instructables

Make a Quoridor Game

by WhiteLabWorkshop

Who doesn't love to make something fun? Today, I'm going to show you how to make a Quoridor game to add to
your family game collection. Quoridor is a fun strategy game that my family has become a huge fan of. Let's have
some fun!

Supplies:

1/2 inch x 5 1/2 inch board at least 2 feet long (I used oak)
1x4 at least 2 feet long (I also used oak)
Or 1x2 at least 4 feet long

1/4 inch board, likely 5 1/2 inches wide, at least 1 foot long (I used poplar)
Table Saw (easiest, but can be accomplished by other means)
Dado Stack (also easiest, but not only option)
Miter Saw (optional)
Random Orbital Sander
Finish of your choice (I used Tung Oil)
Wood Glue
Clamps

https://youtu.be/tCs5GikyGSU

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 1

Step 1: Cut the Board Pieces to Rough Length

The board is going to be made up of two pieces of 1/2 yourself some wiggle room during glue-up, then cut it
inch by 5 1/2 inch oak (or type of wood of your to size in a later step.
choosing). You'll ultimately create a board that is 11
inches by 11 inches by gluing two pieces together. If I'd recommend cutting two pieces at roughly 12
you want to live life on the edge, you can cut two 11 inches long.
inch pieces from the 1/2 inch material. However, the
safer route is to cut the pieces slightly long and give

Step 2: Glue the Board Pieces Together

Apply glue to the edge of one of the two board
pieces, then clamp them together. If you went all in
and cut the pieces to 11 inches, you'll need to be very
careful to line them up perfectly. If you gave yourself
some extra length with the previous step, you don't
have to worry too much about getting then to line up
exactly, we'll get them perfect in the next step.
I recommend using cauls to hold the two pieces in
position. You can easily make cauls by wrapping
plastic wrap or packing tape around a couple of 1x2s,
to keep the glue from sticking to them. Then clamp
the cauls down across the board pieces to keep them
from buckling under the pressure of the clamps.
Give this plenty of time for the glue to dry before
moving on to the next step.

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 2

Step 3: Cut the Board to 11 Inches Square

If you're a daredevil and already cut your board Once you have one clean edge, measure out and cut
pieces to 11 inches long, then you should already the board to 11 inches.
have an 11 inch square board and you can skip this
step. If you played it safe, like I did, then go ahead You should now have a square board ready to
and cut a clean edge on one end of your board. I become your game board!
used a cross-cut sled on my table saw, but you could
use a miter saw here instead.

Step 4: Sand Your Game Board

Before we start cutting dados in the game board, you'll want to sand it. If you wait, there's a good chance your
sandpaper will keep getting caught by all the edges and make sanding more difficult. So trust me on this, and save
yourself the hassle by sanding it now. Sand it to 180 grit, or whatever grit you prefer for your chosen finish.

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 3

Step 5: Cut the Dados for the Walls

Now it's time to get down to business! The game dados needed for the board cut.
board is made up of a 9 x 9 grid of spaces, with 1/4
inch dados separating each space. If you don't have the luxury of a dado stack, you can
accomplish this same thing with several incremental
The easiest way to do this is to use a table saw with a passes on a table saw for each dado. If you don't
dado stack set for 1/4 inch dados at roughly 1/4 have a table saw, consult your friendly neighborhood
inches deep. This is the method I used and it worked YouTube for options to create dados with your tools
great. Each space will be 1 inch square, so set the rip at hand.
fence for a one inch gap to the inside of the dado
stack. Run the board through, then rotate the board Once you're done with this step, it's a good idea to
90 degrees and run it through again. Do this for all soften the edges of the dados with some sandpaper.
four sides. Then move the rip fence over 1 1/4 inches It will feel better to the touch.
and do it again. Rinse and repeat this process three
more times, at which time you should have all the

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 4

Step 6: Cut the Walls
For the walls, I used 1/4 inch by 5 1/2 inch poplar.
The walls are each 2 inches wide and 1 inch tall.
When I cut mine, I cut them to 2 1/4 inches wide, to
fully account for two 1 inch spaces and the 1/4 inch
dado. But, I ended up regretting this because the
pieces fit too snugly at times on the outsides. So
learn from my mistake and cut yours to 2 inches wide.
I again used my cross-cut sled on my table saw.
However, this can instead be miter saw work, if you
prefer.
Start by cutting several 2 inch rows. How many is
Make a Quoridor Game: Page 5
dependent on your material. The 5 1/2 inch material I
used yielded me 5 walls per row (with one being
slightly shorter than the rest). You'll need 20 walls to
play the game. Since my family is exceptionally good
at losing things like this, I cut 5 of the 2 inch rows.
Next, take each row and rotate it 90 degrees, then cut
1 inch strips. Again, my poplar yielded 5 walls per
row, once the saw blade ate a kerf-width for each
pass. The 5th wall was slightly shorter than the rest,
but it's a game and nobody will care if one is a touch
too short.
Step 7: Cut the Pawns
The pawns will come from the 1/2 inch off-cut from
the board in step 1. The pawns are going to be 1/2
inch square by 1 inch tall.
Cut the off-cut to 1 inch wide, which should allow for
the grain to be oriented along the length each pawn.
Next, turn the 1 inch piece 90 degrees and cut 1/2
inch sections. The game can be played with 2-4
Step 8: Cut the Short Frame Pieces
The frame is going to be made up of two short pieces
and two long pieces butting together. You can get
fancy with your joinery here if you want, but I kept it
simple.
For the short pieces, cut them to slightly longer than
11 inches. This will give you wiggle room again when
you glue them to the board. We'll trim them flush in a
Make a Quoridor Game: Page 6
players, so cut at least 4 pawns (and some extra, if
you like).
After this step, you should have a fully playable game
setup. If you are happy with what you have, you can
skip ahead to the finish step. However, if you want to
keep going and add a nice frame for your board, stick
around!
later step.
For my frame pieces, I had some 1x4 oak laying
around that I put to use. I cut slightly to more than 11
inches long, then ripped it in half. You could easily
use 1x2s for the frame and save yourself a rip cut.
Step 9: (Optional) Cut Dados in the Short Frame Piece for the Player's Walls

