Fold-Flat Travel Game Book: Reversible Mancala & Checkers

A hinged travel game board that plays mancala on one face and checkers on the other, with every piece stored in a sliding tray tucked into the spine.

Date: 2026-10-31 Category: Puzzles and Games Modeling difficulty: Advanced Estimated print: ~9 h total · ~250 g PLA (estimate) Suggested price: $38–$55 printed · $10 digital file (estimate) Status: Concept

Description

The board is two 180 × 130 mm panels joined along their long edge by a three-knuckle hinge, closer in spirit to a book binding than a board-game box. Fold it open one way and the inside faces show a twelve-pit mancala run with two end stores. Flip the whole closed board over and open it the other way, and the outside faces show an 8×8 checkers grid molded in raised and flush squares, playable without paint since the squares are distinguished by relief rather than color.

A sliding tray lives on the back of the right panel, under the checkers-side dovetail rails, holding 48 mancala stones and 24 checker discs behind a lid with a finger-pull notch. Two magnet pairs at the outer corners click the whole thing shut for a bag or a glovebox.

Why it sells

Compact travel mancala and chess sets are an active category on both free-model platforms and Etsy. A travel mancala design on MakerWorld uses two hinged halves joined with filament and eight embedded magnets to fold flat (MakerWorld, Travel Mancala Game), and a separate Printables design offers a travel-sized mancala that "folds in half to keep game pieces secure" with built-in magnet holes (Printables, Mancala Travel and Full Size). On the chess side, the PlayBook'd line sells a magnetic book-format chess set on Etsy at a 5.0 rating across its listings, with reviewers specifically calling out the magnetic pieces and the fact that "all chess pieces store neatly inside the book" (Etsy, Playbook'd Chess). A separate travel chess set on MakerWorld builds the storage drawers directly into the board sections (MakerWorld, Travel Sized Chess Set).

Every one of those designs commits to a single game. None found in this research puts two playable games on the same folding board, which is the gap this design fills: one printed object instead of two, at roughly the same material cost.

Who buys it

Travelers, RV and camping families, and parents who want a durable game for a car or plane ride without a cardboard box that falls apart — the same buyer already filling Etsy's travel-mancala and travel-chess listings, usually buying for a trip or as a gift.

Design overview

• Two hinged panels, 180 × 130 mm each, joined by a 3-knuckle hinge and a 3 mm steel rod
• Mancala face: 12 small pits in a single row plus 2 end stores — a compact single-row simplification of the two-row Kalah layout common in travel-sized sets, matching the compact designs cited above
• Checkers face: 8×8 grid distinguished by 1 mm raised squares, no paint needed
• Sliding storage tray mounted on dovetail rails behind the checkers panel, holding all pieces
• Tray lid with a finger-pull notch, no separate latch needed
• Two magnet pairs hold the folded board shut for transport
• The feature none of the single-game listings offer: two full games sharing one folded board and one piece set

Dimensions

Parts list

Hardware and non-printed parts

• 3 mm diameter steel or brass rod, 130 mm length ×1 — the hinge pin, passes through all 3 knuckles
• 6 × 3 mm N35 disc magnet ×4 (2 pairs) — one pair per panel's outer corner, holds the folded book shut

Fits and tolerances

• Hinge knuckle bore vs. 3 mm steel rod: sliding (hinge) fit, bore drilled/printed to Ø3.4 mm, 0.2 mm radial clearance per side
• Tray dovetail tabs vs. right panel's rails: sliding fit, 0.3 mm clearance per side (a long, thin printed dovetail is prone to binding if either part warps slightly, so the extra 0.1 mm over the standard 0.2 mm buys margin)
• Tray lid vs. tray groove: sliding fit, 0.2 mm clearance per side
• Magnet pockets: press fit, 0.1 mm clearance per side, magnets retained with a drop of cyanoacrylate glue

Modeling guide

Each panel's local origin sits at its bottom-left-front corner; +X runs toward the panel's outer edge, +Y runs across the panel's height, +Z runs up through the panel's thickness. The hinge edge is local X=180 for the left panel and local X=0 for the right panel.

Left panel:

1. Sketch on XY: rectangle 180 × 130, corner radius 4.
2. Extrude 16 up — this is the panel body.
3. On the top face (mancala side): cut a store pit, Ø36, depth 14, centered at X=20, Y=65.
4. On the same face: cut 6 small pits, Ø20, depth 12, centered at Y=65, X=54, 76, 98, 120, 142, 164.
5. On the bottom face (checkers side): add a 130 × 130 raised field, inset 25 mm from the top and bottom edges, split into an 8×8 grid of 16.25 × 16.25 mm squares.
6. Raise the squares where (row + column) is even, 0-indexed from the bottom-left corner of the grid, by 1 mm; leave the rest flush.
7. Along the hinge edge (X=180): add 2 hinge knuckles, each a Ø10 mm barrel 20 mm long, centered at Y=25 and Y=105, bored through with a Ø3.4 mm hole on-axis.
8. At the outer corner (X=10, Y=10 and X=10, Y=120): cut 2 magnet pockets, Ø6.2 mm × 3.2 mm deep.

