Build Your Own Guess Who Game Board

You can make your own Guess Who game board using LEGO bricks for an easy homemade game that fits printable cards.

Guess Who? is a classic board game that I played growing up and my kids love it too. We’ve made our own LEGO Minifigure Guess Who? cards to swap out in the retro plastic game boards.

I also created a printable template to design your own slot and draw pile cards. You can use those to make any version of the game you like. Making your own version using photos of family or friends is really popular.

Both of those printables are sized to fit the retro 1980s game board, which you can still usually find in stores because Hasbro re-released it. But a lot of One Mama’s Daily Drama readers have asked for an easy DIY game board that they can use instead.

Game board tips

• If you don’t have a large baseplate, you can build one from smaller pieces. Either flat or regular bricks will work. You’ll need to stack 2 layers together, making sure they don’t separate when you pick it up.
• You can use any color LEGO pieces to build your game board. I tried to make mine red/blue/yellow to match with the printable cards, but didn’t have 2 identical baseplates so one of mine is green.
• Love that thwacking sound when you flip the tiles down in the classic version? Print on card stock and this one is surprisingly similar.
• I made my game boards using a primary color combination, but you can use any colors. Make them all the same – or all different.
• Most classic LEGO sets include enough pieces to make these. If you don’t have the exact sizes, you can put other combinations together (ex. Not enough 1×4 bricks? Use 2 2×2 bricks instead.)

Looking for inexpensive character cards? Dollar Tree has Colorforms board games, including Guess Who!

How to build a Guess Who game board

To play classic Guess Who? you need 2 game boards.

Supplies

• LEGO baseplates – Each game board measures 32×32 pegs.
• LEGO bricks – Each game board needs 24 bricks measuring 1×4 and 24 bricks measuring 2×4.
• Guess Who? cards – either of my printables linked above, from another blog, or elsewhere

Instructions

1. Clean your bricks.

Start by washing your LEGO bricks and baseplates in the kitchen sink with a bit of dish soap and water. This step isn’t strictly necessary, but if you haven’t washed them in a while, they probably need it.

I was surprised to see how much more vibrant the colors of our LEGO pieces were after a quick wash! Make sure everything is dry before assembly.

2. Set up your baseplate.

You can use a single 32×32 baseplate for both. I only had one, so for the second game board, I put 2 baseplates measuring 32×16 together and used the LEGO bricks for one of the middle rows to hold them together.

3. Add the 2×4 bricks.

Create the base rows that the cards will stand on. Start in the very center with a row of 6 bricks in the 2×4 size. Space them with 1 dot between each brick and 2 dots in the center.

Repeat with another row of 6 at the very back of the board, then add 2 more rows evenly spaced so that there are a total of 4 rows of 6 bricks.

4. Add the 1×4 bricks.

Next, add a 1×4 brick on top of each 2×4 brick. This will create a sort of chair for the tile cards to sit on.

5. Build a border.

Finally, use any bricks to build a 1x wide border around the outside of the game. This helps it look nice and finished, and gives it a bit more stability if you are using multiple baseplates.

6. Print and sort the cards.

All that’s left is to add your printed Guess Who? cards to the game. Set the slot cards on each of the tiny platforms. Shuffle the draw cards and put them in a pile between the game boards.

Even though my kids are teens, they still love playing Guess Who? It’s nice to be able to change out the cards every now and then. And it always surprises me to see what kind of yes or no questions they’ll come up with when we play.

Add this DIY Guess Who? game board to your plans for a family game night. You’ll have fun building and playing!

What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:

• Fruit Memory Game Printable and Tutorial
• DIY Game Level Counter
• Pirate Mad Libs Printable for Kids