Gallery: 3D print your own tabletop board games Gallery Gallery: 3D print your own tabletop board games + 4

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Fancy trying your hand at making your own miniatures games but lack the materials? Your dreams of tabletop domination could soon be in reach, with a new system that uses 3D printing to create professional-standard games to your specifications.

The simply named Open Board Game is currently running on Indiegogo, with a target of $28,000 (£19k). If successful, it will provide the files for users to replicate their own figurines for the sample game, the robot-based clan battler Rust to Dust, and the design framework to create their own titles.


It's this framework that the campaign is looking to fund, rather than any one specific game, and it all stems from a concept by designer Bryan Salt and his company ThinkerThing. As well as the foundations of a game, Salt is hoping to foster a community around the OBG platform, with users creating and sharing components to help generate a hypothetically endless array of games.

The format consists of hexagonal board pieces, which can be arranged horizontally and vertically for various terrains and board layouts. Character figures are currently available for Rust to Dust and dinosaur-focussed Miomon, described as "a

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Pokemon-like card game in early concept stage". Those with access to a 3D printer can even get an early feel for the system with a handful of free file downloads.

miniature gaming series for several years and keen to help us, so already we are seeing a perfect team forming around the project."

There's also scope for more advanced or adventurous creations to come from ODB. The hex board pieces can house servos, light sensors, or micro controllers to make parts move according to your own game plans. "We really want the hacker/maker side of the project to strongly evolve, [and] we really hope that will inspire the maker community to start building crazy interactive board pieces," says Salt. "These more complex pieces could affect game play or visually enhance it in stunning ways -- a sensor detects a token in the centre, causing a 3D printed mechanism to fold out on surrounding squares, for example."


Although standardised board pieces might incline some to think the games themselves would become samey, the versatility of 3D printing and the freedom to invent rulesets makes OBG more of a tool than a game in its own right. The system also allows games to incorporate cards, dice, or other traditional gaming paraphernalia alongside the more futuristic features, meaning the strength of any game created is down to the individual designer and what they can create with the framework. "Our main interest is in empowering the community to create their own games freely," says Salt. "Over the last few years we've seen a lot of people dabbling with the idea of 3D printing for board games, but there was no coherent focus for a community effort, just individuals doing their own thing. Most surprisingly we saw many people working on figurines but not many people thinking of the board itself."

interactive brick it already fits with everyone else's boards," Salt adds. "And when someone creates a new style of game, people who want to play it don't have to print out hundreds of new objects, just the elements needed for that game."

The Indiegogo campaign runs until 15 May, with a number of physical rewards for backers alongside the 3D files and game system. ThinkerThing has already completed one faction of robots for Rust to Dust, totalling 28 bots, with the opposing clan set for completion by the campaign's end. If it's successful and Open Board Game takes off, it could massively open up the tabletop gaming field and help expand it beyond its relatively niche audience.