3D Print and Play ⏊E⏊ROMINO ⏊WIS⏊: the Word Game Designed Around the T-tetromino

Do you love word games?

Do you like making things with your own hands?

Then you'll enjoy this project!

I'm going to build a 3D printed word puzzle game I called ⏊E⏊ROMINO ⏊WIS⏊ (I may have accidentally turned some T's upside down :) ).

This isn't your ordinary word game. It uses special pieces shaped like the letter "T" (they are called "T-tetrominos"). You twist and turn these pieces to build words on a square board. It's a fun challenge for your brain and your fingers.

To make this game, you'll need a 3D printer, some magnets, and small metal balls bearings. Don't worry, it's not as complicated as it sounds! This guide will walk you through each step, from printing the pieces on your printer, assembling them and how to play with them. Also you can customize the game with different word sets, difficulty levels, and even your own game designs.

Whether you're a word puzzle enthusiast or a 3D printing hobbyist, ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊ could be a rewarding project :)

Let's get started and create a unique word game that you can be proud of!

not much...

• a 3D printer;
• different colors of PLA filament;
• 3x1 mm neodinium magnets;
• 3 mm ball bearings;
• and of course the STL files from Tinkercad for 3D printing

If you've ever played Tetris, you're already familiar with tetrominoes. These are geometric shapes made up of four square blocks connected orthogonally (at right angles). There are seven distinct tetromino shapes: I, O, T, J, L, S and Z. However, in the context of ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊, not all tetrominoes are created equal.

While Z-tetromino (or S-tetromino, its mirror image) and L-tetromino can tile a plane, they are not suitable for our game. These shapes exist in mirror-image pairs and can only be interchanged through 3D rotation, making it impossible to have letters on both sides of the pieces. Furthermore the Z-tetromino (or S-tetromino) cannot tile a rectangular area without leaving gaps.

I-tetromino and O-tetromino, on the other hand, can indeed tile a rectangular area. However, their placement is too straightforward, making the spatial puzzle aspect of the game trivial. This simplicity wouldn't contribute to the challenge and enjoyment of ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊.

This leaves us with the T-tetromino, the star of our show. Mathematically, it's one of the tetrominoes that can tile very easy a square grid without leaving any gaps. This means you can perfectly cover an entire square board with T-tetrominoes, but with some restrictions. This property simplifies the spatial puzzle aspect of the game, allowing players to focus on the word-building challenge.

It's important to note that tiling with T-tetrominoes isn't as simple as with I- or O-tetrominoes. It requires a bit more thought and creativity to find the right arrangement. Interestingly, it has been mathematically proven that only squares or rectangles with dimensions divisible by 4 can be fully covered with T-tetrominoes (see this link).

This is why ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊ utilizes two square boards: an 8x8 grid for simpler, easier games suitable for younger children or beginners, and a 12x12 grid for a more challenging experience. To illustrate the difference in complexity, there are only 84 possible solutions for tiling an 8x8 square with T-tetrominoes (tiling solutions), while a 12x12 square offers a staggering 78,696 solutions!

In the next section, we'll delve into the design of our ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊ game board and tiles, where you'll see how the T-tetromino's unique tiling property is put to use.

To ensure accessibility for most 3D printer owners, I aimed to keep the maximum print dimensions manageable. This way, all the game pieces can be printed without requiring a large-format printer.

While a snap-on mechanism for attaching the letter tiles to the base tiles might have seemed simpler, I opted for a magnetic approach. This involves embedding a strong magnet into each base tile and pressing steel balls into the letter tiles. This method, while slightly more complex due to the need for printing pauses to switch filament colors and the use of support structures, ultimately proved to be a reliable and satisfying solution. The "tree" type support in my slicer worked particularly well for this purpose. I explored alternative solutions to avoid using supports, but none were successful.

Speaking of print pauses, it's worth noting that most modern slicers and 3D printers allow you to insert pauses during printing, enabling filament color changes mid-print. In my case, I switched from white PLA to black PLA for the letter tiles.

Determining the number of letters to print was aided by AI, which suggested the following distribution for 144 letters:

• Vowels:

A: 13, E: 19, I: 12, O: 10, U: 5

• Consonants:

T: 9, N: 10, R: 8, S: 8, L: 6, D: 5, C: 5

H: 4, P: 4, M: 3, F: 3, G: 3, Y: 3

B: 2, W: 2, K: 2, V: 2, X: 2, J: 2, Q: 1, Z: 1

I printed this number of letters but also added 50 blank tiles, which can be used in certain game variations.

This Instructable primarily focuses on the 8x8 game board, as it's more suitable for beginners and younger players. For the 12x12 board, you'd likely need to print two sets of 144 letters and another 50 blank tiles to accommodate the larger playing area. I haven't printed the 12x12 board yet, but the STL files are available on Tinkercad.

As for the board itself, one side features a "sketched" arrangement of T-tetrominoes. This arrangement simplifies the game and makes it easier for children or beginners to decipher.

That covers the design aspects of ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊. In the following steps, I'll present several possibilities for actual gameplay.

The most straightforward way to play ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊ is to create a word puzzle based on a specific theme. For instance, you could choose "famous scientists" as your theme and associate words like "apple," "force," "calculus," "gravity," "optics," "motion," "prism," "maths," "science," "inertia," "orbit" for example, with Isaac Newton.

