11 ‘print & play’ games for all tastes that you can print and try right now

The games print & play, that is, image documents that you can print and mount at home to play immediately, have become an open secret among board game fans, especially as a result of the confinement we experienced a few months ago. For years they have been an alternative method for many fans to get hold of games that their pockets did not reach: cards, boards and other elements were scanned and uploaded to the internet unofficially.

But over time, the print & play it has been expanding to take multiple forms, many of them spoiled by the creators of the games. There are prints & play that are demos of final games, others that are experiments to be tested with a view to becoming full games in the future, others are simply free or very cheap games that their creators make available to everyone.

We have done a selection of some of the best (and legal) that can be found on the internet. Titles that are often simple and tiny, fast and that do not require too much preparation or waste of ink (although we also present others whose ambition rivals the behemoths of the stores). A perfect alternative to fancy game boxes with thousands of cards and accessories that can be found on the market. Let’s go with 13 of the best print & play, the fanzine version of traditional board games.

‘Secret Hitler’

The pretty girl of print & play, with a bombproof design and mechanics (one of its designers was also from the mythical ‘Cards Against Humanity’). In Germany in the 1930s, there two sides: fascists and liberals, and it is their mission to find their nemesis, Hitler, hidden among the players. It was born as a conventional board game, but soon its creators released this version print & play that even has rules in spanish.

• Number of players: 5-10
• Here You can download it

‘Sprawlopolis’

Simple bike racing simulation game that focuses on teamwork. The course of the game simulates various problems that the competitors encounter in a route that they build as they go. The game is made up of different stages that can be played independently, but its creators recommend playing several stages in the same session. an authentic tour de force!

• Number of players: 2-6
• Here You can download it

‘Utopia Engine’

A small wonder, simple and evocative (although its instruction manual -nothing complicated, on the other hand- reaches 12 pages) that is simply played with a couple of printed sheets and some dice. The player will have to rebuild the Utopia Engine, whose parts are scattered around the world, in a development that is very reminiscent of a solo role-playing game.

• Number of players: 1
• Here You can download it

‘The Other Hat Trick’

Good Little Games it’s a great game page print and play free, managed by Brett J. Gilbert and Matthew Dunstan, designers of notable titles such as ‘Divinare’, ‘Elysium’, ‘Costa Rica’ or ‘Relic Runners’. On the web they propose games with little fanfare, quick to set up and play like this adorable matchup between three rival wizards. A title that responds to its creator’s challenge to make a game with as few cards as possible, in this case only 17. Quick games for a frenetic game of luck and deduction.

• Number of players: 3
• Here You can download it

‘Paper Pinball: Laser Sisters’

PnP Arcade is another game platform of this type, although not all of them are free (the price, yes, is highly affordable: around 3 euros). ‘Laser Sisters’ has before it, like the rest of the Pinball Series games, the challenge of making us believe that we are playing pinball, in a very simple single player game where you have to roll dice and fill a board with the areas through which the ball passes, which will have different effects, such as unleashing the multi-ball or opening tunnels.

• Number of players: 1
• Here You can download it

‘No Time for Heroes’

A game of Spanish design, created by Rodrigo González and illustrated by Israel Pato, which draws on the themes of traditional role-playing: a group of heroes of different classes (mage, rogue, warrior and explorer) they will have to enter a fantasy world in search of treasures. Quick games around half an hour for a game that drinks from the classics.

• Number of players: 2-4
• Here You can download it

‘Love Letter: Sender’

Other utility of the games print and play is to serve as a promotion for other paid games. East ‘Love Letter: Sender’ is a free home version of the mail seduction game ‘Love Letter’, and is played with the same rules and a compressed version of the deck. This time references to online dating are introduced, but without losing the charm of the medieval seduction of the original game.

• Number of players: 2-6
• Here You can download it

‘Tussie Mussie’

Another PnP Arcade game for which you will only have to pay three euros, and that moves away from the usual themes of war and conflict to delve into the Victorian fashion of messages with carefully prepared and designed flowers. Its delightfully simple design involves delivering hidden and uncovered cards to the opponent, which means that we can be awarding points without knowing it. Designed by Elizabeth Hargrave, creator of ‘Wingspan’.

• Number of players: 2-6
• Here You can download it

‘WARLINE: Tactical Fantasy Battles’

A game of a remarkable complexity to be a print and play free, with a manual of almost a hundred pages and a fairly abundant number of letters to print. It has strategic sandbox-type mechanics and its authors claim that it is inspired by real war theories of combat from the 16th and 17th centuries.

• Number of players: 2-4
• Here You can download it

’18AL’

Game belonging to the 18XX subgenre, that is, railway company management games (with multiple possible variants in the setting, of course), with a strong strategic component and that take place on hexagonal boards. This introductory version of the genre has its packaging as a title print & play, yeAmong the abundant material to be printed are a map, a stock market, money and letters. Games can go up to three hours, so don’t look down on it just because you can do it yourself.

• Number of players: 3-5
• Here You can download it

‘Dune: The Dice Game’

Based on the legendary ‘Dune’ board game, so you already know what you’re going to find: a title of strategic components where you have to dominate areas of the sand planet, with the setting and fauna typical of Frank Herbert’s saga of stories. It is not the first game that tries to make a version print & play from the original game (there’s ‘Dune Express‘), and you’ll need the Avalon Hill board game board. Of course, for the work of printing and preparing you will need considerable preparation. Good luck.

• Number of players: 3-8
• Here You can download it

… and more games print and play

In el foro Board Game Geek you have many more games of the genre that you can access. Many of them are in English, but often, if there are fan translations (which is very common), they are linked.