Though I cut out the game piece on the laser cutter, I always intended to get back to it and now I have. I have been painting it slowly but surely over the last month or so. The piece is a game board that will support a game I am working on that is based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The green portion of the game represents the forest that the couples wander around in lost and confused. The pinkish portion of the game represents fairy land where Titania lives with her fairies. This is where Puck enchants her into a relationship with one of the drama group, a donkey. The silver pentagons are overlooks in the forest where Oberon and Puck commit mischief on the couples.

The gameplay is like chess-ish, a noble game and confusing to me as a child. I have made the board even more like a dream by casting it as a five sided game. The idea is that the Duke and Duchess, Theseus and Hippolyta move like bishops. They move along from one color to another through the vertices of the shapes. They must stop when they reach a new color or have to move in a different direction. The young couples, Helena, Lysander, Demetrius and Hermia, move like knights. They jump over a color and then must cross the solid side that is adjacent to the entry into their current space. Robin Starveling, Peter Quince, Francis Flute, Nick Bottom and Tom Snout, the drama group, move like pawns, one space at a time.

Titania moves like the King. Oberon moves like a queen and Puck moves like a rook. Oberon and Puck have magic in the form of cards that they can use when they are in the overlooks. Oberon can leave fairy land by crossing the creek anywhere he wants but Puck has to cross on the brick bridge.

I haven’t worked out all the details yet and playtesting is in the very initial stages. Further, I would redo the game board in different colors if I were to do it again.

The how I made it is as follows: laser cut the acrylic and engrave deeply along the interior pattern. I use the deep engraving as a stop for my painting. I painted the acrylic from the back so the top would be smooth and shiny. Then, I took a pour on epoxy and sealed the back to protect the painting. It is also glossy and smooth now.