My Blog Has Cooties - Repairing Old Game Boxes

I think I have posted before about wanting to have a shelf in one of the bedrooms and put old antique or vintage games on the shelf and then allow my grandchildren to pick a game to play with me from the shelf when they visit.

I have kept my eye out at second hand stores for the past few years and have been thrilled to find some great fun games with many memories from my childhood.

We used to play "flinch" at
my grandmothers house every Sunday evening when my father would drive over to take her garbage cans to the curb, as she was blind for many years before her death. 

The other game I remember playing with my grandmother was "Scrabble." Even though she was blind, her mind was sharp until the day she died. She would ask me what letters she had and then remember the entire board in her mind.

She would sometimes even help me as I would play with her. To this day, I still enjoy a good game of scrabble as it always reminds me of happy memories with my grandmother. 

We played the standard "Cootie", "Life", "Clue", "Masterpiece" and "Monopoly" and as I got older, "Risk" was one of our favorites.


I have posted about a few games that I have purchased that I have never heard of before and, others I have posted about that we actually played when I was younger.

One of our favorites I bought that I had never played as a child was "Hoopla" and here is a link to that game. We have had some fun playing that game when the family is here.

This week I found an old favorite we played all the time as kids, "Cooties" and another I didn't play as a child called "Dig" which is a scrabble type game where you pick up letters and draw a card and try to make words relating to what is on the card out of the letters you "dig" for in the pile.

Anyway, I wanted to show you how you can fancy up a damaged and scraped box using Sharpie markers or paint if Sharpie doesn't have your color.

I test a few markers on the inside where it doesn't show looking for the best matching color, and then use it to fill in the worn edges of the box and scrapes that may have damaged the box. I will sometimes use clear tape on the inside of the box and try to avoid using any tape on the outside of the boxes.

I use glue sticks to tack down any loose or torn edges or corners and then touch up the color using a Sharpie.

You can see on the writing at the top left of the "cootie" box, I rewrote the top of a letter filling in where it had ripped off. It isn't perfect but from a few feet away, you wouldn't notice it. Since it is going to be up on a shelf, it will look fine.

In the pictures, I did half of the edges on the boxes and left half undone so you could see the contrast and how the Sharpie makes the box look so much better!

I made a video to show it but had a worker at my house so it was super rushed and jumpy. I am working on maybe buying a new camera so hopefully, I will be able to get on that soon which will help the sound on my videos as well.

Feel free to ask questions. Have a Blessed Day!