For this year's Secret Santa, my recipient’s wish list simply said: "memory game, but hard." Since she is practically unbeatable at standard "find the pairs" games, I knew I had to step up the challenge. That’s when it hit me: I could use the symbols from one of my favorites, Jungle Speed. If you’ve ever played, you know those designs are intentionally diabolical.
If LLMs can draw an SVG pelican driving a bicycle, they also should handle geometrical shapes and patterns.
Attempt 1: SVGs and Too Many Hoops
Workflow:
- generate SVG symbols using AI
- import SVG into Tinkercad
- manually place symbol on card blank
Unfortunately, the reality didn't live up to the plan. Somewhere between the exports and imports, the geometry broke down, resulting in jagged, messy edges. More importantly, the process required a massive amount of manual placement. For a game requiring a high volume of unique tiles, this just wasn't feasible. Back to square one.
Attempt 2: The OpenSCAD Breakthrough
OpenSCAD is one of the pieces of software that I wish I was more fluent with. Turns out Gemini is surprisingly good writing OpenSCAD code! What's even better, is that we eliminate lots of manual work by automating the process - output of a script is a ready to print card.
And it worked like a charm, 60 designs created in no time. Of course we can't give bunch of cards in a plastic bag, so I've found a nice box model and added text using Bambu Studio.
After a little post-processing with a lighter (for stringing) and some sandpaper, I had a professional-looking set ready for the table.
