Turn a blank table top into a game of checkers or backgammon using a simple design and colorful craft paint. Table top board games can be an instant conversation piece and beautiful example of folk art, whether stationed in your living room or tucked in a corner of your patio.

The best table top to choose is unfinished, meaning no varnishes or protective coatings have been sprayed over the wood or paint. Sand the surface before painting and clean with soapy water to remove dirt and debris.

Use a soft pencil to draw your design. An existing game board from your collection makes a great pattern, but you can also find patterns online or in folk art books. Classic choices include checkers or chess, Parcheesi, and backgammon, but unique concepts include the lines and spaces of games like Pente or a Chutes and Ladders style motif.

Use a ruler to mark off your game board’s dimensions — it doesn’t matter if the shape and size of your board doesn’t use the whole table top. Paint the outside area a solid color and add a creative stenciled border to frame your board game.

Inside the game’s dimensions, mark off the board’s design, using a ruler, straightedge, a compass, and any other necessary tools to create details like a Parcheesi’s board’s corner “circles” and “home space or a checkerboard’s squares.

Paint the basic color choices first, such as red and white for checkers, or the individual colored tiles of a Parcheesi board. Consider incorporating part of your wood surface into the design, such as red and “wood” spaces for checkers, or using the original finish to represent the safety spaces in Parcheesi. Paint the details last, such as elaborate corner stars for Parcheesi or smooth lines for backgammon spaces. Be creative and use your imagination to individualize your creation.

Make and paint matching pieces for your game boards. A wooden dowel sliced into thick sections creates heavy-duty checkers and serve as the base for parcheesi pieces cut from one-piece clothespins. The colored stones of a Pente board can be supplied using the colored aquarium stones found in pet supply sections. Just use your imagination in choosing or creating your pieces — the final step in your perfect table top board game.