The game requires at least two participants: a puzzle creator and a solver. The puzzle creator selects 6-8 words from the themed list and arranges them on the board, either horizontally or both horizontally and vertically. The remaining spaces are filled with blank tiles or additional letters, as shown in the photo. The creator then disassembles the board into its T-tetromino components and presents them to the solver.

The solver's task is to reconstruct the original board by correctly positioning the T-tetrominoes and deciphering the hidden words. As mentioned earlier, the tiles can be placed on the side of the board with the pre-printed arrangement (easier) or on the blank side (more challenging).

The solver may or may not be informed of the theme beforehand. Discovering the words and deducing the theme can be part of the challenge, adding an extra layer of engagement. To extend gameplay, the puzzle creator can prepare multiple themes with corresponding word lists. This is especially beneficial if the game is intended for children, as it can be a fun and educational activity led by a parent or educator.

Another game variation involves creating a "wordsearch" style puzzle using as many words from the original list as possible. Several online tools, such as the Word Search Maker, can help generate such puzzles. In this variation, an additional goal would be to find all the hidden words on the board.

This game mode also requires at least two people: a puzzle creator and one or more contestants. It builds upon the classic "Hangman" game, but with a twist: instead of guessing individual words, players guess entire phrases, similar to the game show "Wheel of Fortune."

Let's break down the gameplay:

1. Theme Selection: The puzzle creator chooses a theme for the phrase (e.g., "proverbs").
2. Puzzle Creation: The creator selects a phrase within the theme (e.g., "Do not judge a book by its cover") and arranges the words on the 8x8 (or 12x12) board using T-tetrominoes. Empty spaces are filled with blank tiles.
3. Puzzle Disassembly: The creator disassembles the board into individual T-tetromino pieces.
4. Guessing Begins: The contestants take turns guessing letters that might be in the hidden phrase.
5. Arbitration: The puzzle creator (who also acts as the arbitrator) responds to each guess in one of two ways:

• "Yes, but cannot be placed": The guessed letter is present on one of the T-tetrominoes, but placing it on the board would violate the placement rules. This occurs when the tile wouldn't touch a corner of the board or another tile already on the board.
• "Yes": The guessed letter is correct and can be placed on the board. The arbitrator places the corresponding T-tetromino in its correct position.

1. Placement Rules: The board must be filled starting from the corners. Tiles can only be placed adjacent to existing tiles or a board corner.
2. Winning Condition: The first contestant to correctly guess the entire phrase wins.

Additional Notes:

• The puzzle creator should have multiple phrases prepared in advance to ensure a longer and more engaging game.
• The complexity can be adjusted by choosing longer or more obscure phrases.
• This game mode is especially suitable for groups, as it encourages collaboration and friendly competition among the contestants.

This final gameplay mode is ideal for 2 players on the 8x8 board or 3-4 players on the 12x12 board. Let's focus on the 8x8 version for now.

1. Tile Distribution: Each player receives 8 T-tetromino base tiles and 4 blank tiles.
2. Letter Draw: Players take turns drawing one letter tile from a bag containing all 144 letter tiles.
3. Tile Assembly: Players attach the drawn letter tile to one of their base tiles. A tile is considered complete when all four positions are filled with letter tiles or blanks.
4. Tile Placement: Completed tiles can be placed on the board, but only if they form valid words upon placement. This could be a three-letter word on the tile itself, a two-letter word (if allowed), or a longer word formed by connecting with existing tiles on the board.
5. Placement Rules: As in the previous game mode, a placed tile must touch a corner of the board or another tile already in play.
6. Scoring: Points are awarded for each word created. You can either score based on the number of letters in the word or use a Scrabble-like system where vowels have lower values and rare letters have higher values.
7. Game End: The game ends when either no more tiles can be placed or the board is completely filled. The player with the highest score wins.

Additional Notes:

• Consider allowing players to swap a letter tile with another from the bag if they cannot form a word with their current draw. This can be done with a point penalty or a limited number of swaps per game.
• You can adjust the difficulty by changing the number of tiles each player receives or by modifying the scoring system.
• This game mode combines elements of Scrabble and Tetris, creating a unique and engaging word puzzle experience.

I'll wrap up this article here to avoid overwhelming you with too much information. However, before I go, I'd like to share a few final observations based on my experience with ⏊E⏊RAMINO ⏊WIS⏊:

• Magnet Strength: While the 3mm magnets and steel balls work, they might not provide the firmest hold for the letter tiles. I recommend experimenting with larger magnets (e.g., 4mm) or stronger magnets for a more secure connection.
• Letter Distribution: The initial letter distribution (144 tiles) might not be perfectly balanced for all game modes. Thankfully, the STL files are available on Tinkercad, allowing you to easily print additional tiles to supplement or adjust the letter frequencies as needed.
• Tetromino Variety: While this article focused on the unique tiling properties of the T-tetromino, there's no reason to limit yourself to just one shape. Feel free to explore using tiling also with other tetrominoes (I, O, L, J, Z, S) by modifying the base tile design in Tinkercad. This could open up exciting new gameplay possibilities and challenges.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article! I hope you found it informative and inspiring. If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. I'm always happy to help and discuss further ideas.