{"id":4271,"date":"2021-05-24T06:01:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T05:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.first4magnets.com\/applications\/?p=4271"},"modified":"2024-09-26T09:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T09:13:18","slug":"improving-a-board-game-with-magnets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.first4magnets.com\/blog\/improving-a-board-game-with-magnets\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving a board game with Magnets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With lockdown restrictions gradually being eased here in the UK, there is a positive feeling ahead of the upcoming summer and one tradition may be able to make a big return, family game nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family game nights always present fun, laughter and a challenge for the competitive amongst us! For the avid board game fans, you may be looking at ways in which you can create your own, or even improve an existing game – well why not take inspiration from our customer, Steven Vacher, who\u2019s used over 400 magnets to improve his favourite game, Qwirkle! Qwirkle is a simple game to understand, but requires some concentration to score well and win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Steven\u2019s problem was that the individual pieces when placed weren\u2019t lining up correctly and could be easily displaced causing a lot of in-game carnage at times. Steven’s breakthrough thought to combat this was adding magnets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting out with a sketch to ensure that the idea was feasible, this showed that a no matter the order of placement, a north pole would always line up with a south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the correct magnet was the next step for Steven in\nthis project, ensuring the magnets would be strong enough to hold the pieces in\nplace but not to strong that it attracts to other pieces and moves the piece. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Having measured the pieces, Steven got an idea of what size magnet he required. Steven ultimately chose our 4mm x 1mm N35 Neodymium circular magnets with 0.16kg pull. <\/a>These neodymium magnets are commonly used in creative applications so were a great choice for Steven\u2019s application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having ordered the magnets, it was time for Steven to get to work and with 108 Qwirkle pieces he needed to router 432 sides. After this, it was time to glue the magnets in place on each piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see in the video below Steven followed a six-step process to get each piece finished, before this he aligned all the magnets north to south, allowing him to take off the bottom of the stack and know he was correctly orientated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six Step Procedure<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Use a match to pick up a spot of epoxy and deposit\nin the routed hole.<\/li>
  2. Slide a magnet from the bottom of the stack.<\/li>
  3. Maintaining the polarisation of the magnet,\nstick it to the metal stick.<\/li>
  4. Place the magnet into the glue. Keeping the\nangle of the stick low, quickly pull the stick away leaving the magnet in the\nglue.<\/li>
  5. Use a non-metal stick to move the magnet around\nto make sure its centralised. At this point try to move some glue to cover up\nthe magnet.<\/li>
  6. Move the piece to one side and repeat.<\/li><\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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