The Homework Machine

I really like to play board games, particularly Monopoly. Unfortunately for me, when my boys were younger, it was just too complicated for them. But I still needed an opportunity to beat them to a pulp on a board game and the options were limited.

I didn't like Candyland, because that was all luck. The same with Shoots 'N Ladders. I wanted a simple enough game for the boys, but one where they had to make some kind of decision at some point and it not be all about the dice. I was stumped. So I decided to make my own.

Being a collector of many odd things, I have a habit of buying old board games at yardsales, so I had lots of miscellaneous pieces lying around. I had written a story for the boys called 'The Homework Machine' so I decided to make a game based on the story. In the story, three brothers build a machine to do their homework for them and it starts to run amok. With spies chasing them, they have to get the machine to the White House so it won't fall into enemy hands.

In the game, players have to move around the board collecting all the pieces to their machines. Once they are built, they have to get their piece to the White House.

I built little mock-ups and me and the boys practiced and played until we had the rules worked out. Once the design was settled, I tried to get an artist to help me design. I even offered to pay but I couldn't find anybody to do it (I've had many frustrating experiences with artists who talk about doing art but do very little actual art even when offered money). I ended up putting it together myself and it worked out okay.

The Rhodes family has had many hours of enjoyment playing the only copy of 'The Homework Machine', produced exclusively by the Rhodes Game Company, a division of Rhodes Media Group.