Are you looking for a board game that can be 3D printed at home? Whether you’re avoiding spending money or just want to be able to say that you’ve made your own game, these are some of the best board games to print at home.

Most, if not all, of the games below should be available in the public domain at this point. However, it’s always best to do your own research if you intend to try and sell or distribute a game.

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10

Mancala

Mancala is one of the oldest board games around, with roots going back to ancient Africa and the Middle East. Gameplay is simple, which is what makes it the perfect 3D printable board game.

There are a number of designs out there for Mancala on both Printables and MakerWorld, but it’s also a relatively easy game to make yourself. The board itself consists of two halves, each with six small dishes and one larger dish, called the pits and store, respectively. You’ll also need to print at least 48 marbles, ideally in two different colors.

The game starts by distributing four marbles to each pit on your respective side. Then, each player takes a turn picking up all the marbles in one pit and dropping one marble into each pit in a counter-clockwise fashion.

Skip your opponent’s store, but drop a marble into yours. The game ends when one player has all six of their pits empty, and then all the marbles in the opponent’s pits go into their store. The player with the most marbles in their store wins.

9

Connect 4

Connect 4, or Four in a Row, is another classic game that’s pretty easy to 3D print.

Because the game is so ubiquitous, there are different versions that you can print at home. One of my favorites is Cascade Connect.

Cascade Connect plays just the same as a standard Four in a Row game, but with a twist. The pieces are actually twisted.

You’ll need to print this in a few different colors to get it to work right, but each player has a unique direction that their pieces twist, thanks to the special piece design. Both players put their pieces into the board from the top like normal, where they’ll spiral down into place.

Once a winner is determined from someone getting four pieces in a row, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, just lift the board up slightly and the pieces sort themselves out into the respective trays.

8

Battleship

The age-old strategy game of sinking your opponent’s ship is one that can’t be missed. While it’ll take a while to 3D print the entire game, once it’s done, you’re ready for endless fun.

There are a lot of components to this game, and you’ll likely want to use multiple colors for it to differentiate various aspects of the game. Like the other games on this list, there are many 3D prints for Battleship, but one stands out as my favorite.

Ships Battle Game on MakerWorld has a fun flair to it. You’ll find everything needed to play a game of Battleship here, including the two boards, all the ships, pegs, and even a travel case.

Place your own ships on the bottom half of the board, then call out areas where you plan to attack your opponent. If it’s a hit, mark it with a red peg. A miss gets marked with a white peg. Of course, you could also change the coloring up, so long as both players know which color goes with which action.

7

Chinese Checkers

Chinese Checkers is a game I played a ton as a kid, and haven’t played much since. Did you know, this game isn’t even from China, and it was developed in Germany in the late 1800s?

The iconic star-shaped board and multicolor pegs shine with 3D printing. You’ll be able to use multiple colors, sheens, or even materials when printing the pegs. The board is pretty simple to print, too.

The game is played with anywhere from two to six people, and your goal is to make it across the board to the other side before your opponent does. You can jump your or your opponent’s pieces to make it happen. Either move one hole at a time, or chain together jumps if you’re able to hop over other pegs on the board.

This is an easy game to learn, but difficult to master. Who will win your next round of Chinese Checkers?

6

Settlers of Catan

If you’ve been around the 3D printing world at all, then it’s very likely you’ve come across Settlers of Catan pieces.

I was originally hesitant to include Catan on this list. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I’m trying to keep this list of games as copyright-free as possible. Then I found out that the studio behind Catan offers a fair use license for personal use, allowing you to modify and create as many components to the game as you want, so long as you don’t try to sell them.

There are a lot of 3D prints for Catan, and a quick search of MakerWorld or Printables will show you just about anything you want for the game. However, a great place to start is with this base game plus expansion kit that allows up to six players.

Catan definitely has more rules than I can explain here, but it’s a fantastic game if you’re looking for something a bit more challenging than Battleship or Mancala.

5

Chess

What 3D printable game list would be complete without the classic game of chess?

A chessboard is a pretty simple design of an eight-by-eight grid, adding up to 64 squares. You’ll need the standard 16 pieces for each player—eight pawns, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, one queen, and one king.

There are quite a few chess kits out there in the 3D printing world, and you can likely find themed pieces for whatever you want. I’ve seen minimalist chess pieces, traditional pieces, nesting pieces, fantasy pieces, and many other styles.

Simply find the chess board and piece style that fits your mood, print, and become the next grandmaster chess champion!

4

Checkers

Just like chess, checkers is another must-have game if you want to 3D print something simple. In fact, chess and checkers can use the same board!

Checkers pieces are simple, and can be either one or two-sided depending on how you want to play. The goal is simple: make it across the board and back again with one of your pieces before the other player. You can only move forward until you reach the other side, though.

Once you hit the opponent’s edge, your checker piece becomes a queen, which can be shown by flipping the piece over to reveal a second side or by setting another piece on top, whichever you prefer.

3

Tic-tac-toe

Tic-tac-toe is a staple game for many and is one that’s fun to play anywhere you are.

This game, however, doesn’t require 3D printing at all. Yes, there are 3D models out there that you could make for a more robust game of tic-tac-toe, but you could also just draw the pound (hashtag) symbol on a piece of paper and dive into a game that way.

One of my favorite ways to play tic-tac-toe is by drawing a massive pound symbol, and then smaller pound symbols inside each portion of the big one. This lets you play multiple games of tic-tac-toe to see who’s the ultimate winner, instead of just who wins a single round.

2

Poker chips

This is less a full game and more a component of a larger game. Poker chips can be used for any number of board games.

Of course, there’s poker itself, but they’re also great for denoting currency in other games, too. You could swap out the money in Monopoly for poker chips, or simply use them as a replacement for the gem tokens in Splendor if you want to play with more people than the game natively supports.

With poker chips, you can also choose to either use solid colors to denote value or designs if you have a printer that can handle multicolor models. The choice is yours, and the options truly are endless here.

1

Benchy Shipping Co – The Game

If you’ve never heard of Benchy Shipping Co – The Game, then you’re not alone. I honestly hadn’t heard of this game until doing the research for this article, but it looks like a blast!

The game centers around Benchy, the iconic 3D printing model that’s the benchmark of all 3D printers. The game was developed by Ozark Expeditions for the 10th anniversary of Benchy.

There are a lot of components to this, so it might take a while to print. Inspired by Ticket to Ride and other route-building games, Benchy Shipping Co allows you to embark on an expedition to build your own shipping routes.

The first person to complete the required number of route cards per player is the winner. Route cards are completed whenever you connect two destinations via routes, which can become challenging as the game progresses.

Will you conquer the seas in your next adventure? There’s only one way to find out!

Looking for your next 3D printer? Check out the Elegoo Centauri Carbon. It’s a budget-friendly 3D printer that’s great for users of all skill levels. However, once you get your 3D printer, don’t forget to tune it up and then benchmark it to make sure you’re getting the best quality prints possible.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon

The Centauri Carbon is Elegoo’s first core XY printer, going up against printers like the Creality K1C, Bambu Lab P1S, and Bambu Lab X1 but at half the price in many cases. This would seem like a joke if the printer itself wasn’t so competent and well put together.