Games you can actually print

Home-made games have a long history: the family quiz written on index cards, the treasure hunt clues, the drinking game rules scrawled on a napkin. What has changed is that a print shop can now turn any of those into something that looks and feels like a real product, in a quantity of one. A deck of custom playing cards with the family's faces, a personalised bingo set for a baby shower, a board game about your street for a housewarming: all of these are standard jobs, not novelties.

This guide is about what is involved: which game formats print well, how to set up the files, what card stock and finishing to choose, and where the pitfalls are. It assumes you have the idea already and want to get it made without it looking like a school project.

Custom playing cards

The most popular home game print job by a distance. A standard poker-size card is 63.5 x 88.9 mm; bridge size is 57 x 88.9 mm. A deck is 52 cards plus two jokers, but nothing forces that. Photo decks with 54 different family pictures, memory-match decks with pairs, or quiz decks with a question on each card all follow the same setup.

• Stock. Real playing cards use a 300 to 310 gsm board with a black or blue core layer so the card is opaque and the back cannot be read against a light. Print shops call this "casino stock" or "black core". Plain 300 gsm card works for a game that will be played a few times; black core is worth it for a deck that will be used regularly.
• Finish. A linen texture or a smooth varnish helps cards slide and shuffle. Lamination makes them stiffer and easier to wipe but harder to shuffle. For a deck children will handle, lamination wins; for an adult card game, varnish.
• Corners. Always rounded. Square corners on playing cards catch and bend within an evening.
• Backs. One identical design for every card, with a symmetrical pattern so the cards cannot be told apart from the back when some are rotated. A photo on the back breaks this rule and is fine for a memory game but not for anything with hidden information.

Board games

A board is a large flat print mounted on rigid board, and the mounting is what separates a good result from a curling poster. Three realistic options:

• Single-piece board on 2 mm greyboard, up to about A3. Cheap and quick; it does not fold, so it needs a flat box or a large envelope.
• Quad-fold board. Printed paper wrapped over four hinged panels, exactly like a commercial game. This is more expensive because it is hand-finished, and it is the option to choose for a gift that should look shop-bought.
• Foldable card stock (350 gsm with a scored fold). Not rigid, but fine for a game played on a table once or twice.

Design the board with a margin of at least 10 mm inside the edge and keep the fold lines clear of any text or small detail. If the game has a path of squares, make each square at least 20 mm so a standard pawn fits.

Bingo, quiz and party card sets

The simplest print games are single-sided cards on 300 gsm board, cut to a size like A6 or 100 x 150 mm. Bingo cards, "who am I" cards, charades prompts, baby shower guessing games and wedding table quizzes all fit this format. The only real question is how many unique cards you need.

For bingo, every card must be different. Do not lay them out by hand; use a spreadsheet or one of the free online generators to produce the numbers, then merge them into a card template. Twenty unique cards is plenty for a family party; fifty for a bigger event. Print a few spares.

For quiz and prompt cards, a single design with the question on the front and the answer on the back works, but remember that double-sided printing needs the two sides to line up. Leave a 5 mm safe margin so slight misregistration between front and back is invisible.

Tokens, tiles and pieces

Small die-cut pieces (round tokens, square tiles, dominoes) are possible but are the part of a home game most likely to disappoint if you cut corners. Options in order of cost:

• Print tokens on sticker paper and stick them to bought blank wooden discs. Cheap, robust, looks intentional.
• Print on 2 mm mounted board and have the shop die-cut circles or squares. This needs a cutting die or a digital cutter and a minimum quantity; ask before designing.
• Print on card and cut by hand with a punch. Only for a handful of pieces.

Pawns, dice and timers are cheaper to buy than to make. Spend the print budget on the parts people look at: the board, the cards and the box.

The box

A box is what makes a printed game feel finished. For a card deck, a tuck box (the folding carton real decks come in) is a standard print shop item; supply artwork on a dieline template the shop will send you. For a board game, a two-piece rigid box with a printed wrap is the proper solution but expensive in a quantity of one; a printed A4 mailer box or a drawstring bag with a printed label are practical alternatives. Our guide to coordinated gift sets has ideas for wrapping and tags that match the game.

Setting up the files

• Every card, tile or board panel as its own page in one PDF, at final size plus 3 mm bleed, with backgrounds running into the bleed.
• Backs supplied as a separate page, or as page 2 of each card pair if the shop asks for front-back sequence. Confirm which they prefer.
• Photos at 300 ppi at print size; for cards that is a small file, so almost any decent phone photo works. Our note on scanning artwork for print applies if the game uses children's drawings.
• Text at least 8 pt on cards, 10 pt if grandparents will play.
• Name the files clearly: cards-front-54pp.pdf, cards-back.pdf, board-A3.pdf, box-dieline.pdf.

Printing your game with us

Our custom printing service handles the whole set: black core playing cards with rounded corners and a tuck box, mounted or quad-fold boards, die-cut tokens above a small minimum, and prompt cards in any quantity. Send us the idea before you build the files and we will return the right templates and dielines, which saves a round of corrections.

A single prototype deck or board is a normal order, and it is the sensible way to test a game before printing copies for everyone at Christmas. Browse the general printing options for stocks and finishes, or get in touch with a description of the game and the number of players, and we will quote the full set.