Periastra

An observatory that opens into a draughts board. The roof lifts straight off, and a standing counter has 3 mm of air above it — so the game never has to come off the board. Opening position, half-played or put away on a shelf, it stays exactly where you left it.

26
printed parts
24
counters, 12 a side
7.5 × 7.5 × 3.0 in
closed
12.6 oz
of PETG
The closed set: a pale square box with a shallow cone for a roof and a short telescope tube leaning out of one flank, lit from the side against a dark ground
Closed. A 7.5 × 7.5 × 3.0 in box with a cone for a roof and a telescope leaning 41° out of it — and a slot running right round the rim that the game shows through.

Lift the roof.

Nothing about it says board game.

A cone, a telescope and a square box. The one clue is the 4 mm slot running right round under the roof: look into it and the pieces are already there.

No hinge, no catch.

The roof is not clipped on and it is not a friction fit. It stands on four corner shelves inside the box and comes straight up off them.

Already set.

24 counters standing in the opening position — three rows at each end, raised squares only. There is no bag to tip out and nothing loose to lose.

You read the sides by their tails.

12 a side. One set's tails fork; the other's run to a point. Same 12 mm head, same square, same thickness — the difference is cut into the shape, so it survives a one-colour print.

Crowning is a flip.

Reach the far row and the counter rolls over onto its other face, where an orbit ring is cut 0.6 mm into the head. Kings are not extra pieces; they are these pieces, upside down.

Put the roof back on.

It drops onto the same four shelves and clears a standing counter by 3 mm — so it closes over a game in progress exactly as easily as over the opening position.

12 forked, 12 single.

Both sides are the same comet: a 12 mm head with a tail behind it. The tail is the only thing that separates them — one set forks, the other comes to a point.

That matters more than it sounds. Nothing here is told apart by colour, so the whole set can come off one spool and still read across the board. Each counter is 16 × 12 × 7 mm, so a 22 mm square still shows all round the one standing on it.

A counter photographed close up on its raised square, its tail split into two square prongs with a slot between them

Forked tail

12 of these. The fork is a 3 mm slot cut up the tail.
The other kind of counter in the same position under the same light, its tail running back to a single blunt point

Single tail

12 of these. Same square, same light, same 7 mm thickness.

A king is the same counter, turned over.

One face is plain. The other carries an orbit ring cut 0.6 mm into the head, with a stepped arm running off it. Reach the far row, roll the counter over, and it is crowned — there is no second set of kings to print and none to mislay in a drawer.

A crowned counter photographed close up: a circular groove cut into the head with a small raised disc at its centre and a stepped arm curling off the ring
The engraved face, printed.

Plain side up — an uncrowned counter.

The lid lands on four corners.

The board is the box. 64 squares at 22 mm, 32 of them standing 0.5 mm proud of the floor — relief rather than paint, which is why the pattern holds up in one colour and why it reads best with a light coming in low.

Around the board sits a 3 mm wall, and at each corner a bracket carrying a shelf. The roof never touches that wall. It sits on the four shelves with 0.8 mm of clearance on every side, which is what leaves the slot open around the closed box.

The roof floating above the open box, with all the counters standing in position on the board below it
Straight up and off. The roof is a single printed part: plate, cone and telescope in one.
Close view of one corner with the roof lifted a little, the counters left standing on the board underneath it
Lifted clear of the rim. The counters sit on the raised squares; nothing holds them in.

26 printed parts, and the board is one of them.

26
printed parts
12.6 oz
of PETG on the plate
28.1 h
on the printer
Overall, closed
7.5 × 7.5 × 3.0 in
Board
8 × 8 squares at 22 mm, 176 mm across, relief 0.5 mm
Counters
24, 12 a side, each 16 × 12 × 7 mm
Crowning
reversible; orbit ring cut 0.6 mm into the head
Roof
one part: plate, cone and an 18 mm telescope leaning 41°
Box
3 mm wall, 184 mm inside, lid on four corner shelves
Clearances
0.8 mm lid to bracket, 3 mm over a standing counter
Build plate
190 × 190 mm, tallest part 56 mm
Material
PETG

24 counters, one board and one roof. The only thing that has to happen between games is putting the lid back on.

The board seen from a high three-quarter angle with every counter standing in the opening position, the raised squares catching a low light
The squares are a 0.5 mm step rather than a printed colour, so the board reads by its own shadow.