Burgle Bros Vertical Building

thingiverse

Burgle Bros is typically played by arranging the various floors of a building side by side. As players move up or down from one floor to another, they shift from one floor layout to an adjacent floor layout, preserving their relative position within the floor layout. The Kickstarter project for this game included an optional wooden 3D structure that allowed for an upright layout with boards supporting the floors above. This aesthetically felt like ascending and descending the building and significantly reduced the required table space. However, this structure was not sturdy or stable, came apart easily, and lacked visual appeal. After dealing with frustration over it, I designed this as a replacement. It requires a combination of a laser cutter for the floors themselves and a 3D printer for the uprights to support the floors. The SVG files contain patterns for the laser cutter (in my case a Glowforge Plus) as a 19" x 19" image. I also provided the patterns as PNG files, but Thingiverse insists on displaying them instead of listing the files, and they display as broken images that cannot be deleted. The primary design, to cut the board whole, is too large to do as a single cut and requires manipulation of the board and lining up registration marks between cuts. Each floor consists of two pieces: a solid base with only some corner anchoring holes, and a top with multiple cutouts for room tiles and wall pieces. After cutting both, the top is glued to the base. The top should be at most 1/8" thick; the bottom probably does not need to be more than 1/8", at most 1/4" but that might get heavy. If it's impossible to cut a board, reposition it, and cut again, I also provide images with each piece (top and base) cut into halves to fit within the Glowforge's 11.5" x 19.5" restriction. Cut two of each, then position the seam of the top perpendicular to the seam of the base when gluing, and this should provide sufficient strength. I designed both a 4x4 board (standard) and a 5x5 board (Fort Knox variant). The standard setup requires three boards, while the Fort Knox variant requires only two. Now that the floor boards are done, we move on to the uprights. Each of the four corners requires the following: one base, one support, one boardlock, and for each floor above the ground floor, either one post or two shorter posts and a spacer (my preferred option). You will also need 48 tile risers (50 for a 5x5 tower). Assembly to play involves building the four uprights together one floor at a time. The boardlock piece locks the board into the support for added stability. The supports and boardlocks just slip onto the base and posts. The posts and cap screw on to secure the uprights. It's easiest to build the four uprights together, one floor at a time. The tile risers make it easier to remove the tiles for flipping and cleanup; push down one corner and the opposite corner pops up enough to grab. I prefer the two shorter posts because that lets me have a little more space between floors. My printer isn't tall enough to print a single post at the height I wanted, but since I already had the single post designed at the maximum height my printer could handle, there's no reason not to provide the pattern so you have the option. This is probably way over-engineered and uses a lot more filament than necessary, but I wanted to make sure the four corner uprights, being independent of each other, wouldn't easily tip and collapse the building while the burglars are inside doing their thing. Finally, maybe I should design a storage case for all these pieces. I haven't done that yet.