As an experienced board game maker, I’m always looking for creative ways to make learning more engaging. And what better way than turning a regular school assignment into an exciting board game using Microsoft Word?
In 2025, board games are still one of the best ways to liven up learning, whether in a classroom or homeschool setting. The good news is that with just some simple Word features, you can design playable board games aligned to virtually any topic or subject.
In this post, as a professional custom board game manufacturer, I’ll walk you step-by-step through my process for using Word to make visually appealing, customized board games from scratch. You don’t need any advanced graphic design skills, just Microsoft Word!
Why Make Learning Games on Microsoft Word?
Game-based learning taps into students’ natural desire for play and friendly competition. Incorporating games, even simple ones made on Word, makes absorbing and retaining information more entertaining and engaging for learners of all ages and abilities.
As an educator myself, I’ve seen firsthand how students perk up whenever there’s a game involved. Even reluctant learners get motivated to participate.
And as a parent of three school-aged kids, I’ve used homemade Word games to liven up subjects like spelling, math, science, and more at home. It transforms boring bookwork into something kids look forward to.
Here are some of the biggest reasons why making games on Word is worthwhile:
Easy to Customize
One major benefit of Word games is that they can be adapted to any subject with just a few tweaks. Since you’re building it yourself, you can personalize the game board design, questions, and rules to fit your current lesson.
For example, I’ve made vocabulary games to help my kids study definitions. I also made times tables games for math practice. The sky is truly the limit here in terms of topics you can cover!
Utilizes Common Software
Chances are you already have Microsoft Word installed. As part of Microsoft Office, it’s one of the most commonly used pieces of software globally. So it’s very accessible for constructing homemade games on your work or personal computer.
No advanced design programs needed!
Budget-Friendly
Not only can you use software you likely already own, but you also don’t have to spend money on expensive game pieces or equipment.
Printable game boards and tokens made on Word keep costs at $0. Just print, cut out, and play! It’s a frugal way to build up your classroom game library or homeschool curriculum.
Saves Time
Buying ready-made educational games can get pricey. But also very time consuming between finding, ordering, and waiting for them to ship to your location.
Building on Word removes hassles around supply chains and delivery. Design your game from start to finish in less than an hour, often even quicker! Then print and play the same day.
How to Make a Board Game on Microsoft Word?
The simple tutorial below walks through making an engaging trivia game from scratch on Microsoft Word.
Feel free to follow along or use it as a general template for constructing your own custom board games. The basic framework can be tweaked for multiple formats.
Let’s get started!
Step 1 – Adjust Page Layout
First, open a blank Word document. Pull down the “Layout” tab and click “Margins”.
Reduce all margins to 0.5″ to create more usable space for your game board design.
You can also immediately go into print layout view for a more accurate visual of how your game will look on paper. Toggle print layout under the View tab.
Step 2 – Insert Large Table
Next, select the Insert tab at the Word ribbon menu. Then click on “Table” and insert a table with 9 columns and 9 rows.
This will become the main game board with spaces for players to advance. Right click and delete borders so it looks like a grid rather than a table.
You should now see a blank 9×9 game board spanning your Word document!
Step 3 – Customize Game Board Spaces
Now for the fun part: customizing the game board!
Let???s turn this into a trivia game board. Start by adding numbers 1-100 randomly throughout the game board so players can track their advancing spot.
Bold and increase the font size of these numbers so they stand out better.
Next, designate certain game board spaces with small clipart images or shapes. For example, mark some spots as trivia question spaces.
Other spaces can have bonus trivia questions, lose a turn spots, or send a player back 5 spaces. Get creative with special rules!
Finally, add a Start space and Winner circle.
As you add elements, use Word’s alignment guides to evenly center objects. Right click to access alignment options.
Step 4 – Build Out Trivia Cards
Now let’s make sets of trivia cards to supplement game play.
In a new Word document, create tables with 2 columns and 10 rows. This gives you 2 cards per page that can be printed, cut out, and stacked into decks.
In the first column, type a large number to indicate the card order. Then in the second column, enter your trivia questions related to the academic topic.
Challenge questions according to age and skill level. Add some True/False cards as well.
Make multiple trivia card pages so you have enough to last through extended gameplay. Print and cut into stackable card piles.
Step 5 – Write Game Rules
No game is complete without instructions!
In a text box or page border, lay out the game rules and procedures for players. Communicate:
- Objective
- How to advance spaces
- What happens when you land on certain spaces
- How trivia cards come into play
- Ideas for penalties and rewards to incorporate
Feel free to get creative with the gameplay elements. Customize further to your students or kids’ interests to make it even more motivating.
Step 6 – Print, Cut & Play!
That???s it! Now all that???s left to do is print out game materials and cut out the trivia cards.
For durable gameplay, I recommend printing the board and cards on heavier cardstock paper rather than plain printer paper.
Then gather tokens for players like coins, paper clips etc and set them on the ???Start??? space as you explain the gameplay rules. Roll the dice and let the quizzing begin!
Don’t forget to switch up the trivia card order and shuffle periodicially to keep gameplay exciting across multiple sessions.
The Bottom Line
Making engaging trivia games on Word is incredibly easy thanks to the built-in table, text and shape tools. With a little creativity, you can adapt this game model into endless academic themes or topics!
Let me know in the comments if you have topics in mind for your next homemade Word game. I may just try it out with my own kids at home!
