Have you ever played the connect 4 basketball game at Dave and Buster’s or your local arcade? It is one of my favorite games to play with my family. With the current 2020 pandemic, all arcades are closed. I was thinking of ways to get my arcade game fix. My idea was to make my own basketball arcade game from things around the house, such as cardboard, paper towel rolls, and red solo cups. My DIY cardboard arcade game was a huge success! I want to share with you how to build it so you can have your own arcade craft project to work on at home.
How to Play – A Combination of Basketball and Tic Tac Toe
Each shooter should stand 6-8 feet away. The hoops can be set on a table. Each player should have their own color of ping pong balls. 6 balls per person minimum to keep from chasing balls all over the house. If you do not have different color balls just use a sharpie to write X’s on half and O’s on the other half.
Take turns shooting at the red solo cups. The winner is the first to get three of their balls in a row either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
Same rules as tic tac toe. So there can be a draw if all the spots are filled up and no one has three in a row.
Even add your own rules. You could drink shots (of juice) for each ball made into the basket. Make it fun!
Easy and Fun Craft Idea to do with Kids at Home
This cardboard box basketball arcade game is not difficult to construct. Adults will be needed for supervision and handling of the hot glue gun and scissors.
My wife and I built it together in a couple of hours. We have been stuck inside our house because of the current pandemic so it was something entertaining we could do together.
Most of the materials for this DIY tic tac toe game can be found at home, either in the cupboard, closet, or recycling. This is a great upcycling idea that is tons of fun to play and make from home.
List of Craft Materials
- Large cardboard box (a little bigger than a shoe box size)
- Package of 12 inch wooden skewers
- Paper towel roll (toilet paper rolls may work)
- String
- Red Solo Cups
- Tissue box
- Ping pong balls
Craft Supplies Needed for Homemade Construction
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
- Sharpie
- Ruler
- Paint (optional)
- Sandpaper (optional)
Simple Step-by-step Guide to Make the Best Cardboard Basketball Arcade Game
Step 1: Build Wooden Frame and Cardboard Box Base
Start by combining 3 wooden skewers at a 90 degree angle using string and hot glue. Wrap the string around at different angles and tie a knot. Then glue the string and skewers. Look at the picture below to help. The sharp ends of the skewers should be down.
Once the glue is dry, stick both sharp ends into the cardboard box base. The cardboard base should be around 8 by 16 inches. Hot glue on both sides of the cardboard box. Add 2 skewers around the frame to help with stability and hot glue them down as well.
The sharp end will be sticking out. You can either cut off the sharps ends or put another couple layers of cardboard boxes until it covers the skewer. I attempted to cut the wooden skewer with my scissors. It broke my scissors! It ended up working out but you may want to use a heavy duty shears or even use sand paper to sand down the sharp end.
Step 2: Attach Tissue Box to Cardboard
Cut out the top and down one side of the tissue box like pictured below.
Hot glue the tissue box to the middle of the skewer tower and cardboard base. Push it up against the wooden skewers so that it is as close as it can be to be able to catch the ping pong balls.
Step 3: Make Red Solo Cup Baskets and Attach to the Wooden Frame
Start by cutting a red solo cup an inch from the bottom. This can be tricky as the red solo cup plastic likes to shear so be careful.
Then cut paper towel rolls down the middle to make two halves. Hot glue the paper towel roll halves on the inside of the red solo cup to make a funnel for the ping pong balls to be shot into. Repeat 2 more times so that you have 3 total red solo cup baskets.
Now, hot glue each red solo cup basket to the skewer frame. Make sure each cup is level with each other and there is no space between them. It helps to hold in the position you want for a couple minutes while the hot glue is cooling.
You will need to cut the bottom of the paper towel rolls so that it is about a half inch above the top of the tissue box. This will be important for the sticks we will make to stop the balls from dropping into the tissue box.
Step 4: Glue Skewers Together to Create Stopper for Ping Pong Balls
Hot glue 3 wooden skewers together. Make sure they are straight so that it can sit flush on the tissue box. These skewers will stay right below the paper towel rolls when playing.
The idea is to keep the stopper in when you are playing and once someone wins you can take the sticks out which will drop the ping pong balls into the tissue box. See the video above for an example.
The sticks like to bounce back and forth when the balls land on them so you should put hot glue dots on either side of it to keep it from falling off the tissue box. The picture below shows what I did for this.
Step 5: Separate and Support the Paper Towel Rolls
One of the last few steps in this craft is to open up the paper towel rolls so that the ping pong balls can slide down them without getting stuck. To do this I hot glued a skewer across all of the rolls. It helps if you have someone hold the rolls open while you glue. They tend to want to angle inwards.
I also added half of a skewer to each side of the tissue box to help stabilize the other skewer we just placed.
Step 6: Add the Cardboard Backboard to this Arcade Basketball Game
Make a cardboard backboard from cutting out a box that is around the same width (16 inches) and at least 8 inches above the red solo cups. You can make it as large as you want. The bigger it is the better it will stop ping pong balls from flying around your house.
Take the sharpie and make a tic tac toe grid on the paper towel rolls. Add backboard lines on the cardboard if you like.
At this point, the game is playable. The backboard really helps in scoring ping pong balls. The best strategy is to aim for the backboard a little above the red solo cup hoop that you want to make it in.
Step 7: Paint to Make the Craft Look Nice
We added white and orange paint to the backboard and white lines on the red solo cups to look like basketball nets. Be creative with yours!
A DIY Arcade Game That You Can Play at Home
I really hope this little cardboard craft gave you something to do with your family while you are stuck inside. If you have any questions on any specifics about how to build it then do not hesitate to ask in the comments. Stay safe and happy gaming.
More things to do in your homes: 7 Best Arcade Products You Can Buy for Your Game Rooms.