3D printed board game parts

Top 6 3D Printed Board Game Add-ons — Meeple Mountain

3D printers are an affordable, fun way of creating all sorts of useful things. See how I’ve used 3D printing to improve some of my favorite games in this Top 6 list!

When personal 3D printers first became available they were still fairly expensive, not to mention a little buggy. To keep costs down, some printers came with instructions on how to print out the remaining parts you’d need to make the printer fully functional! Calibration problems were also a frequent issue, turning your perfect design into a swirl of colored plastic spaghetti strands.

In recent years prices on 3D printers have dropped and their accuracy has improved. Now you can find a decent 3D printer for under $250 with reels of filament costing you an additional $25 per color.

If you’re a creative person who is good with 3D modeling, there are some excellent open source/free software applications out there (Ultimaker Cura, Blender, and TinkerCAD, for instance) that will allow you to create items to your exact specifications.

On the other hand, if you’re like me and not good at 3D modeling, you’re in luck. If you Consult The Google you’ll find a number of sites where, thanks to generous and creative people, you can find and download 3D printer files without charge.

My preferred site is Thingiverse. Creators are constantly adding new files to the site and updating older ones. Most importantly, there are a large number of fellow gamers who post their game-related items to the site.

Here are the six most useful game-related things I’ve 3D printed. Some I consider to be necessary, others more decorative. Still, I feel each one makes their individual gaming experiences that much better.

Terraforming Mars Player Mat Overlays

I’ve reviewed the digital version of Terraforming Mars here on Meeple Mountain. In that review I failed to mention the biggest advantage of the digital version over the physical game: accidentally bumping into your computer/tablet’s monitor won’t cause all of your resource cubes (or “eurocubes”) to scatter all over the place.

For instance, here is a standard Terraforming Mars player mat.

The standard Terraforming Mars player mat with counter and resource cubes.

One bump of the table later, and you can end up with something that looks like this.

It only takes a bump of the table or a sleeve to brush against the thin paper player mat to mess up your game. How many MegaCredits was I up to? How much Heat was I getting each generation?

This has happened each and every time I’ve played Terraforming Mars and it’s incredibly frustrating. With resource cubes just sitting on a piece of paper, it’s no wonder it happens so often.

In Andrew Plassard’s review of the physical game here on Meeple Mountain, he complained about the player mats by saying, “ it’s insane for a game with a price tag as high as Terraforming Mars to have component quality this low.” I completely agree and cannot believe this wasn’t caught and corrected during playtesting. Did FryxGames just not care about this essential part of their game? (They offered improved mats as part of a Kickstarter campaign for an expansion, meaning they must have received a lot of complaints. )

When I discovered I could do 3D printing, this was the first thing that I wanted to print out.

A 3D Printed Terraforming Mars Player Board.

Here’s a Terraforming Mars Player Board close to the one I printed out.

Since printing mine there have been many more player mat holder designs listed at Thingiverse. If I were to be printing them now, I’d likely choose another design as the corner clips, which hold the player mat in place, have caused more than one corner to snap off.

A broken corner after very little use.

There’s another thing about these mat covers that I didn’t realize before I printed them out: the counter tracks are all open with no notches in place to keep the counters from accidentally sliding right or left.

BONUS ONE: My Terraforming Mars box is pretty full. I have three of the expansions in the box along with all of the boards and pieces. It’s a tight fit, so this simple case helps out considerably.

The one thing to note about it: it’s very thin. So thin, the top could easily snap if something fell on it.

A simple hex tile container that holds all of the game tiles.

The files I used can be found here: Terraforming Mars Hextile Holder (and Lid)

BONUS TWO: Want to make your own set of 3D tiles for Terraforming Mars? There are plenty of designs available to choose from!

Scythe Organizer

Scythe is not only a game I really like, but the player mat designers did a far better job. The Scythe player mats are perfect, with inset spaces for each piece that’s supposed to fit into each area.

In fact, the box design is so good that all of the miniatures and pieces fit well in the box as is. So what’s there to 3D print for Scythe?

Well, this really cool box to hold all of the components.

