How to Make a Cricket Board Game

You can make a simple cricket board game using standard sized paper and a pencil, and then play the game by rolling a die. If you prefer, you can use a computer, spreadsheet program and printer to create the cricket board game rather than drawing it by hand, or download a free PDF game from the website linked below. Although the cricket board game works well for just 1 player, if several players want to enjoy the game, they can take turns rolling the die and keeping score.

Things You'll Need

• 2 sheets of paper
• Pencil
• Ruler or straight edge
• 2 standard 6-sided dice

Instructions

Make a Cricket Board Game

1. Turn the sheet of paper so that it's horizontal in front of you, or choose landscape orientation in the page setup option on the computer.

2. Draw a table with 11 rows, 1 for each batsman, and 5 columns. This table should take up about half the height and most of the width of the paper.

3. Label the first column "batsman," the second column "runs scored," the third column "out," the fourth column "bowler," and the fifth column "score."

4. Draw a second table below the first with 6 rows, 1 for each bowler, 1 wide column for the names of the bowlers, and 20 narrow columns, 1 for each over.

5. Draw a tall, narrow table on the side of the board game with 20 rows, 1 for each over, and 3 columns. Label the columns "over," "runs" and "bowler." Write the numbers 1 through 20 in the rows of the "over" column.

6. Choose names for each of the cricket players, including the 11 batsman and the 6 bowlers. Write the names in the "batsman" and "bowler" rows.

Make the Cricket Score Card

1. Use a second sheet of paper to make a reference card for playing and scoring the cricket board game, or put the reference cards on the same paper as the board game if there is space.

2. Draw a table with 6 rows and 2 columns. Label the first column "die roll," the second column "batsman." This table shows what happens when you roll the die.

3. Write the numbers 1 through 6 in the rows of the "die roll" column, to represent the numbers rolled by the die. In the batsman column, write the numbers 1 through 4 in the first 4 rows, and 0 in the bottom 2 rows. The bowler may take wickets if the roll of the die is a 5 or a 6.

4. Draw a table with 6 rows and 2 columns. Label the first column "die roll" and the second column "out." This table shows what happens if a player is out.

5. Write the numbers 1 through 6 in the rows of the "die roll" column, to represent the numbers rolled by the dice. In the out column, write "keeper" in the first 2 rows, "caught" in the third row, and "bowled" in the last 3 rows. If the player is caught out, roll 2 dice to determine the player number of the batsman who made the catch. If the total is 12, roll the dice again until the total is 11 or under.

Tips & Warnings

• Photocopy or print a second copy of your blank cricket board game sheet before you play the game, so that you can easily play again. See the website linked below for complete instructions on playing the cricket board game, as well as variations, or to download a free printable game.

Resources

• Boardgamegeek has a free downloadable PDF paper cricket game.
• Wikipedia describes the game of cricket, including terminology.