Ring Toss Game made from Scrap Plywood

[Frank Pellow]

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I built my grandson a ring toss game for his 4th birthday. The plans for this are in the Reader’s Digest Children’s Games/Toys/Furniture book (ISBN: 0-89577-790-8) that I have used in the past to make several gift. The game was made from small pieces of plywood and dowel left over from other projects. Following is a “picture essay” of the project.

01) The rings were made from 5 millimetre plywood. Here they are being marked with a compass.

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02) After some experimentation with both a jigsaw and scroll saw, I decided to cut the rings with a thin blade on the jigsaw. The hole that I built into my workbench when I built it many years ago came in very handy here.

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03) Next, the interior and exterior edges of the rings were hand sanded.

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04) Turning now to the game case which consists of a duplicate top and bottom bases cut from 12 millimetre plywood. In the centre of each of these, I glued a small piece of 12 millimetre plywood. A hole will later be drilled through both of these to support the pegs over which the rings are to be tossed.

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[Frank Pellow]

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05) Next, a rim was built around both bases by gluing on narrow pieces of 18 millimetre plywood.

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06) The corners of both bases were rounded using a scroll saw.

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07) The outside edges of both bases were rounded over with my router, then finger grips were routed into the interior edges using a cove bit.

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08) All surfaces of the bases were sanded with P-120 grit paper.

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[Frank Pellow]

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09) All the parts were spray painted with a base coat. Notice the three small sections of dowels that are to be used as pegs (one extra).

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10) It was a beautiful day outside on Saturday, so I was able to move the spray painting of the finish coats operation outside.

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11) The final construction step was to apply Velcro to the bases.

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12) Wrapping the gift:

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13) XX

[Frank Pellow]

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14) I

There were a couple of problems with the game. First, the game turned out to be difficult to use because the rings often bounced off the posts. I later rectified this by making new posts which were 8 inches long rather than the original 4 inches. Here is a photo:

15) The game with longer posts:

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The other problem with the game: and one that I can’t change is (4 year old) Ethan’s observation that “This game is for older children”. Ethan’s sister Isla who is 6 quite enjoys it, so 6 would appear to be the minimum age.

I don’t like ending on a sour note :( , but I would warn anyone who might make this game DON’T USE THE PAINT THAT I USED. I used Krylon H2O spray paint cans and the finish is simply not durable enough objects that get used like those in this game.

[Gail O'Rourke]

Hi Frank !! Great project - looks like the kids are having fun.

[Wes Bischel]

Frank, nice documentation - a simple game that will be with the kids for years!

Sorry to hear about the paint.:(

Wes