Blue Prince Board Game · Fan Project
Production Guide
From prototype to polished game — vendors, services, and roadmap
This document collects every third-party vendor and production service relevant to taking this prototype from hand-printed tiles on a table to a finished, gift-able physical game. Organized by production phase.
Fan project notice: This is an unofficial adaptation of Blue Prince by Tonda Ros / Dogubomb. It is strictly not for commercial use or sale. All production steps described here are for personal use only.
Phase 1 — Prototype (where you are now)
Home-printed tiles, basic tokens, hand-cut cards. Good enough to playtest. The goal here is validating the rules, not impressing anyone.
Active deck storage — recommended
A tall stack of room tiles is unstable at the table and awkward to shuffle. A drawstring felt or canvas bag (borrowed from another game or purchased cheaply) solves this immediately. Tiles go in, you shake to randomize, and draw 3 blind. A second smaller bag handles the discard pile — when the active bag runs out, dump the discard bag in and shake. Fast, tactile, and no toppling stacks.
Recommended: any fabric drawstring bag roughly 6"–8" wide. Craft stores, Amazon, or borrow from another game in your collection.
Tile size — confirmed prototype target
Playtesting confirmed 3.25" square as the working tile size. The original ~1.875" tiles were too small for tokens, text legibility, and comfortable handling. All tile art is designed at 3.25" square. Board grid cells must match this size — see Phase 2 for custom board ordering.
Card printing — home
Your home printer
Print on 80–110lb cardstock. Cut with a paper trimmer, not scissors. Sleeve immediately in penny sleeves to extend life. Good enough for 10–20 playtests.
Office Depot / Staples
Print on their cardstock in-store. Better paper weight than most home printers. Ask for 100lb cardstock. Cheap for small quantities. Good for a first clean prototype pass.
Tokens — quick sourcing
Amazon
Brown wooden discs (dirt tokens), colored glass gems, small service bells, padlock charms, poker chips for coins. Most items arrive in days. Search terms: "brown wooden discs 15mm", "mini padlock charms", "hotel desk bell small".
LITKO Game Accessories
Radiation hazard tokens 18mm for Shelter protection counters ($9.99 / 10-pack). Also good for custom acrylic tokens, step-counter dials (0–100), and colored wooden cubes. High quality, made for board games.
Etsy
Best for thematic pieces: miniature wooden treasure chest tokens, decorative skeleton key charms (for Silver Key and Secret Garden Key), mini padlock tokens. Search "miniature wooden treasure chest tokens" or "mini skeleton key charm".
iam8bit
Official Blue Prince merchandise including 1:1 replica keys from the game (Silver Key, Secret Garden Key). $12–15 each. Most thematically authentic option for the special keys. Check their store for current availability.
Phase 2 — Clean Prototype (post-playtest)
Rules are validated. Now make a version you'd actually hand to someone. Professional card printing, better tokens, a real box.
Card and tile printing — professional small run
MakePlayingCards.com
Best value for small card runs. Minimum order as low as 18 cards — perfect for the Commissary stock deck, treasure maps, Alzara cards. Standard poker size, linen finish available. Upload print-ready PDFs. 2–3 week turnaround.
DriveThruCards.com
Print-on-demand cards aimed at tabletop game designers. Good for standard poker cards and game card sizes. Slightly more expensive than MPC but very reliable. Good for the Special Items deck and Tomorrow Room cards.
Printerstudio.com
Good for custom card sizes outside poker standard. Also handles the room tiles if you want to print at a larger format (3.5" square). ArtsCow is a similar alternative. Upload files, choose cardstock weight.
The Game Crafter
All-in-one game production: cards, tiles, boards, tokens, boxes. Designed specifically for tabletop game prototypes. More expensive per unit than MPC but you can produce the entire game in one order. Excellent for a gift-quality copy.
Draft mat
Inked Gaming
Custom neoprene playmats. Upload the draft mat design (blueprint aesthetic, 3 slots labeled, Slot 1 "gem cost always bypassed" note). Small mat size ~10"×4". Roughly $20–30. Durable, professional finish.
PrintNinja
Higher minimum quantities but excellent quality for playmats and printed game components. More cost-effective if producing 5+ copies. Good for the game board itself if you want a printed neoprene mat version of the 5×9 grid.
Custom tokens — upgrade from placeholder
Meeple Source
Wide range of wooden game components — meeples, cubes, discs, coins. Good for upgrading placeholder tokens. Also carries the custom wooden coin sets that work well for coins and gems.
Thingiverse / Printables
Free 3D print files. Search "padlock token", "board game key token", "gem token". Print in resin for fine detail or FDM for durability. You already have a 3D printer — this is the cheapest path to thematic custom tokens.
Phase 3 — Gift-Quality Final Copy
You're making one beautiful copy of this game. Polished components, a real box, a rulebook. The kind of thing you'd put on a shelf.
Full game production — one-stop
The Game Crafter
Best option for a complete single-copy production. You design everything in their template system: cards, tiles, box lid and base, rulebook booklet. Produces and ships a complete game box. Expensive per copy but no minimum quantity. Estimated total for this game: $80–150 depending on component choices.
Artisan Game Components (Broken Token)
Laser-cut wooden inserts, trays, and custom component organizers. If you end up with a real box, a Broken Token-style insert keeps everything sorted — tiles by rarity, token compartments, card slots. Custom orders available.
Rulebook printing
Mixam
Best for saddle-stitched booklets — the format a real rulebook takes. Upload the rules HTML exported to PDF. 8.5"×11" folded. Minimum order is low (as few as 10 copies). Full color, glossy or matte cover. Clean and professional.
Canva / Adobe Express → PDF
Convert your HTML rules doc to a polished PDF for printing. Open the HTML file in Chrome, Cmd+P, save as PDF. Or import into Canva for layout polish before sending to Mixam. The rules doc is already formatted for print.
Production Checklist — Prototype to Final
- Playtest prototype until rules are stable (target: 5+ full runs)
- Update all documents with final rule decisions
- Add rarity + gem cost to backs of all room tiles — reprint tile set
- Commission or generate final art for Alzara cards (visual design pass)
- Create print-ready PDF for room tiles at final size
- Order professional card printing from MakePlayingCards.com (card decks)
- Order tile printing from Printerstudio.com or local print shop
- Source or 3D print final token set (padlocks, chest tokens, shelter tokens)
- Design and order custom neoprene draft mat from Inked Gaming
- Export rules to PDF — print at Mixam as a saddle-stitched booklet
- Order box from The Game Crafter or source a similarly-sized retail box
- Assemble, sleeve all cards, organize components into box
Recommended order of operations: Rules first, art second, print last. Don't spend money on professional printing until the rules have been tested. Every print run is a commitment — make sure the version you're printing is the one you want.
Useful Communities
If you want feedback on the prototype or help with component design, these communities are useful:
r/tabletopgamedesign
Active game design community. Good for playtesting feedback, component advice, and print vendor recommendations from people who've done it.
r/blueprince
The Blue Prince community. Fan projects are welcomed there. Worth sharing this adaptation when it's ready — there's a built-in audience who would appreciate a faithful physical version.