Seriously, isn’t this a cool box?!
Admittedly, if the designer hadn’t added the Scythe logo to the top of the box I probably wouldn’t have bothered. As it is, I think it looks really cool.
The stored resources and money.
The lid has angled sides that fit tightly against the slightly flared edges of the box. This holds the top and bottom together, unlike the Splendor box.
While I really like this container, it’s odd that not all of the coins fit in their intended slots (note the coin in the lower right resource container in the picture above). I typically have to stash a few in a resource container. That’s not enough to keep me from using it, though.
The files I used can be found here: Scythe Resources and Coins Organizer
Catan Card Organizers
Elsewhere on Meeple Mountain, I’ve written about Catan, both as a game and regarding gameplay strategies. The first things I 3D printed, however, were made to strategically deal with a different problem Catan poses: a mess of resource cards throughout the game.
Oh, at the start of Catan each resource is in its own neat pile with boundary lines between resources clearly respected. Then, less than halfway into the game, they’re a mess that needs to be cleaned up every few rounds.
To take care of this problem I 3D printed a series of card organizers for Catan. Being new to 3D printing, I wanted something that was both simple and useful. More importantly, I also wanted a project that didn’t take a lot of filament, just in case I did something wrong in that initial 3D printer setup.
The connectable series of Catan card holders.
These very simple card holders were the perfect introductory project. Not only are they individually made, but they interlock to create a single card holding unit on the table.
They also stack together nicely, which is a very nice touch.
The files I used can be found here: Catan Card Tray/Holder Snapable & Stackable
Lords of Waterdeep Meeples
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Lords of Waterdeep is a solid worker placement game with a D&D theme loosely slapped on top of it.
That eurogame-worker placement aspect is exemplified by the use of small wooden cubes, similar to those used in Terraforming Mars. In Lords of Waterdeep, they represent the ~~resources~~ Adventurers you recruit from the various buildings in the city of Waterdeep.
And, to be honest, these cubes not only show how slapped on the theme really is, but they make the game visually boring to play. I mean, Waterdeep is one of the most fascinating and dangerous places in the Forgotten Realms. Taking turns, collecting tiny wooden cubes just doesn’t cut it thematically.
How are these painted wooden cubes supposed to represent the classic D&D character roles of Wizards (purple), Fighters (orange), Clerics (white), and Rogues (black) residing in buildings in the infamous D&D town of Waterdeep?
For me, 3D printing Meeples for Waterdeep was an easy choice to make. The Meeples give the game a more D&D Adventurer feel, even if the Meeples don’t actually go out on Adventures.
The 3D printed Lords of Waterdeep Meeples I now use. They’re so much better! (BONUS: The see-through chest icons are each different, making them far more colorblind friendly!)
The files I used can be found here: Meeples for Lords of Waterdeep
Splendor Box
I really like Splendor — I’ve written about how much I love Splendor, reviewed the digital Splendor app, and even suggested how Space Cowboys could bling up Splendor.
For me, Splendor is not only a perfect gateway game but it also introduces people to the concept of engine building games. The game also holds up well to repeated plays: the randomness in the appearance of the three levels of Development cards as well as the Nobles means that each game you play will be different.
Unfortunately, Splendor is not without its flaws: it is one of the worst packaged games I’ve ever seen. If you’re like me and like to display your games like books on a shelf, any time you take Splendor down and open it up, it’s going to look like a mess when you open the box.
Not the worst mess I’ve seen when I’ve opened my copy of Splendor, but it’s still far from acceptable.
Even more annoying, not only was the box insert poorly designed, but the components take up such a small amount of space in the empty box. It’s a truly frustrating failure in design.
All of that wasted space in a box that can’t even keep the components securely in place while in transit? That’s a seriously bad design.
My gaming group loves Splendor as much as I do, so it’s in heavy rotation whenever we get together. However, I have occasionally left it at home because I didn’t want to carry around a too-big box that’s going to explode all over the table whenever it’s opened.
Again, I am not alone in this thinking.
Splendor in a single box. (Also, sometimes you just have to print with the colored filaments you have on hand, even if they don’t match.)
