How to Make a Romeo & Juliet Board Game

Like all of Shakespeare's plays, "Romeo and Juliet" has a large cast, lots of action and events, and confusing language. Turning it into a board game helps you remember the plot points, characters and famous quotes from the play and turns studying into a game. At the same time, writing an instruction page helps you practice your writing skills and the art of giving clear directions. Create games individually or in teams with your friends.

Read the play thoroughly. Make sure you understand it well enough to describe the characters, the plot and the themes of the play.

Draw a game board on a piece of card stock. Have a start point, an end point and a twisty trail of squares that leads from one point to the other. Your trail can branch in different directions and rejoin into one path, loop around on itself or have any kind of pattern you want.

Write things that characters do in the play on about one third of the squares. For example, write "Fall in Love" on a square, "Disobey the Rules" on another, "Kill Someone" on a third and "Die" on a fourth.

Write trivia questions and quotes from the play on a set of index cards. Include things like "Whom does Juliet's father want her to marry?," "How old is Juliet?," "Who likes to tell jokes?" and "Which two adults help Romeo and Juliet in secret?" as trivia questions. Include things like "Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds," "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" and "A plague on both your houses!" as quotes.

Make player pieces for six players, each representing a different character from the play. You can make them simple, by writing the characters' names on small squares of paper, or you can make pop-up people out of card stock and illustrate them. Make pieces representing Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, Mercutio, Tybalt and the Friar.

Write an instruction page. Explain that each player chooses a player piece and rolls to determine the order of play. The player who rolls the highest number goes first, and play proceeds clockwise from him.

Explain that a player draws a card; if he answers the question or can name the character who delivered the quote, he rolls the die and moves his piece that many places. If he answers the question incorrectly, he does not move his piece.

Explain that a player must return his piece to the start point if he lands on a square that has an instruction written on it and his character does that action in the play. For example, if the player with the piece representing Tybalt lands on a square that has "Disobey the Rules" on it, he must return his piece to the start, because Tybalt breaks the law when he fights with Romeo.

Explain that the first player to reach the end square wins the game.