Getting Started with the Old Board
So, I stumbled upon this thing the other day, buried in a box from the attic. It was labeled ‘Wild West Sports Football Board’. Looked like some kind of old tabletop game. Honestly, it was pretty rough looking, covered in dust, corners bashed in a bit. But hey, I had some free time, so I thought, why not try and fix it up a bit? Seemed like a decent little project.
The Cleanup and Repair Job
First step was getting it clean. I took it outside, didn’t want dust everywhere inside. Grabbed a damp cloth and some mild soap. Gently wiped down the whole board. Took a while because some grime was really stuck on there. You could start to see the actual colors underneath all that dirt. It had this kind of faded, old-timey look, which was cool.
Then I looked at the damage. The wooden frame around the board was cracked in a couple of places. Found my wood glue and some clamps in the garage. Carefully applied the glue into the cracks, clamped it tight, and left it sitting for a good day to make sure it set properly. Seemed to hold okay afterwards.
The playing surface itself, like the ‘field’, had lines painted on it, but they were super faded in spots. I rummaged through my old hobby stuff and found some paints. Didn’t have the exact colors, but I mixed something close enough. Got a fine brush and just touched up the lines. Had to be careful not to smudge it. It wasn’t perfect, but definitely looked better.
Dealing with Missing Pieces
Now, the tricky part. It was supposed to come with little player pieces, looked like cowboys or something from the one or two left in the box. Most were missing though. I had a look around online, typing in the name, but found nothing. Guess it’s pretty obscure.
So, plan B. I decided to just make some replacements. Found an old bag of wooden checkers I wasn’t using. Not exactly cowboys, but they’d work. I tried painting a couple to vaguely match the originals I had. Didn’t turn out great, my painting skills aren’t fantastic, but they were functional. Good enough to play with, anyway.
- Cleaned the main board surface.
- Glued and clamped the broken frame corners.
- Touched up the faded painted lines on the field.
- Made replacement player pieces from old checkers.
Figuring Out How to Play
There was a folded piece of paper inside, looked like the rules. It was brittle and yellow, and torn in one corner. Spent maybe half an hour carefully unfolding it and reading through. The rules were pretty simple, seemed to involve rolling dice to move the ‘football’ and the players down the field. Basic stuff, really. Nothing too complicated, which was good.
The End Result
After all that cleaning and patching up, it actually looked pretty decent. Sat it on the coffee table. Definitely has that vintage feel. I set up the pieces, the original ones and my makeshift checker-cowboys. Rolled the dice a few times, moved them around according to the rules I’d figured out. It was kinda neat, you know? A simple, old game. Not sure how often I’ll actually play it, but the process of bringing it back from dusty junk was satisfying. Just a little weekend project, turned out okay.
