My new project is finally done – A Hunger Games: Catching Fire version of the board game Clue! It’s been a while since I made the Doctor Who Guess Who game, and I though it was time to make another board game parody. With the new Catching Fire movie coming out, I thought a version of Clue where we figure out who’s going to win the Hunger Games would be really fun. Keep reading for more photos and to download all the designs so you can make your own version of the game!
I made this mock commercial for the video with Kristina and Liz and it was so fun to shoot. Keep an eye out on my second channel on Friday for an outtakes video. However, I think one of my biggest regrets in life is not making a “Flames, flames on the side of my face” joke in the video.
I also made this video chronicling the process of putting together the game. Once everything was designed and I had all the materials, it took about a day and a half to put everything together.
When designing it, the first challenge was figuring out how to make the gameboard. In the original Clue, the board is a square house, but I wanted to recreate the Quarter Quell Hunger Games, so I made it into more of a circle. I still haven’t actually played it all the way through, so I’m not sure if the game mechanics still work perfectly, but it looks really cool. I guess it will be up to each set of players whether the little niblets of squares count as actual spots on the board or if you’re just meant to skip over them.
Of course I included the secret passageways, only this time they turned into hovercraft rides, using a screenshot from the trailer showing the hovercrafts that are used in the new Catching Fire movie.
The game pieces were pretty simple to make, since it was one of the last pieces of the game I put together and I didn’t want to spend a ton of time on them. I had originally wanted to cut out each character so the pieces were their silhouettes, but I didn’t have any new sharp x-acto knife blades on hand, so it probably would have just looked pretty messy.
Since there are only six players in Clue, I had to decide which six of the characters to include in the game. I like the idea of an alternate canon where Mags beats all the young kids to become the ultimate Hunger Games champion.
I couldn’t find a trident in the miniature weapons I was using, but I thought this fishing spear sort of things would fit Finnick fine.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the weapons until I googled miniature weapons and found these figurines that are usually used in tabletop roleplaying games. I went to the game store in town and bought bunch of the them, and then I used my wire cutters to cut off the weapons from the larger figurines. Even though some of the weapons still have hands attached, I think they came out really well!
The cards were pretty simple to design, just taking a lot of the same design elements from across the other pieces of the game. I only wish there was a way to get one deck of cards printed quickly and cheaply so that they felt more like real game cards and less like print-outs from my computer.
In this alternate reality, Peeta is the winner of the Hunger Games! Though I’m not sure I can really picture him using a mace.
I traced the envelope that came with the original Clue game to make this Capitol Confidential envelope. I just found the Capitol logo online, and I think it came out really well. I also stole the die from my Munchkin game, which I haven’t actually played in ages.
It was so hard to actually write on the case files, since I spent so long printing and cutting them out to look perfect. If I actually play for real, I’ll probably print out some extras on my laser printer so we don’t have to use up all the nice ones.
The box was a bit tricky to design, but I think I like how it came out. I can just see it on the shelf at Hot Topic among all the other Hunger Games merchandise. If I made another version though, I would have painted the box white before gluing on the designs, since I don’t like how you can see the colors of the original Clue game around the edges.
I really like how the back of the box came out, since it’s so colorful and fun. I had to wait until I had made the actual game to design it though, since I wanted to include photos of the game itself on the box.
And finally, the part I know you’re all looking for – the links to download all the files so you can print your own. There are two multi-page PDFs – one for 8.5×11 paper and one for 11×17 paper. Have fun, and send me photos on Twitter or Tumblr if you decide to make your own!
8.5″ x 11″
11″ x 17″
Also, I just quickly wanted to mention that The Harry Potter Alliance is doing a new Hunger Games themed campaign this month called Odds in Our Favor, and it’s all about raising awareness of economic inquality. You can take a selfie doing the three finger salute and upload it to their Tumblr here and learn more about the campaign here.
Thank you all so much for reading! Don’t forget to check out the mock commercial video and the making of video, and also the Doctor Who Guess Who game if you missed it last year. I hope you all enjoy the new movie, and may the odds be ever in your favor.