Monday, August 25, 2014

DIY Travel Guess Who, Disney Style

Going on a road trip with kids, but don't just want them watching Frozen on repeat for the ump-teenth time?  Travel games are great, but why pay the price when you can just make your own, and personalize them to your own interests ta-boot?

Well welcome to another DIY game, this time--a travel version of Guess Who.  Thinking about how my post on DIY Homemade Qwirkle Game has been so popular, I thought I'd come up with another DIY game.  

(For instructions on how to play Guess Who, check out this link.)

I knew that Silhouette magnet paper would be perfect for making a travel game, since the use of magnets would help the games pieces stay put.  So here's how to do it, and what you'll need!  

Materials Needed:
* Cookie sheets (or some metal sheet)  I got this one for just 96cents from WalMart.  So, if you don't want the kids to use your normal cookie sheets on the drive, buying two cookie sheets at that price is totally doable.  
* White Cardstock & a color printer
Yep, that's it.

First things first, choose your images.  

I decided to go with a Disney theme, since my nieces are pretty much enamored with Elsa, Minnie Mouse, and other Disney characters right now.  Plus, I wanted to introduce them to a few of my old favorites.  (Robin Hood, anyone?!)  You can also try using images of an educational bent (Mozart, Lincoln, etc.), make it a Star Wars theme, or whatever it is you and your's happen to have an affiliation for.  Making one with portraits or cropped photos of extended family members is particularly meaningful.  Just be sure to chose faces with enough variety or obvious character traits (For example, "Good guy" or "Bad Guy" is easy enough with Disney.)

With your images chosen, it's important to then decide on the size of your "cards" or pieces.  I decided to make mine about 2x1.5 inches, but in retrospect would have made them a little smaller, so that I could fit more characters on one cookie sheet for playing.  (I have tons more that I had ready to add in, so keep your cookie sheet size in mind as you make these.)  Make this rectangle (or square, or whatever shape your heart desires) with a thick line so that you can see which color "team" the card is for.  (If you aren't familiar with Guess Who, you'll see what I mean later.)  Then, be sure to check in the cut window where it will be cutting this out.  Be sure to de-select the portraits (character images), and only have the outline of the rectangle highlighted for cutting. 

Once the card is sized, it's time to get the "portrait" of your character ready.  Size the character to the proportion you want.  

In Ursula's case, I had to shrink her down some.  

If there is any "excess" or overlap that doesn't fit within the rectangle, use the "knife" feature to cut away the excess.  Draw a line at the edge, making sure it crosses the entire width of the image.  I.e. There is a lot of white-space around my Ursula that is still part of that "picture" so I had to be sure the line didn't just cross the tentacle, but also the white space that Silhouette Studio associated with that image.  (See photo above.)

Now...well you guessed it.  Delete the portion you just cut away.  Make it disappear. :)

Do this for all of your images, until you have about 18-24 images.  (I only had 14, since, like I mentioned before, I made mine a little big. Whoops.  But more is better for the game.)  Put their names up top using the text feature.  Yay.

Now,you are going to want an identical set with another color border around each image, for the second player.  I saved one as my "red sheet,"... and then used that as a base for my "blue sheet," which I then saved under another name.

Simply click on the border, and choose your new line color, like so:

And then, voila-- Doc's now ready for the blue team. ;)

To print each set, get that printable magnet paper ready.   Set your mat size as 8.5x11, and then be sure to click on "show registration marks" before you print.  Be sure to set your printer to "photo paper" or some other glossy finish if you have that option.

Now, once you've printed it onto the magnet sheet (with the registration marks also printed!) be sure that you put that lil' sheet right into to upper left hand corner of your cutting mat.  If you have a 12x12 mat, and place it anywhere else, it will still look for the registration marks as if it were only a 8.5x11, so don't confuse it by placing it off that radar.  Just sayin'.

Then send 'er on through for some cutting!

Once she's cut, you should be able to pull off the excess, easy as eating pie!

Use your handy-dandy spatula to remove each of the game pieces.  

Once you've printed and cut your identical red (or blue) rimmed pieces, you're pretty much there!  Print one more set of you characters on regular cardstock as "cards" for the players to draw their mystery person from.  Then, all you need are a few bags for storage...

...and you're ready to go!  Well, that and grabbing a few cookie sheets on your way out the door.  (Or buying some cheap ones, like I mentioned earlier, just for this purpose.)  

All the pieces you need for your own magnetic travel version of Guess Who.
Save a few of those extra strips from your magnet sheet cuttings to use as a divider on your cookie sheet.  In the original game, you would put down the faces of the people who you've determined weren't the "mystery person" of your opponent.  In this case, just move the "not-its" to the bottom of the sheet, below the divider, and keep the ones who are still possibilities up top!

"Is your person a girl?"  
No more worrying about accidentally bumping your board, like in the real game, and accidentally knocking down faces you weren't sure about.  Flat magnets don't "bump."  

And the great thing is, because cookie sheets are so thin, and this game is just stored in a baggie or ziplock, it can easily be stored underneath the seats for the drive when not in use!  

Doesn't even take up extra space. :)

So there you have it, friends!  Your very own, homemade, travel version of Guess Who (that you can play at home too).  "Is your person...smiling?"  I hope the answer is yes. :)


  1. This is such a cool idea! Thanks for sharing this

    1. Glad you think so. :) Thanks for commenting!

  2. Thanks, MissK! I sure thought it was fun. :) Hope you try it (or something like it) out soon, and it works well for you!

  3. Hi I love love the idea I have a shilouette yaaa
    But how did you get your images all white like that and where did you get the images. I’m having trouble trying to find the same size I’m leaving for Walt Disney world in a week and would love to make this