Last week, I shared with you how to make your own DIY Monopoly game using my templates. Although I gave step-by-step instructions, I thought it might be helpful if I went into a little more detail about a couple of the things I talked about. If you’ve never used Microsoft Publisher, then some things may be a little confusing. In this post, I am giving you a short Microsoft Publisher tutorial that covers the basics of editing the Monopoly templates.
As always, if you have more questions or need additional help, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jessica@nowthatsthrifty.com
Although this tutorial is mostly about editing the actual Microsoft Publisher document, I have added a section about downloading fonts and images to insert into the templates.
Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links. This just means that we make a little money if you buy something through one of our links. It does not cost you any more to purchase an item through our links. It just helps support this blog so we can continue to bring you more content like this.
Microsoft Publisher Tutorial Video
This video visually shows many of the things that I will explain in this post. If it helps to see what I’m talking about, feel free to watch it.
Downloading & Installing Fonts
If you want to add fonts that are not already installed into your computer, you can search the type of font you want in Google.
In the video, I searched for Harry Potter fonts and then chose one to download.
When you download a font, you have to click on the zip file.
Next, you click on the font file (sometimes there is more than one).
Once you have clicked on the file, there is a button to install it in the top left-hand corner.
That’s it! It’s that simple to download and install a font. Now it will be available for you to use in your template.
Finding & Downloading Images
Although downloading images is pretty simple, there are a few tips I have for you when it comes to finding good images for the background of the game board and the box lid.
The images for the spaces on the board don’t need to be that large, but the background of the board should be high quality. If it’s not, then there is a good chance that it will look blurry (especially when you print it).
When you search for an image on Google, you can choose to only view images that are a certain size. To do this, click tools and then choose size.
The drop down menu for size has several options.
For background images, I would suggest that you pick the large option.
When you are looking at images, you can hover your mouse over the picture and see in the bottom left-hand corner what the dimensions of the image are in pixels. The bigger the size the better. For a background, it needs to be a least 1500 by 1500 but larger if possible.
The Templates
Each DIY Monopoly template uses Microsoft Publisher. If you don’t have Microsoft Publisher, you won’t be able to use our templates.
You can purchase Microsoft Publisher here.
If you don’t already have access to our free resource library, sign up by clicking on the image above. If you have already signed up, you can download the templates from the resource library.
The templates have the bare bones of the game. I have all the important information already typed into the templates. You can edit and/or delete anything you don’t want.
You will have to add the names of the properties and the images on the spaces. There is no background image. Everything is blank for you to customize.
The fonts can be changed however you like.
Basic Tools in Microsoft Publisher
Microsoft Publisher is similar to Microsoft Word, but it is easier to use for things like designing a game or creating a poster.
There are lots of different tools you can use, but I’m going to explain a few that you will most likely use when designing your Monopoly game.
Inserting Items
Text Boxes
If you want to add words to your game and there isn’t a text box there already, you can add another text box. Just click Draw Text Box.
When you click on the button, a plus sign will appear. Click and drag the plus sign to make a rectangle.
You can adjust the size of the text box by dragging on the corners and sides.
You can also rotate the box by using the little line with a dot at the top of the text box. When you hover your mouse over the line and ball, a little curved arrow will appear. Click the arrow and move your mouse to the side to rotate the text box however you like.
Pictures
Add images to your game by clicking Pictures. You can also copy and paste pictures into your document. The same resizing and rotating options apply to pictures as well.
Shapes
You can insert a variety of shapes into your game as well. This is how I created the spaces on the game board. You can resize and rotate shapes as well.
Arranging Items
These tools become available when you have an object selected such as a text box, image, or shape.
For editing your game, any objects that you insert need to have the wrap text setting changed to “none.” This means that when you move the object by another object in the document, it won’t shift any of the text that you already have typed.
If you want to move an object in front of or behind another object, use the Bring Forward and Send Backward options. If you click the arrows next to those options you can also choose to bring an object all the way to the front of the document or to send it all the way to the back.
When you click on the Align button, click the button at the bottom of the drop down menu that says “relative to margin guides.” Then you will be able to align your object in a variety of different ways on the page. You can also just drag the object anywhere on the page. Aligning it just means that you can make it even to other objects or in an exact place in the document.