Just look at this compact design. Every component in its own space all in a simple, sturdy box. What’s not to love?
Splendor box with lid removed.The Development cards sit atop a section designed to hold all of the Nobles in the base game.
To give you an idea of the size of the box, here it is leaning against the empty inner box.
You could easily fit four of these 3D printed boxes inside the game box.
I love how easy it is to carry around this box. The only drawback is that the lid does not attach to the heavy bottom of the box. I keep a large rubber band around my printed box to solve that problem.
The files I used can be found here: Splendor Game Organizer
Pandemic Viruses
What do Terraforming Mars, Lords of Waterdeep, and Pandemic have in common? Eurocubes. Unlike with Lords of Waterdeep, Pandemic’s cubes don’t bother me so much. They represent viruses, which are sort of abstract things to a non-medical person like myself.
Pandemic set up with the standard cubes as viruses.
However, thematically, there’s no reason why Pandemic can’t be enhanced by some weird, vaguely threatening-looking shapes.
They do look more interesting, perhaps even menacing, don’t they?
If you’re wondering if the 3D printed viruses are too small or why the sizes are so different, there is a reason: I messed up.
As part of the 3D printing process you can change the size of any object you 3D print, making them larger or smaller based on percentages. I didn’t have a good sense of scale for these and it shows. With the exception of the purple Mutant Virus (from the On The Brink expansion), they all need to be much larger.
The files I used can be found here: Pandemic Virus Tokens
How to Get Started
If this list has encouraged you to look into 3D printing, there are some good resources online to help you out. Lifehacker and Instructables (https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printing-1/) both have good introductory guides. The 3D Printing subreddit also has a good Getting Started page.
If you think you’d like to try 3D Printing out, there are many MakerSpaces, HackerSpaces, and general InnovationSpaces around the world that can provide not only the equipment, but people to assist with your new interest. An increasing number of public libraries have them available for general use as well. (Policies will differ from country to country, library to library, so check with your local library first.)
It’s also worth checking if your local community college or university has 3D printers available for the public to use.
Before purchasing a 3D printer of your own you might consider searching for the latest reviews online. The 3D Printing subreddit has a buying guide with a monthly sticky where people can ask for recommendations. Also, there are several Facebook groups on the subject where you can get suggestions.
If you’d rather have someone else do the 3D printing for you, there are plenty of people on Etsy who will do it for you, for a fee of course. Sculpteo and Shapeways are both places to look into if you want to have a company do 3D printing in bulk.
Final Thoughts
With 3D printers being affordable and dependable, they’re a great resource for gamers looking to make their games stand out with some special pieces. From custom Meeples, to component organizers, to full game box organizers, once you get started with 3D printing, you’ll quickly realize how many games you want to improve with unique elements.
If you paint miniatures, be it for D&D and/or other fantasy characters, you’ll be amazed at the number of characters and items that are available to be printed. And speaking of D&D, how about 3D printing out your own dice tower?
(NOTE: My own dice tower would have been part of this list, but I left it at work. As I’m writing this during the 2020 US work shutdown, I haven’t been to my office in months. I wasn’t willing to drive 45 minutes to pick it up to take photos of it for this article. If you’re curious, though, this is the dice tower I 3D printed, although I can’t recommend it. Two of the thin spires broke off the first day, and that was before I ever tried rolling dice down the curved staircase.)
If this list has encouraged you to get into 3D printing, please come back and leave a comment telling me what you’ve printed out. And if you’re already 3D printing parts and pieces for your games, please leave a comment as well with a link to where I can see some of your work!
(My thanks to fellow Meeple Mountain writer Marcus Cathey for his help on the How to Get Started last section.)
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🎲 Best STL files 3D printed for Board Games・Cults
🎲 Best STL files 3D printed for Board Games
Download free Board Games 3D files
Discover our selection of board games perfectly 3D printable to occupy your family evenings or your car trips. You will find everything you need to play with your friends and family: chess, checkers, power 4, naval battles. Thanks to 3D printing you won't be bored anymore!

