried to correct it.
After sawing these grooves I PVA’ed a piece of heavy gauge plastic laminate to the bottom and left it in the hard press for two days. Well, no dice, only modest improvement. But at least it’s concave and steady on the corners. The finish is Tried and True with varnish, Goddard’s wax.
The box holding the pieces was made from a slim salvaged piece of far eastern skid wood with a soft live edge, cut & mitered for a four corner match, then resawn down kinda thin and odd matched for the reversible lid. Incidentally, I find that modern glues are simply amazing, for the joint on such a light thickness felt unbreakable even after a very hard flexing.
The fences are qtrd white oak and the players are the usual suspects, profiled with a 10×250 2mm metal blade. Dark leather lines the bottom of the box. Amber shellac finishes it off with Goddard’s wax again. Titebond III.
15 1/2” x 17” x 1 1/8”
About 22 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene
A bunch o links:
Gigamic’s amusing animated explication.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPgxQg51FbM&feature=related
A fast sample game done in stop motion, with a jazz soundtrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8VaSwh3yc8&feature=related
Just the facts ma’am.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoridor
Simple rules with diagrams.
http://www.educationallearninggames.com/how-to-play-quoridor-game-rules.asp
Free online game playing ranging from dead easy to real tough. Online human too.
http://www.quoridor.net/playsolo.php#
For people that enjoy strategy.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/597314/simple-walling-strategies-looking-at-and-example-g
-- gene@toronto.ontario.canada : dovetail free since '53, critiques always welcome.
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10 comments so far
Sodabowski
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1821 posts in 1004 days
#1 posted 585 days ago
Wowee. Looks very good. I’d have seen some inlay and banding here and there though.
-- Thomas - There is no such thing as a problem, there only are solutions.
Rob Drown
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639 posts in 2004 days
#2 posted 585 days ago
Wow, Beautiful. How do you play? Dahh , follow the links?
-- The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. Confucius, 经过艰苦的努力的梦想可以成真
vipond33
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1311 posts in 669 days
#3 posted 585 days ago
Forgot the banana shot.
@Sodabowski – Inlay, banding? Good idea and still possible. Might keep your eye away from the defect. Should have put the mini groove down the edge too, emphasizing the cross grain joint since I can’t hide it.
-- gene@toronto.ontario.canada : dovetail free since '53, critiques always welcome.
SPalm
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4118 posts in 2053 days
#4 posted 585 days ago
Man you have an eye for design.
Have to think about what else to do to combat the dreaded banana. Maybe use a two layer build up and only dado through the top layer. The raised panel edge treatment is one I will have to remember.
That is really nice though. Love the Far Eastern skid wood – rare as it might be.
Steve
-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon
Ken90712
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#5 posted 585 days ago
Great job and interesting game!
-- Ken, "Everyday above ground is a good day!"
peteg
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#6 posted 584 days ago
Haven’t heard of that game Gene, sounds very interesting. I do like the design & work gone into the board & pieces, time taken – patient skill = great job :)
-- Pete G: If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got
TopamaxSurvivor
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13194 posts in 1847 days
#7 posted 584 days ago
Never heard of it before either. Nice work. Thanks for the idea ;-)
-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0
fernandoindia
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1002 posts in 1115 days
#8 posted 583 days ago
Gene, it came out great.
Have neither heard of it before . Thanks for the links.
At least the pieces are easier to turn than chessmen :)
Thanks also for the warning the banana
I think is a great gift for holydays indeed.
-- Back home. Fernando
rance
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#9 posted 577 days ago
Neat looking game. Nice design with the panel bit too. I think if I made one(learning from yours, otherwise I’d have had the same problem), I’d keep it oversize, cut the slots, let it sit a week, then plane it flat. Thanks for sharing, and it really does look good.
-- Backer boards, stop blocks, build oversized, and never buy a hand plane--
exelectrician
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#10 posted 552 days ago
Okay I want to build one! I went to Amazon.com and read the reviews and the biggest complaint was the store bought version is too small 10” sq. I want mine to be about 14” sq.
-- Love thy neighbour as thyself
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