Besides manually rotating an object, you can also click Rotate and choose a more precise rotation.
Object Settings in Microsoft Publisher
Once you understand how to insert objects and move them, you can customize the way they look.
Text Options
There are a variety of ways that you can customize the text inside text boxes. Once you have highlighted the text in a text box, you can use these settings.
The Text Fit setting allows you to make the text fit a certain way within the text box. I don’t typically use this setting, but you can use it if you’d like.
If you want the words inside a text box to go sideways, you can click Text Direction.
The a-bc Hyphenation button allows you to change how words are hyphenated and whether they are automatically hyphenated when there’s not enough room on a line. You probably won’t need to use this feature while editing your game, but I did use it when I created the instructions.
The next set of features allow you to change the font style, size, orientation, spacing, and color. You can mess around with those buttons to see how you want your text to look.
Next, you can choose where you want the text to be located within the text box. You can center it completely, or use one of the other eight options shown.
Add columns or adjust the margins with the next two buttons.
For editing the game, you will not need to use the Create Link button or the little buttons next to it.
The other text options are for turning your text into letters with more dimension to them. With these types of adjustments your words can have a different color in the middle than the outline. You can also add effects to your letters as well. I did not use any of these options when designing my games, but they are there if you choose to use them.
Picture Options
After you have inserted or pasted in a picture, you can edit it.
The Corrections button and the Recolor button are nice for fixing the coloring and the brightness of an image. The down arrow below each option will give you a bunch of choices on how the picture can be edited.
You can add a frame to your picture as well using the arrow next to the images of frames.
Give the picture a border or change the effects with the next couple buttons.
Like the options I mentioned earlier, you can wrap the text, move the image, or rotate it under these picture settings.
You can also crop the image using the crop button and the size buttons next to it.
As a default, an image will have the aspect ratio locked. This just means that when you change one measurement, the other measurement automatically adjusts to keep the same ratio. If you don’t want it to do that, click the little arrow in the bottom right-hand corner of the size options section. There will be a check box that says “lock aspect ratio.” Un-check this box to manually adjust each side of your picture.
I would say out of all the picture settings, I use the crop feature the most when I create board games.
Object Settings
With shapes and text boxes, you can change the way the outline and the inside look.
You can fill in the inside of the shape with a color, pattern, texture, and more using the Shape Fill arrow.
The outline of the shape can also be changed to another color, and the style of outline can be changed to a different design and a different width. Just use the Shape Outline button and arrow.
You can also give your shape or text box effects using the down arrow next to Shape Effects.
The same settings I mentioned earlier can be applied to text boxes and shapes in these settings. Also you can change the measurements using the arrows or by typing directly into the measurement boxes.
Editing the Game Templates
Now that you know all of the basic settings for Microsoft Publisher, you can download and edit the Monopoly game templates from our resource library.
Since the templates already have a lot to them, you are mostly just changing the appearance of the objects and adding a little bit of your own text. Add some pictures, and you’ll have a great customized Monopoly game!
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I try to log into the resource library and it won’t take my password.
Hi, Peter. I just sent you an email. Let me know if you’re still having this issue.
I am so confused. I downloaded the files but cannot figure out how to get the actual picture of the board so I know how many squares I need to make. I was expecting a blank board but all I got was notes saying what size the game board should be and that it should be printed on poster paper. Where do I get the actual template. I do have Publisher but it only opens that square with the notes. It looks in resources like you get the instructions for the game and the board, etc. but all I am getting are the disclaimer and notes. I do not tweet – do I have to sign up for that to get the actual picture of the blank board?
Hi Lynn,
I’m so sorry that you are having problems accessing the board. You downloaded the correct file. The page with the disclaimer and instructions is just page one. Page two has the board template on it. Can you not see it? Email me if you are still having issues!
Jessica,
When I look at the file in Publisher, I have only one page. There is no page 2.
I have created a board using Excel. How can I get it printed in the 19.5 X 19.5 size? Will they do that somewhere like Staples?
Hi Lynn, can you email me so that I can help you? I’m not sure that you can print an Excel file the way you want. You might be able to, but I’ve never used Excel for that type of project. Staples may be able to print it, but typically I used PDFs to print from or print directly from my Publisher file.