Hand-Crafted Board Games and Where to Find Them
Board games make for excellent gifts whether you’re buying them for yourself or your mother-in-law – and if you want to get something special that can be treasured for a long time, take a look at these hand-crafted board games made with love. True art! We’ve saved you some time and collected some of the most gorgeous ones we could find in this handy list.
Marble Board Games specializes in handmade board games with a special finishing touch: marbles. Some of their best sellers are Chinese Checkers, Mancala, Chess and Cribbage – and that’s not all their website has to offer. They sell a range of board games also made by hand with marbles usually as game pieces, and this rustic-looking stacking game that looks like a version of Jenga you’d find in the Swiss Family Robinson’s living-room.
Chess and backgammon are some of the most popular board games of all time and were sure that most die-hard players will tell you that it’s just a better feel when you’re playing the game on a board that’s as much a piece of art as it is a game. Manopoulos is one company who crafts traditional (and non-traditional) chess and backgammon sets made in Greece.
House of Staunton
According to the House of Staunton website, they’re ‘one of the largest chess board manufacturers in the world’. That’s no surprise as they offer a huge range of different chess sets that suit any style. Among other items, they sell hand-crafted chess sets, chess sets for school use, chess-related accessories (even individual pieces). They even sell large-scale, huge chess sets that can take up half a room or make for a fascinating outside feature.
There are many times where you might want to support an individual artist’s work who caught your eye. Chris Loid is one of these. He produces gorgeous handmade backgammon and chess sets, among his other art pieces.
Alexandra Llewellyn is another excellent artist with a love for board games. She covers a variety of different games including some of the most-played ones. Works are also available on commission, and you can browse through the artist’s website to find out more – or just get in touch to purchase something.
If the board game player in question prefers a traditional set of playing cards, then you’ll be glad to know that there are custom made playing cards (and intricate, gorgeous card boxes) for sale through Seasons Playing Cards.
There are thousands of board and tabletop games out there that require a pair of dice to play. Artisan Dice is a website offering exactly that – and this is especially perfect for anyone who enjoys anything from Yahtzee through to Craps or Backgammon. Did we mention that the dice have really cool names? – like “druid’s dice”, “alchemist’s dice”, “dragon’s dice” and more.
Wyrmwood Gaming is a great website for handmade tabletop gaming supplies that includes boards, dice and even more. Perfect for any tabletop gamer, and especially perfect for impressing everyone when it’s time for game night.
Simon Lucas Bridge Supplies is a UK-based bridge stuff supplier. Their range of products gets both beginner bridge players and veterans everything they could need – and gifts they can treasure for years. Among their products there are bidding boxes (and card boxes) crafted from Thuja wood. Cool!
