Packing Monopoly

I’ve written multiple times about the Monopoly version we got that is fully enabled for my daughter to play without being able to see at all.   She loves the game and would gladly play more if we had the time.   And as it turns out, we’re going to have a lot of time to play with her on the sailing trip we’ll be taking in less than a week.  

We’ll be off the grid and with only the items we can carry in the four large suitcases we’ll be checking.   Our friends said they play card games a lot.   That works for us as we have multiple card decks with braille versions of the cards for games such as Go Fish, Old Maid, Uno and a regular deck.   What about other games?   Monopoly would be nice, only that tactile/brailled board is huge and doesn’t fold.  

I started a project over a month ago and had figured out what needed to be done to make a folding Monopoly board.   I’d done a proof of concept on one area of the board but then I’d put it aside, knowing it was going to take hours to actually execute—and I had other things I’d rather be doing.

My husband, bless him, came straight to me after getting up and said, “okay, what do we need to get on top of for the packing?”  We looked at things that needed to be purchased or picked up still and he went off on a shopping expedition, calling me no less then eight times to make sure we were making the best choices.   Ideas changed, things were added to or removed from his list.  He came home with a lot accomplished.

Next up I asked to have him look at what I was planning on doing for the Monopoly board.   He sat down with me and got started on the difficult part of reverse broiling property names in a heavy adhesive plastic that would be later added to the board.   He didn’t know braille like I did, but he was far more efficient and punching the braille dots didn’t bother his hand like it did mine.

He helped me for a good long while and then I finished the board when he had to go do other things.   The new board is much more compact but still features all the tactile elements of the big board.   Here’s a picture of the two of them.   The original is on the left and the new one is on the right.



And in “compact mode” ready for travel, here:



So one entertainment tool complete.   Tomorrow I’ll work on some others.   I might even pack some clothes and toothbrushes if I feel industrious.

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Band Beginnings:   The children turned the bonus room into an, “Above the Garage Band” this morning.   They had drums, keyboard, electric guitar, ukulele and an autoharp. They sounded like they were having fun.   No actual music has thus far been made, but a lot of noise was certainly produced..