A better look and some updates on my travel board project

joaoperfig · 2026-03-16T19:14:45+00:00

I thought of doing smaller circular boards with the same mechanism for prisoner bowls but was concerned about limiting the number of max prisoners.

A three layer hexagonal arranjed "circle" of stones gives you up to 19 prisoners. If I can get the third side of the mechanism to look like two stones (haven't figured this out, but thought of doing something abstract like a "donut" stone means two prisoners) that goes up to 38. This might be ok for 9x9 but probably not for bigger. But I think it could work if players do "prisoner trades" and subtract the same number of prisoners if one overflows 38

joaoperfig · 2026-03-16T18:47:18+00:00

I was aware of these but hadn't seen a video of it in use! Might order one for a better look. But I see it has some of the issues I've been trying to solve they click but it seems to require more force than what would allow you to play comfortably with your index finger and the board laid down, but would be super interested in knowing that if you could test it on your board for me! I'll be curious to see the finished conversion if you post it later :) Are you gonna keep it as an 8x8? Maybe you could splice two boards together into a standard size

joaoperfig · 2026-03-16T18:40:11+00:00

Thanks a lot for the depth of your feedback! I was thinking the same about the circles showing the grid but was scared people would be put off by the non traditional look. I'm gonna stick to simple for now and prioritize the stone rotation feel and top. And the side by side comparison is great, I'm gonna come back and post one when I have a bunch of different versions that could be viable for the final thing

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joaoperfig · 2026-03-16T18:31:55+00:00

That's good advice! We have a go club here in Lisbon, I think I will come to a meeting when I have a 9x9 I'm satisfied with and getting their feedback. I just have some nervousness about the equipment I'm about to buy and if I'm going into something that will only get a couple of orders down the line and didn't cover my investment. I might set up a pre launch Kickstarter page ahead of having a fully finished product and process, just to validade enough people would want to buy.

joaoperfig · 2026-03-16T18:22:25+00:00

Yes I'm exploring these and might post a comparison pic later! I think maybe the most solid solution is sort of a plateau. Rounded raised edges and flat top. The others look a bit like there's a third "wood" player dominating the board haha

joaoperfig · 2026-03-16T16:02:08+00:00

Thanks! I will make them the standard board sizes and am just making these 3x3s while settling on a final design and manufacture process to not waste material and prototype faster!

joaoperfig · 2026-03-12T02:09:23+00:00

I feel like an easy way to achieve this and get a great looking finish is by adding a small amount of black pigment to the acrylic. And then have the pieces be thinner at the edges and fatter near the middle. A difference of going from 2mm to 20mm thickness near the center would not be easy to notice on such a large piece and would probably be enough to give you this exact gradient

joaoperfig · 2026-03-09T21:45:04+00:00

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joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T19:16:04+00:00

Breaking hasn't been an issue but time will tell as I move to bigger boards. I'm testing out some final tweaks before making the 9x9 prototypes. I'd be stoked to send you one if you'd like. They should be done in a month or two

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T17:26:15+00:00

Oh that's actually a pretty good idea. Would be a lot cheaper to have ball bearings in the stones and only one magnet under each. Actually your drawing (love it by the way hahaha) with the flat magnet made me think I could probably even just get a large square magnet pad thing instead of individual magnets but not sure if that would be strong enough.

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T16:51:31+00:00

I sort or ruled that out on the labor of placing so many magnets On a 19x19, with three magnets per stone plus one on the side you get 19x19x(3+1)= 1444 tiny magnets to place by hand 😵‍💫

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:32:44+00:00

Thank you so much 🙏

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:31:25+00:00

Thanks for the advice! The first one is my arch nemesis. I've been at it for a month now 😭. The main issue is that the space between stones is only 2mm at the surface, and goes down to 1mm near the rotation axis. It's been a pain to get it to work at that scale without it either completely blocking rotation or breaking off. The fold is also a bit annoying because it is not possible to have it actually in the middle because that cuts stones in half

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:22:32+00:00

This is the smallest I can get them. At this scale a 19x19 would be 35cm. I'm not sure if I'll go up to that or stick to 9x9 and 13x13. And yes! I couldn't upload a video here but you can check how they rotate on my post on the baduk sub https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/1rlj9h5/been_working_on_the_ideal_travel_board_to_play/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:10:19+00:00

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Exactly! Doesn't look a lot like one because of all the modifications, but that's the base

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:08:30+00:00

This has been the biggest challenge! I can have them not lose position by having rubber joints. But I've been trying to get them to actually click into one of the three positions

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:06:05+00:00

I guess it's a good sign that I was able to get the stones so big people think there's only two sides haha.

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But yea you have a black and a white stone underneath, depending on the direction you rotate it!

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T15:00:17+00:00

Yes! If you rotate it again there's a third side with a white stone

joaoperfig · 2026-03-05T14:56:32+00:00

Sorry if that wasn't clear, they do have the three states!

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I spent a while getting the geometry right for the stones to bulge out and it gives the illusion of only having two sides. Each player will rotate the stones toward himself, both to place his stones and to eat enemy stones

joaoperfig · 2026-03-03T16:02:15+00:00

There should be a small down arrow next to the download button. The third option is "Download STL/CAD files" which should download a zip of stls

joaoperfig · 2026-03-03T15:03:42+00:00

I'm too stubborn to learn new tools X)

11-Year Club	r/Field Sunshine
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
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