For a nice little touch, cut some dados for each player
to put their wall pieces in on the short frame pieces. I
cut mine at 45 degrees, but found it to not be worth
the extra hassle. I recommend cutting yours at 90
degrees, like in the Sketchup image.
yet.
If you plan to space them by 1/4 inches, you can start
the first dado 3 1/8 inches from one end to have them
end up centered in the end.

Each dado should be 1/4 inch wide and about 1/4 You'll also want to ease the dado edges with
inch deep. Space them 1/4 inches apart, or whatever sandpaper before moving on to the next step.
you feel works. Just remember that you cut this piece
long, so your dados won't be centered on the piece

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 7

Step 10: Glue the Short Frame Pieces to the Board

Using the same clamps and cauls from your earlier
glue-up, go ahead and glue the short frame pieces to
the game board. Apply wood glue to opposite ends of
the board, then position the frame pieces. Clamp it all
in place with clamps and cauls.
you can here.
Be careful to clean up any squeeze out with a wet
paper towel. It won't be easy to clean this glue up
once it dries, so try to get it while it's still wet.

Remember that you cut this piece long and used one Give the glue enough time to set before moving on to
side as the starting reference for your wall dados. So the next step.
make sure to position that side as close to flush as

Step 11: Trim the Short Frame Pieces

In order to give your final frame pieces a nice place to attach to, you'll want to trim your short frame pieces flush.

I set my table saw's rip fence such that the blade took a hair's width off the board too. This provided a very smooth
surface to glue up, but it's also why my wall pieces ended up being a snug fit. Since I recommended you cut yours
shorter than I did, you're safe to trim the board a tiny bit in this step too.

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 8

Step 12: Cut the Long Frame Pieces

Now that the short frame pieces are attached flush,
you can measure and cut the long pieces. Again, I
would cut these long and trim them up after gluing
them on.
Cut your long frame pieces to slightly longer than 14
1/2 inches.
Since I again was using 1x4 material for this, I had to
rip it down the middle to yield the two long pieces.
1x2 material will work just fine for this as well.
Whatever you use for the short frame pieces, you
should match it with the long frame pieces for
uniformity.

Step 13: Glue on the Long Frame Pieces

Go ahead and glue your long frame pieces in place. In order to make it easier to flush it up in the next step, I tried
to position both ends on one side as close to flush as I could get them. That will keep it from sitting funky against
the rip fence in the next step.

Again, use your clamps and cauls to hold the pieces in position. And clean up your squeeze out with wet paper
towel.

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 9

Step 14: Trim the Long Frame Pieces Flush

This is the last cutting step. Trim your frame flush to clean up the outside of the joints.

I set my rip fence to take a hair's width out of the short frame pieces as well, just to make sure I had a nice and
flush final cut.

Step 15: Sand the Frame

To make sure your frame looks good before you apply your finish, you'll want to sand it to 180 grit, or whatever
finish grit you prefer. Also, ease the edges and corners in the process. The game will have some pretty harsh
edges otherwise.

Make a Quoridor Game: Page 10

Step 16: Apply Your Finish
You're on the home stretch! To give your game a nice
final appearance, apply your finish.
I used Tung Oil and am very happy with the result. I'll
be honest, getting the oil in all the dados was a pain.
But, being able to leave the oil to soak in was a nice
bonus. If you were to use stain, it would be a lot of
work to soak up the excess stain in the dados.
Step 17: Play the Game!
Time to play! Here's the rules:
Quoridor can be played with 2-4 players, though it
seems to be best with 2. Each player starts with their
pawn on the center space on their side of the board.
In a two player game, each player gets 10 walls. In a
3 or 4 person game, each player gets 5 walls.
The objective of the game is to be the first player to
get their pawn to any space on the opposite side of
the board.
For each turn, a player can either place a wall or
move their pawn one space horizontally or vertically.
The pawn cannot be moved diagonally.
Make a Quoridor Game: Page 11
Also, in order to tell the pawns apart, I applied a stain
to one of my pawns. We also tried using permanent
markers on the ends of two of them, which worked
fine too. The goal is to give a visual difference so you
know which pawn is which.
Walls must be placed such that they block two
spaces completely. Once a wall is placed, it can't be
moved. Walls cannot be placed such that a pawn is
completely prevented from getting to the other side.
When moving pawns, they cannot jump over the
walls. They can jump over the opponent pawns,
though we allowed our pawns to just both occupy the
same space.
The rules are simple, but there's a lot of strategy that
can be applied to make for a really fun and interesting
game.
Have fun with it!
Make a Quoridor Game: Page 12