Tic-Tac-Toe
Free

Battleship/Bataille navale by Studio Klipsi
Free

Zeycus' Abstract Chess Set
Free

Says
Free

Steampunk Dice / Dé style Steampunk
Free

Piezas de ajedrez Lexusus
Free

Connect 4 Travel
Free

UNO card game box
Free

atomic dice
Free

Treasure Tic Tac Toe
Free

Playing card holder V1
Free

SNAP fit chess/game board
Free

Chess set
Free

Jumbo Chess Set
Free

Table Bowling
Free

Wavy Card Tray - Dual Deck Playing Card Holder
Free

Miniature Bowling Game
Free

Tablero puzzle ajedrez
Free

UNO Box - Multi Color - Space for Cards and Instructions
Free

Quatris Puzzle
Free

Mandalorian Chess Set and display box
Free

Anticlockwise Dice Tower
Free

Multi-Color Connect Four
Free

Hive
Free

Jumping Frogs Game
Free

George R.
R. Martin's Cyvasse (unofficial game)
Free

Case for 54-card deck
Free

1d20 of Holding
Free

Tabletop Shot Roulette
Free

Star Darts
Free

Finger Soccer
Free

Frozen chess
Free

Ultimate Playing Card Holder
Free

Pocket Downfall - 10 de chute de poche
Free

Classic Chess Set
Free

3X3 sliding puzzle on two sides
Free

Faceted Chess Set
Free

Adafruit 3D Printed Chess Set
Free

Vertical Chessboard, aka The Cat Proof Chessboard
Free

Playing Card Holder - Holds your cards for you while you play!
Free

Playing Card Holder - Holds your cards for you while you play!
Free

Portable Chess Board with Pieces
Free

Minechess (minecraft) remix
Free

Chess Set
Free

Uno Case (Ruibal cards)
Free

Multi-Color Chinese Checkers Set
Free

Clibration cube dice xyz
Free

Chess Pieces and Chessboard Model
€8. 77

Here is our selection of the best board games STL files, all these games are from the 3D file library Cults and are perfectly 3D printable.
This collection includes free 3D files of board games. All these creations will allow you to spend good time during your weekends with your family and all your travels. You can play with your power 4 or your chess game when travelling by car, train or plane.
The 3D designers who offer their creations on the 3D file download library Cults have therefore competed in ingenuity so that you can keep busy and have fun with superb free 3D models! In some cases you will need to add magnets to your prints to make it easier to play when you move, but most of the 3D creations can be used as soon as the printing is finished without having to add anything.
How to make a board game better than it was in the original - Board games on DTF

Or what is Print and Play, how much does it cost, what to buy and where to print.

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Board games - the same deep and diverse world of many interesting projects from, at times, brilliant game designers. Unfortunately, even in this industry, board gamers face the kind of problems that "digital" gamers are used to seeing. Like video games, desktop counterparts also sometimes have a kind of blocking by region, lack of localization, the presence of exclusive DLC for a specific platform (in their case, the country), fan mods and add-ons. Sometimes they also simply stop publishing and publishers remove games from print due to the expiration of licenses. nine0003
Yes, even for such a famous series, there can be a desktop. More precisely, it could - a rather curious game was removed from print due to ill-fated licenses.

To solve these problems, the board game community has created a Print and Play culture where anyone can scan and process their board game and make it available for free. In the ru-community, entire teams for translation, editing and layout are formed, which release projects of interest to them. nine0003
The same game, but already passed through the hands of community members who have extensively finalized and supplemented it. Here you have a link to the files, and to the version in the desktop simulator, there is a group in VK and even has its own discord server.

Speaking of me, I like to do something new and unusual, and as soon as I learned about this movement, I immediately decided to get down to business. From about February to April, I maniacally studied the theory of this issue, which then turned into practice, and quite successfully. I got a lot of useful experience doing PnP, and now I want to share it with everyone by my own example. nine0003

What is this?

Print and play, (from English print and play) - a method consisting of printing board games that, for one reason or another, cannot be purchased from available sources.

Someone prints because our game was simply not localized, someone because of the presence of a bunch of fan add-ons, but someone can do it simply because they have a good printer and the desire to do it themselves and even better. There are also games that are distributed exclusively in this way. nine0003
There is a special site with desktops in electronic form, where you can buy something of interest. Minus - English.

I would like to make a note as early as possible: making a board game with your own hands is never saving your own money, because the effort and time spent, firstly, are priceless (and you can spend pretty decently), and secondly, depending on your ambitions, manufacturing can cost a pretty penny, but in such a way that it can many times exceed the cost of the board game itself in the store. PnP (at least for me) is more about the manufacturing process, my own research, ideas on how to improve something and the subsequent enjoyment of a result that is qualitatively different from the official one, rather than about the desire to save money and quickly cut black and white cards on office paper. nine0003

The Russian-speaking PnP community is quite developed and we can find many sources with tips, preparations and links to already completed work.

On the largest forum of the Boardgamer site, you can find literally everything that can only be of interest to a beginner and an experienced PnPsher.

For those interested, this is both a great way to get a bunch of content for board games they already own, or make a new game for themselves, or just have a good time doing the production process. nine0003

How is it done?

There are many ways to recreate a board game and you don't need a printer and laminator to do it. The budget for the most basic tools is about ~ 1000 rubles (more on the issue price will be lower), and the material is printed in a local printing house. But as always in such activities, you can pour in a decent budget here, and it’s even worth doing if you want to do something with high quality.

