Create a Choose Path!
Design and build a paper based choose your path adventure with branching routes, test outcomes with friends, and practice storytelling and logical thinking.
Step-by-step guide to Create a Choose Path!
Step 1
Pick a brave main character and decide one big problem they must solve.
Step 2
Write a short, exciting opening sentence on a page or card to start the adventure.
Step 3
Create two clear choices your reader can make at the end of the opening and write them down.
Step 4
Draw a simple branching map on scrap paper showing the opening and the two choices as separate paths.
Step 5
Write a short scene for each branch on its own page or index card so each choice leads somewhere new.
Step 6
Add two choices to the end of every scene and make each choice point to a labeled page or card.
Step 7
Number or label every page or card so readers can follow choice directions like "go to page 4."
Step 8
Draw pictures and color each page or card to make the story come alive.
Step 9
Arrange your pages or cards so you can quickly find the numbered page a choice tells you to go to.
Step 10
Ask a friend to play your adventure by making choices and following the pages.
Step 11
Change any confusing choices or scenes to make the story more fun and clear.
Step 12
Share your finished choose-your-path adventure on DIY.org
Final steps
You're almost there! Complete all the steps, bring your creation to life, post it, and conquer the challenge!
Help!?
If I don't have index cards or colored pencils, what can I use instead?
Use folded printer paper or sticky notes as your pages or cards and crayons, markers, or colored pens to draw and color each page as instructed in 'Draw pictures and color each page or card.'
My reader gets lost and can't find the right page—how can I fix that?
Follow 'Number or label every page or card' and 'Arrange your pages so you can quickly find the numbered page' by writing bold numbers on the corners, keeping the stack in order with a binder clip or rubber band, and checking your branching map so every choice points to the correct labeled page.
How do I adapt the activity for a 5-year-old versus a 10-year-old?
For a 5-year-old use picture-led cards, very short scenes, and only two clear choices per scene labeled with large numbers, while for a 10-year-old write longer scenes, add more branches and labeled pages, and include small puzzles or consequences in each scene.
How can we make the adventure more replayable or shareable?
Make the cards durable by laminating or putting them on a ring so you can rearrange branches, add stickers or simple props that change outcomes, ask a friend to play as in the instructions, and then upload the finished choose-your-path to DIY.org.
Watch videos on how to Create a Choose Path!
Video tutorial: How to make 'Choose your own' adventure stories using Google Slides.
4 Videos
Video tutorial: How to make 'Choose your own' adventure stories using Google Slides.
Build A 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Lesson From Scratch
Choose Your Own Adventure - Writing
How to Make a Choose Your Own Adventure Game in Scratch | Tutorial
Facts about interactive storytelling and paper prototyping
📚 The Choose Your Own Adventure book series has sold over 250 million copies worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages.
🕰️ The Cave of Time (1979) is one of the earliest and most famous gamebooks that helped launch the Choose Your Own Adventure line.
🕹️ Colossal Cave Adventure (1976) is often called the first interactive fiction game and inspired many branching digital stories.
🌳 Give a reader 2 choices at each step and after 10 steps you'll have 2^10 = 1,024 possible paths — branching grows exponentially!
📄 You can fold and cut a single sheet of paper to make an 8-page mini-book — a perfect tiny format for pocket adventures.
