Perth Voice Interactive

HAVING spent hours poring through Game of Thrones books for clues about the fictional boardgame cyvasse, Michael Le Page has created his own physical version, brought to life with 3D printing.

He and online GoT forum buddies scanned the books looking for any instance of when the chess-like game was mentioned and scoured interviews with author George RR Martin looking for clues.

In the books Tyrion might be playing cyvasse and mention “my fort is in ruins, the horse is circling around the rear,” and remark he’s wary of bringing out his dragon too early.

A PhD student researching immunology through UWA, Mr Le Page aimed to keep the rules simple to learn, steering clear of the jargon-filled rulesets of modern Euro-games which often come loaded with hefty rulebooks that read like legal tomes.

Instead it’s a pretty simple pyramid of power: the most powerful dragon piece can kill any enemy on the board, you’ll need two elephants to take down a dragon, and two crossbows to take out an elephant.

With the rules taken care of, he had to bring it to the physical realm. He cast about looking for a wood-carver or metal-worker to fashion the pieces, but those options turned out to be pricey. So he turned to 3D printing.

He’d had his first encounter with the technology back in 2001, long before most had ever heard of it. Aged 18, he underwent corrective surgery on facial bones.

Doctors first scanned his skull and built a replica layer by layer on an early 3D printer to visualise the work to be done.

After the surgery he was given the cast as a memento: it’s helped to serve as his inspiration for the game. “That’s how I first heard about [3D printing] but I never expected I’d be using it for this,” he says.

He taught himself how to use free design software and set to designing the pieces. He knew he’d need horses and castles—they were mentioned in the books—and Tyrion Lannister once complained about having lost his dragon to a trebuchet, so they went in too.

Once designed he sent the files off to a website called Shapeways which prints them on demand, charging around $1.75 per cubic centimetre of plastic.

It costs about $300 to print out a full set—about the same as a good wood and metal chess set—and anyone from around the world can now print off their own version and access the free rules from Mr Le Page’s website (mikelepage.com).

Mr Le Page is keen to get the game out there for people who can’t afford to print their own version. He’s collaborating with a friend in Germany (who he’s never met) to build a website that’ll let people play a virtual version.

by DAVID BELL