In theory, you can print cards in just 5 minutes on a home black-and-white printer on plain paper. You won't be able to visually enjoy the game and have a nice tactile feel, but it's a quick way to get a feel for the mechanics of the game. nine0003
I have already mentioned this several times, but here I want to expose the Print and Play trick, because it lies in the name. Print and play - sounds very simple, but is not so . will have to cut a lot of . A lot of cutting. So much so that it would honestly be better to call this activity Print, Cut and Play, and I would even better say Print, Cut-and-Cut-and-Cut and Play - so much you need to do a lot of cutting, especially if you will choose the cheapest way to manually cut the cards. But under some podcast, this meditative activity even brings pleasure, although it requires some skill. nine0003
Briefly, it looks like this: pre-made sheets with materials are printed, cut and processed in accordance with the wishes of the manufacturer.

One of the hand-cut options found on the well-known orange-grey site. In the opinion of the author of the article, using a clerical knife is very inconvenient.

But there are also many nuances. For example, the cards themselves. They are made of thick paper, which is often closer in properties to cardboard, and even they are not protected from wear. The most popular way to make cards look better among seasoned PnPs is to laminate them. Yes, everyone. It's not cheap, even if you do it yourself neatly with an iron. But the method has many disadvantages, from delamination to the inconvenience of shuffling cards, and besides, all the cards that you laminated will have to be cut again. nine0003
The more cards, the more space the laminated cards will take up.

An example of a beautiful performance

And quite a lot of similar details can come up, so next I will show you what I came to during my product of my work.

How did you do it?

When you look through the forum, your eyes involuntarily run up - there are so many different differences on the thematic site. Here you have redesigns of existing board games, some very ancient and long-out-of-print games, as well as current editions along with additions to them. nine0003
The author of this text has taken a path close to one of the hardest: his planned work on the Runebound add-ons product included not only many cards, but also various tokens that would be subject to heavy use and therefore wear and tear.

You could go further - choose something with a playing field, a lot of figurines and custom dice, but this is a job for more experienced PnPers and doing something big right away can be simply beyond your strength. nine0003
Judging by the files found, it was calculated that I would need to print about 60 sheets. And since I don’t have a printer, I started writing to literally every printing house with an approximate order for printing this amount of paper like 250 g/m2 4+4

60 g/m2 is an ordinary office paper, 120 g/m2 is a leaflet format, and 250 g/m2 is already something more or less reminiscent of cards/business cards

4+4 means that I need two-sided color printing. nine0047 1+1 is the same, only black and white, and 4+0/1+0 indicates one-sided printing

After writing to 15 places (yes, sometimes it pays to be persistent), it turns out that the cheapest print shop is also closest to me. The difference in price from one printing house to another sometimes reached 2-3 times. As a result, there turned out to be such cool guys who said to give them documents in .jpeg (for some reason my .pdf from the Internet did not work for them), they also said that they would print on 300gr / m2 paper for the same price and when visiting printed out a sample for me. It was enough to impress me, so the next day I already took a stack of papers and gave my 1740r, which came out in the end for 29r per sheet. They printed well without any jambs.

They also printed everything for me on paper a little larger than A4 so that the prints on both sides were equal to each other. (Most printers allow 2-3mm difference between the two sides, which leads to unpleasant defects on the card)

This is what raw cards look like. It feels like money has been printed.

What to do next? You can, of course, ask the printer to cut the cards or buy a special cutter, but for personal reasons I wanted to experience all the romance of this activity, which led to the purchase of an A4 cutting mat, a mock-up scalpel and a steel ruler. The ruler you need is steel. Both wooden and plastic wear out very much from interaction with a scalpel. nine0003

In the photo there are tools, which will be discussed a little later.

In fact, everything is very simple here and the matter simply requires skill: put a sheet, put a ruler evenly on it and draw a scalpel along, resting on the side of the blade against the steel of the blade

This is how the process of cutting one sheet looks like. Repeat 60 times.

I regret that I bought this cheap cutter from aliexpress. The reason is that it bends the edges of the cards when cutting, which not only loses their nice appearance, but can also create problems when shuffling. nine0003

Blades often break, and the sharper the tip, the easier it is to cut paper. With such a stump, the angle changes, becoming uncomfortable, also requiring additional effort when cutting. The moment of breakage is hard to miss - you feel a click, and the tip remains in the mat.

