What happens when you find a new game you enjoy that has parts that are too well loved?
You rebuild them of course!

We tried Camel Up at Blue Highway Games in Seattle (specifically Queen Ann) last week and it was quite fun! Their pyramid however was horribly well loved!

I said to Jan “I think we can remake this on the Forge!”

It was Cider & Coloring night, so I took the pyramid apart and traced it onto paper with a colored pencil. When I got home I took some measurements and designed it up in CAD.

Added stonework and logos in Inkscape…

And we now have a new, improved, and working pyramid!

The original is a pretty clever design. There are two layers of pyramid in the original. At first I thought the inner piece was there for stability and since I was making this out of wood, I didn’t think it was necessary. My first iteration I found that the dice were getting hung up on the flat interior. The inner piece on the original was to funnel the dice to the center… not for stability. I added some angled guides, slotted into the internal piece (sorry didn’t get a pic of that) to help with it, and the second iteration worked much, much better!

Game play requires complete anonymity of the 5 colored dice as players are betting on the order of reveal. After shaking, the pyramid is turned upside down, the sliding piece is depressed allowing a single die to enter the hollow top of the pyramid.

The new ‘GF’ version came out perfect! It’s sturdier, customized and I dare say better than the original!