Right panel:

1. Sketch on XY: rectangle 180 × 130, corner radius 4.
2. Extrude 16 up.
3. On the top face (mancala side): mirror the left panel's pit layout about X=90 (so store pit center becomes X=160, small pit centers become X=126, 104, 82, 60, 38, 16).
4. On the bottom face: add 2 parallel dovetail rails, each 100 mm long × 6 mm wide tapering to 4 mm, protruding 3 mm, running along X, centered at Y=40 and Y=90.
5. Along the hinge edge (X=0): add 1 hinge knuckle, Ø10 mm barrel, 20 mm long, centered at Y=65, bored through with a Ø3.4 mm hole, positioned to interlock between the left panel's two knuckles.
6. At the outer corner (X=170, Y=10 and X=170, Y=120): cut 2 magnet pockets, Ø6.2 mm × 3.2 mm deep.

Storage tray:

1. Sketch on XY: rectangle 150 × 100, corner radius 4.
2. Extrude 14 up.
3. Shell: cut an interior pocket 142 × 92 × 10 deep, centered, leaving a 4 mm floor and 4 mm walls.
4. On the underside, add 2 dovetail tabs matching the right panel's rails, 100 mm long, centered at the same Y=40 and Y=90 offsets.
5. On the inside top edge of the pocket's two long walls, cut a groove 3 mm wide × 2 mm deep, for the lid to slide into.

Tray lid:

1. Sketch on XY: rectangle 142 × 92, corner radius 3.
2. Extrude 3 up.
3. On one short edge, cut a half-circle finger-pull notch, radius 12, depth 4.

Mancala stone:

1. Sketch a circle Ø10 on XY.
2. Revolve a hemisphere profile 5 mm tall (half-dome).

Checker disc:

1. Sketch a circle Ø25 on XY.
2. Extrude 6 mm.
3. On the top face, engrave a single ring, outer Ø20, inner Ø16, depth 1 mm, for grip and visual texture.

Print settings

Assembly

1. Glue a magnet into each of the 4 corner pockets (2 per panel), matching polarity so the panels pull together when folded.
2. Insert the 3 mm rod through the left panel's two knuckles, the right panel's single knuckle, and back through the left panel's second knuckle, joining the two panels.
3. Slide the storage tray onto the right panel's dovetail rails until it stops.
4. Load the 48 stones and 24 discs into the tray.
5. Slide the lid into the tray's grooves to close it.
6. Fold the board shut; the magnets should click and hold.

Variants and upsells

• Swap the checkers face for a 9×9 go-adjacent grid or a nine-men's-morris layout (parametric: grid_variant)
• Offer a personalized spine with the owner's initials embossed between the hinge knuckles
• Sell a hardwood-look PLA color set alongside a bright two-tone set for kids
• Bundle 2 boards as a travel 4-player set (2 mancala games side by side on a road trip)

Selling and distribution

List on Etsy next to the PlayBook'd-style chess sets and on MakerWorld/Printables as a free or paid model, matching where the comparable products above are already selling. Price the printed set using roughly 250 g of PLA across all parts plus about 9 hours of combined machine time; $38–$55 sits below the premium end of the PlayBook'd chess range (which reaches $93 for customized versions) while reflecting that this set includes two full games and 72 pieces. Sell the printed set and the STL bundle separately; license the files non-commercially (CC BY-NC) since the design borrows the general "folding book + magnetic closure" format already established by other sellers. Listing keywords: travel mancala, travel checkers, folding board game, magnetic game book, 3D printed board game, travel games for kids, camping game, road trip game, two-in-one game set, mancala and checkers.

Risks and IP notes

• The "book with magnetic closure" format is already used by the PlayBook'd chess line and similar folding-mancala designs; this design differs by combining two games and a hidden piece tray, but listing copy should describe it as a new combination rather than implying it originated the folding-book mechanic.
• The hinge knuckles are a thin, repeatedly-stressed feature; print them in PLA (not PETG, which is more prone to layer splitting under repeated flex) and test fold-cycle durability before a production run.
• 72 loose small pieces (48 stones, 24 discs) are a choking hazard; the listing must carry a small-parts / not-for-children-under-3 warning.
• The checkers grid relies on 1 mm surface relief instead of two-color printing to stay distinguishable; test under low light before finalizing, and consider a 1.5 mm relief if players report difficulty telling squares apart.

Resource links

• Travel Mancala Game — Free 3D Print Model — comparable hinged, magnet-closed travel mancala design
• Mancala Travel and Full Size — comparable folding travel mancala with built-in magnet holes
• Playbook'd — Chess, Magnetic 3D Printed Book Chess Set — comparable magnetic book-format travel game, 5.0-star listings
• Travel Sized Chess Set — Free 3D Print Model — comparable travel board with built-in piece storage
• 12 Best 3D Printed Puzzles To Try in 2026 — category context for printed puzzle and game demand
• 23 Best Things to 3D Print and Sell in 2026 — margin context for toys/games category ($2–$3 cost, $10–$15 sale, 70–80% margin)