Received cards still have a rough look - they are square. To give them a "marketable" look, for this we need a coal cutter. Again, the most popular is the Warrior Mini S. But I did not notice any outstanding qualities, because even the recommended tool sometimes fails and can jam the card somewhere, although I usually cut one card at a time. nine0003

Corner cutter Warrior MINI S (R 5 mm) (It is quite possible to order an analogue on Ali, which will work exactly the same)

The devil is in the details.

I solved the problem of card wear in the classical way - I ordered protectors for each of the two sizes of available cards. Yes, maps from the official base of the game and from printed add-ons of the same size - PnP releases are so good. At the same time, protectors are a delicate matter , must be chosen carefully. Personally, I bought 2 packs of 400 from Crowd Games, and they turned out to be very good.

You can try to guess which is the original version and which is PnPshny. There are differences, but in the heat of the game it is completely invisible. Below is a spoiler with the correct answer.

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PnP left variant

With the character and story cards, I decided to do something different: I glued cardboard between them, making them very tactile. nine0003

In the original version, everything is made of fairly thin cardboard.

My version is noticeably thicker, it stands out from other cards and is comfortable to take and hold in your hands.

Tokens

Making tokens is a real separate epic, especially when there is no proven equipment and tools. And it's one thing when there are 10-20 of them, and another when the number of tokens is close to a hundred. And they also wear out, they should look beautiful and be pleasant to the touch. nine0003

Judging by the available information, here people act in different ways: they make them simpler in shape (square, hexagonal), buy capsules for coins, and even knock them out with a punch from a sheet of cardboard.

The game Orleans is famous for the low quality of the tokens, so even for the store version, people put the tokens in capsules.

I came up with my own method, which I have not seen anywhere else. While looking for tools for ozone tanners (they often need to cut round shapes), I came across a circular cutter. And it turned out to be an ideal solution in terms of price / quality ratio. nine0003

Too thick paper and lack of practice can result in this. You should not be upset - even such tokens can find their use.

But even with this cutter, cutting straight circles is no easy task. A plastic tool strives to bend under pressure from thick cardboard. In order to somehow prevent this, I turned the blade in the other direction so that the design of the tool itself would give additional rigidity, and also switched to a less dense cardboard: I changed 1.5mm to 1mm and it worked as it should. Then it's a matter of technique and time. nine0003

You shouldn't press hard - with cardboard with a thickness of 1mm, the blade does almost all the work itself. If you push too hard, the blade will drill too deep into the cardboard and a perfect circle will not come out.

I cut the sides of the tokens with nail scissors. They give the necessary rounding, and it is more convenient to operate with a small tool.

The process of trimming and sanding greatly transforms the appearance of the tokens, so you can glue on completely uneven circles. nine0003

Sticking takes place on PVA glue, followed by laying under a home-made press from books. There is already someone who can do it, personally for me it came to laying them in all possible cracks for the night.

It was worth putting a piece of cardboard under the tokens - those that relied on a piece of iron received a small dent under pressure. Then everything was fixed.

A half-empty PVA can feels like an almost completed achievement. nine0003

If you do not find at least an improvised press, then your tokens will not glue and bend.

This makes the tokens rough. You have to purchase sandpaper of different sizes and sand each token to an acceptable shape.

The output is already quite acceptable quality, but you can always do better!

At the same time, the issue of wear resistance is still not resolved. And here there are two most popular options: expensive and fast, and cheap and slow. The first option has already met before - the purchase of plastic capsules for coins. Personally, I did not like them for their conflicting reviews and high cost. But for many, this option is the only way out of the situation, because cheap and long requires a separate room for work, as well as means to protect the eyes and respiratory tract. nine0003

I used two spray cans in my work from this company. Yacht varnish KUDO

In a sense, I was lucky and, having bought a matte and glossy varnish, I went to the village and, spreading sheets of paper in a warm bath and placing each token on a coin to prevent sticking to the paper, covered both sides first with gloss, and then matte layer. Here, out of ignorance, I made many mistakes and hurried, some of the tokens turned out to be defective because of this, so I will present the correct procedure. nine0003

Coat the first side of the tokens with at least 3 coats of matt/gloss yacht varnish, 15-20 minutes between each coat and then leave overnight
The next day, turn the tokens over and again coat 3 coats of matt/gloss yacht varnish with the same 15-20 minute break and then leave overnight again
Leave them to dry 5-7 days in a ventilated place to get rid of the smell. nine0180

My school notebooks still find their use. They say you don't need education.

