Roll-a-Monster

I’ve been MIA for the past month, but that’s because exciting things were happening to the Homans. In December, Dustin finally graduated with his degree in Comp Sci and Math. He got hired on at a company in Salt Lake City, and so we’ve spent the last few weeks moving even further south. We’re in Lehi, Utah now, and so, so excited about it. We went from a tiny college apartment to a gorgeous home in a lovely neighborhood. I went from having about two feet of counter space to having at least 3 times that. I no longer have to do my crafting on my washing machine – there’s space! And a dishwasher! And a garbage disposal!

And the best part? The kids have their own bedrooms – no more waking one up by putting the other down!

I’m sure you can tell how excited I am by the ridiculous amount of exclamation points here, but it really is pretty thrilling to finally be big adult people after all these years 🙂

Anyway, back to the real reason you’re here, which is this cute little Roll-a-Monster game. It’s super fun to play as a family, and works for any age, as long as they can sort of draw.

You start by printing out the Monster Dice and putting it together. To put it together, cut it out, fold along all the lines, then either tape or glue the flaps together.

Once you’ve got your dice, you can print out the monster bodies (bodies 1 here, bodies 2 here). There are two ways to play – either give everyone the same body and see what variations you get, or let everyone choose their own body. I made four monster bodies for you, so there are plenty of choices going in.

Now, you simply take turns rolling the cube to see what you’ll be adding to the monster. For instance, if you roll a mouth, you get to choose where the mouth goes, what it looks like, and how big it is. Same with eyes, arms, legs, and tails. Your choice means simply that. You can add anything. I gave some of mine stripes, spots, a watch, a scarf, a hat, and ears. Anything you can imagine, you can add, if you roll “Your Choice.”

Once you’ve rolled and drawn your item, pass the cube to the next person for them to roll, and so on around the circle until everyone’s had a turn. My family plays this by deciding how many rounds we’re going to do (since there’s no winning in this one). I find 5-7 turns to yield some pretty silly monsters, and the kids can stay interested that long.

Once you’re done rolling your monsters, you can show them off and give awards for the most creative, silliest, most colorful, etc.