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.

Ring toss game -01 -drawing the rigs with a compass -small.JPG

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.

Ring toss game -02 -cutting a ring with a thin bladed jigsaw small.JPG

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

Ring toss game -03-hand sanding the interior of a ring -small.JPG

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.

Ring toss game -04 -glueing post support pieces to the top and bottom of the game box -small.JPG

[Frank Pellow]

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

Ring toss game -06 -glueing the fourth rim section to the top -small.JPG Ring toss game -05 -glueing the second rim section to the top -small.JPG

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

Ring toss game -07 -cutting 1 inch radius corners on the top with a scroll saw -small.jpg

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.

Ring toss game -08 -Route top and bottom -small.jpg

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

Ring toss game -09 -sand all surfaces with P-120 grit paper -small.jpg

[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).

Ring toss game -10 -all parts spray painted with base coat -small.jpg

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

Ring toss game -11 -spray painting the parts -small.JPG

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

Ring toss game -12 -applying velcro to the top and bottom -small.JPG

12) Wrapping the gift:

Ring toss game -13 -ready to wrap -small.JPG

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:

Ring toss game with longer post -small.JPG

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