In order to reduce the consumption of varnish, I made the distance between the coins as short as possible. At the same time, the tokens at the edges received less varnish, so I advise you to follow this too.

I did everything in one day, not two, and besides, I used two different types of varnishes (I wanted to give an interesting look), so due to the large amount of varnish and the lack of the necessary time to dry, some tokens stuck together and left a semi-circular on them trace of a coin. Also, some of the coins were dirty, and the patina was transferred to the tokens. nine0003

In fact, glossy lacquer is enough and looks great. Tokens with it just stand out great on the table and shine beautifully at any opportunity.

Here you can clearly see that only 1-2 layers have been applied. Also in this form there can be tokens along the edges after 3 or even 4 layers.

I got several such marks on the tokens.

And most of the tokens look like this. nine0003

How much did it cost?

For the sake of experiment, I counted all the expenses and now I can imagine how much it cost me to do PnP for the first time (prices for March-April 2022):

A4 cutting mat - 235r
Dummy scalpel — 99r
Corner cutter - 541r
Circular cutter - 329r
Sheets of beer cardboard 1.5 mm - 280r
Additional five sheets of cardboard 1mm - 110r
PVA glue 85 gr. with roller — 52r
Steel ruler 40cm - 90r
Yacht lacquer matt — 235r
Yacht varnish glossy — 195r
All Runebound add-ons - 1740r
Protectors 56x87 from Crowd Games 400pcs — 555r

Total: 5 026r

Yes, that might seem like a bit much in retrospect. Moreover, it does not take into account the time that I spent on production, but I spent decently. Keep in mind that the next project won't cost that much because you already have all the tools you need. The maximum that you have to buy: new scalpel blades, cardboard and PVA glue. nine0003

The most important piece of advice I can give you when buying things is that most of the things on the list can be found in a regular stationery and hardware store near your home, and the prices there will usually be 20-30% lower than ozone/wildberry.

Miscellaneous

You don't have to do everything yourself - use third-party resources. All kinds of dice, tokens, buttons, toys - everything can go into your PnP project and become part of the game. The only limit is your imagination. nine0003

Hobby shops are full of the same variety of blanks in the form of hearts, coins and other small things. After getting carried away, there is a chance to explore all the little shops and tiny shops with some stationery, and your eyes will be fixed on things that may suit your idea.

This is a screenshot of one of the stores in a city of 500,000 people. There are dozens of such goods in similar places.

One day, in the midst of a hype with a low exchange rate for Aliexpress, I accidentally came across a store with various organizers for board games that make the game more enjoyable and reduce fiddling (constant shifting of components from place to place) I just ordered organizers and tokens, and the necessary cards printed. nine0003

Detective Dashboard Set 2 Player Organizer Board Wood Laser Cut

Set of 44 Arkham Horror Card Game Compatible Tokens, Wood Laser Cut

I will also present you some products on Aliexpress that may be useful or even become the basis of the game (referral links are missing in the entire article):

Road / house / city / thieves wooden game parts

Wooden hearts
Gold Pirate Coins
Wooden discs

I'm not going to bombard you with links. Let the winds of Aliexpress recommendations and your own imagination carry you to conquer the expanses of Print and Play!

The above material can be considered a complete guide to creating your own PnP board game. Here I tried to present in the most concise, but visual form, the whole process of work from start to finish. nine0003

Print and Play may seem very painstaking and too steamy, but for me personally it has become just a storehouse of everyday and just life experience. Being engaged in manufacturing, I watched a lot of cool videos and series, talked and met various interesting people, worked with my hands and head, and just got a lot of fun in the process.

I hope you liked this text, which I brought into this form thanks to the free time that appeared, my own interest and the desire to make DTF still more about games (and of course, various motivational contests also endowed me with the desire to do everything as best as possible more interesting and readable)

It would be great to see in the comments people with experience in this matter. I will also be happy to answer your questions. I hope I will inspire someone to do something like this :)

Attach the shelf to a power outlet and place your phone on it while charging. The model also has a corner slot that holds your smartphone or tablet upright for watching videos. nine0003

Author: Tosh Sayama

Where to download: Cults

Card Shuffle Machine

Awesome item for poker lovers.