The Project

We love to play cribbage when we're travelling in our micro camper or travelling all over the world. But standard cribbage boards are quite big and not super portable. So Chris made us a mini travel-sized cribbage board. The board is small and compact, making it easy for us to pack in our backpacks or put into our Honda Pilot tiny camper.

A link to our products page, which includes some of the materials used to make our mini cribbage board, can be found here.

Step 1: Find Some Wood

The first step to making our cribbage board was to find some wood to use for the base of the board. Chris was able to find a piece of scrap pine wood at Home Depot.

Step 2: Create the Peg Holes

As this was a custom-sized mini cribbage board, Chris needed to come up with a unique design for the peg holes that fit on the board. As we usually only play when it's the two of us, he made the design for 2-player cribbage. Once he had the design, he printed it out on a sheet of paper so it could be used as a template on the wood. Then he drilled the peg holes following the template.

Step 3: Thin Down the Board

The original piece of wood that Chris found at Home Depot, was thicker than we wanted for the travel-sized board. So he thinned down the board to be 3/8", then sanded it to smooth it out.

Step 4: Paint the Board

Chris first created an outline on the board's playing surface using a pencil, then followed it with a Sharpie and red and white acrylic paint. After the painting was complete, he covered the entire board in a satin acrylic finish.

Step 5: Make the Pins

The pins are made with cut-to-size metal paper clips, finished with an epoxy putty, and coated with a satin acrylic finish. The pins are tiny, to go with the travel-sized board.

Step 6: Create Storage for the Pins

Chris chiseled out the back of the board to create a spot for the pins, then added magnets so the pins would stay in place.

Step 7: Try it Out!

With the mini cribbage board complete, it's time to pack it up and take it travelling!