Four steps and an optional printer check. One hour. No special tools, no glue gun, no experience. I have watched this go wrong exactly twice and both times it was glossy paper.
The steps
Print it
One A4 page, 300 dpi, colour, scale 100% (not "fit to page"). Card stock between 160 and 250 gsm is the sweet spot. On US Letter, use 94% or scale to fit. Want the small 7.3 cm cube that fits a clear display box? Print at 78%.
Check the scale first (optional, one page)
Not sure your printer respects 100%? Print my free check page and measure the bar on it. If it reads 100 mm you are set. If it does not, the page tells you exactly what percentage to use instead. This costs one sheet of paper and saves the ruined kit.
Cut the cross
The big cross in the middle is the cube. Cut around its outline and cut the four corner squares away completely. Then cut out the loose scene pieces at the top and bottom of the sheet. Take your time on the characters, they carry the whole thing. The sheet gives you a few spares on purpose.
Score and fold
Run a ruler and the back of a knife along every fold line before you bend it. The back wall folds up and becomes the game screen. The floor stays flat as a raised stage. The two side walls and the front logo band fold down and hold that stage off the surface. You now have the room.
Glue the scene in
Stand the cut-out characters and props on the floor panel, front pieces toward the front, the tall piece at the back like furniture. Dab of glue stick under each base. Leave the middle open so the back wall stays readable. Then put it on a shelf and look at it for longer than you would admit to another person.
Where it goes
The folded stage holds its own shape on a shelf. It is also sized for the clear acrylic display cubes you can find anywhere: 10 cm boxes at 100% print scale, 7.5 cm boxes at 78%. In a box it stops collecting dust and starts looking like a thing you bought rather than a thing you made, which is a strange and pleasant feeling.
Why the folds line up
Every kit is laid out by the same generator, on geometry taken from sheets that were printed, cut and built by hand first. The generator is checked against that physical reference sheet and matches it to under a millimetre. That is why the walls meet, the front band reads straight, and nothing needs trimming at the end. Cut on the line and it fits.
My honest tips
- Matte card stock. Glossy photo paper looks incredible flat and cracks at every crease.
- Score before you fold. Every time. It is the difference between a crisp room and a soft cardboard shrug.
- Cut the characters last, when your hand is warmed up.
- Glue stick, not liquid glue. Liquid glue ripples the paper and you cannot undo a ripple.
- If a piece looks lonely, use one of the spares. Two figures is usually the sweet spot, three starts to crowd the room.