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I have a game board made of heavy card stock that doesn't lie flat at the creases, and the sections bow a little. Is there a way to keep it lying flat? Maybe a way to mount it?

The board is from Commands & Colors: Ancients.

Adam Wuerl
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Rob Mosher
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5 Answers5

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From the discussion about protecting board sufaces comes the idea of placing a sheet of Plexiglas on top of your board. That just might have enough weight to push it down. If it doesn't you'll still have a flat albeit slightly tilted surface.

Community
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Kempeth
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  • +1 Plexiglas is a fine idea for weighing down (and flattening) a warped board. The one problem with it is when you are playing a tile (or modular) based game, like Road Kill Rally (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65225/road-kill-rally). Having to lift the Plexiglas each turn sucks. How do we straighten warped cardboard? – My Turn Yet Nov 11 '10 at 16:43
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I've always just overbent the board at the creases, and it usually helps it lay flatter.

Lance Roberts
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  • I am humbled in not trying the obvious, easy solution. Though it looks like I may have to over-bend each time I take the board out of the box. Accepting this as it is simple and cheap. – Rob Mosher Nov 14 '10 at 17:19
  • @Rob, After doing it a few times, it starts to take on the new 'shape'. – Lance Roberts Nov 14 '10 at 21:35
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The simple answer is corrugated cardboard. Cheap and effective, but it looks bad from one end.

Another option is to find a larger board from another game and glue your board to it, trimming the edges of the board and re-wrapping them with paper tape.

Sparr
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You could try adhering the card stock to modeling plywood (the <1/8" variety) to add rigidity, but keep the board from being too thick.

warren
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Foam core board and spray adhesive

I had a similar problem. The board in my case wasn't creased, but it was printed on flimsy card stock. The board was black so I bought a sheet of black foam core from a hobby store (Michaels in my case, but they carry it at Target, Staples, and many others). I sprayed the back of the game board with some spray adhesive and glued it to the foam core board.

You can either cut the foam board to size before gluing or after. I cut it before and it seemed to work okay, although it made lining up the board during gluing pretty critical and difficult. I found a sharp Exacto knife was the best way to cut the board.

You have several options about how to mount it:

  • If you cut the foam board to full-size obviously you won't be able to fit the board in the original box. Perhaps you don't care; or it could be a deal-breaker. If you don't care, this is the best option as it will take the most wear.
  • You could cut the board at the seam (leaving you with two mounted boards that will lie flat but won't be connected).
  • You could leave the board uncut but cut two pieces of foam and glue them to each side of the crease. This will enable the board to fold in on itself and the two halves will be connected by the crease.
  • Similar to above, you could try and cut through only the foam core backing and the foam, but not cut through the facing sheet that you intend to glue to. This would supply one more layer of paper connecting the halves besides the game board itself.
Adam Wuerl
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