Making Dune game

Homemade Dune game.

Our family enjoys playing games together. Even when the children were young, we played a lot of age-appropriate games. These days it is harder to get everyone together at the same time than it used to be but we are always on the lookout for new and interesting games to play.

We recently saw a game for sale on EBay called “Dune,” an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel of that name. They were selling for over $50 each so we kept looking. Also the game is now out of print.

In doing some more research we found some to be making their own copies. So we decided to make our own. Of course, the first thing we had to do is collect all our resources.

That included the rules, the game board or map, the cards and counters and other items. Some things are easier to find than others. We researched the internet for printable files of the items we needed.

Most of the files we needed we found on a website called boardgamegeek.com. Some images we had to make ourselves or assemble from several that we found on other internet sites. The game map we bought from an online supplier called AHgeneral.com because we did not have the means to print the large map. It was $18 including shipping.

We printed the cards and player aids on cardstock. For the counters, we printed them on regular paper then glued them to light cardboard. Everything was cut out on a paper cuter. This was a very enjoyable project to do and one the whole family could be in on.

We now have a completely playable copy of Dune at a cost of only some paper, printer ink, and the time it takes to cut everything out. And the game map we bought online, of course.

Several of the game players in our family have read the Dune books and enjoy the series. For those that do not know much about Dune here is a very brief description of the story of it. The novel is science fiction and is set many years in the future. At that time people were living on many worlds and had established an empire-type government encompassing thousands of planets. But the planet called Dune was special. That was the only place spice could be found.

Dune was a very inhospitable place for people as it was covered in sand and had very little water. Plus, in the sand were lurking huge sandworms a quarter of a mile in length ready to eat any person or vehicle making vibrations along the surface of the ground.

The spice was very important to the empire. Ingesting spice brought extended life to the user and, more importantly, it allowed them to see the future. The ability to see into the future was vital in navigating through space. And, therefore it was vital to the existence of the empire. Whoever controlled Dune controlled the empire.

Many different sects and groups vied for the control of Dune. The story explored the complex and multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as forces of the empire confront each other for control of Dune and its spice.

Dune was written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. It was the winner of several awards including the Hugo Award for science fiction. Herbert wrote five sequels to Dune before his death in 1986. Starting in 1999, his son Brian Herbert and co-author Kevin J. Anderson have written several prequels to the story.