Design a Game Tile using 3D Modeling

As the spring Maker Faire Lake County approaches, we are thinking about all the items we would like to make. We’ve recently revved up our CNC router to carve out a few new projects.


Do you ever wish you could redesign your favorite board game? Well we’ve decided to tackle one of our favorites, Settlers of Catan. So far we have a plan for the ore and the brick tile. We would like your help in designing the next one. How would you envision the sheep tile? Is it a rolling field of green or perhaps a single stylish sheep?

Each of the tiles is a hexagon that has an overall height of 17 inches and a thickness of .75 inches. There is a one inch border around the tile and a 3 inch diameter circle in the center. The designs will be carved out of MDF with a CNC router. At no point should the thickness be less than .15 inches.

The contest is open to students from Grade 6 through community college. To enter you simply upload a screen capture of your project along with your with your name and email using this form. You can use any CAD software you wish. If CAD is a new skill, you may wish to start with Tinkercad.

Winners will be required to submit an *.stl file in order for the lab to create the game tile. Looking for help in exporting to the *.stl format, email an intern at the CLC Baxter Innovation lab and put Game Tile in the subject line.

Prizes: Two $20 gift cards purchased from local companies will be awarded to each division. CLC faculty judges will be looking for the most creative design and the best match to the original card.

  • Lovin Oven gift cards will be awarded to winners in the Grade 6 to 8 division
  • Gurnee Donuts gift cards will be awarded to winners in the Grade 9 to 12 division
  • Something’s Brewing gift cards will be awarded to winners in the community college student division

Submit your designs by March 19th. All of the submissions will be displayed on the Maker Faire Lake County website. When the winners are decided they will be announced here on the contest page. All entrants will be notified when this happens.

We will carve each winning design out of MDF and share them at Maker Faire Lake County on April 17th.