A month ago, I had started expanding my piecepack by adding in Hexpack and Piecepack Matchstick components. They cost a pretty penny in both stickering and obtaining pieces to match the existing aesthetic, but after a month, all of the assembly has been completed. (Also: don’t do what I did in getting these parts. Cheaper alternatives exist.) So I should explain what goes into my piecepack.
My piecepack dimensions are based off of the Mesomorph piecepack dimensions, though this is not an exact science due to various factors. Now, for those of you not aware, a standard piecepack consists of four suits, and each suit contains a set of tiles, coins, a die, and a pawn. The minimal requirements are as follows:
- One side of each tile must display their suit and rank, and have something to denote their orientation. The ranks are called “null”, “ace”, “2”, “3”, “4”, and “5”. Aces are typically represented by a spiral, while nulls are blank. The reverse side of each tile must be divided into quadrants.
- One side of each coin must display the suit, along with the orientation. The opposite side of the coin must show the rank, along with the orientation. The orientation marks on each side should line up. The ranks should not have any indication of what suit it may belong to. Coins must be sized so that they fit in one quadrant of a tile.
- The die should have the six ranks as each of the six faces. The suit of the die should be identifiable – this can either be from using the suit in place of a spiral as the ace face, or having the suit present on all six faces.
- The pawn may be any shape, but the suit of the pawn should be identifiable. The base of a pawn should fit on one quadrant of a tile.
My piecepack set is primarily inspired by the JCD piecepack, and has the following additions:
- As with the Mesomorph reference piecepack dimensions, the tiles are two inches square, made from ¼” thick acrylic squares. On the obverse side, the rank is shown in its suit color, and the suit is marked on all four corners, though one has its colors inverted (white symbol on colored background) to denote orientation. The reverse side contains a spiral in the center reminiscent of a “spinner”. The four quadrants are not in a checkerboard pattern, contrary to many piecepack sets you may find elsewhere.
- The coins are made from ¾” diameter acrylic circles that are ⅛” thick.
- The die is made from ½” acrylic cubes. Note that these are considerably smaller than standard 16mm board gaming dice. Each face depicts both the suit and rank, as well as having an orientation mark as some games use it. The faces of the die are arranged so that the null, ace, and 2 have right-handed chirality (traditional dice in the west have 1, 2, and 3 have right-handed chirality, while traditional Asian dice have 1, 2, and 3 have left-handed chirality). The null and 5 are on opposite faces, the ace and 4 are on opposite faces, and the 2 and 5 are on opposite faces. The orientation markers are such that the ace through 4 are oriented in the same direction, the null’s orientation marker faces the orientation marker of the 3, and the 5’s orientation marker points to the 2.
- The pawn is a simple acrylic cylinder ⅝” in diameter and 1⅛” tall. A “belt” is affixed onto the cylinder to denote suit, and an orientation sticker is also attached to the top. Note that pawns are not required to have an orientation; this is strictly so that pawn saucers, an add-on piece to a Mesomorph piecepack, would not be needed in games where pawns are required to have an orientation.
Of the piecepack additions I made, here is the minimal requirements of a Hexpack:
- Hexes are such that the inscribed circle has a diameter the same as that of the length of one tile. (That is, the length from flat side to flat side, not corner to corner, is the same as one tile.). Like tiles, they display suit, rank, and orientation one one side, and on the reverse side the hex is divided into six triangular sectors.
- There are two sets of triangular “coins”. (Piecepack coins do not fit into the triangular sectors, hence why alternate coins are needed.) One set are exactly like piecepack coins: rank on one side, suit on the other, and both sides having orientation markers that line up. The other set, said to be “experimental”, has one side containing rank, suit, and orientation, leaving the other side blank.
These are the specifics of my set:
- Although the intent was also having the hexes be ¼” thick, due to the supplier they are instead 6mm thick, which means that my tiles are 0.35mm ticker than the hexes. With the addition of the stickering of different thicknesses, there is some noticeable differences. For the obverse side, only alternate corners have suit markings, and all three of them have inverted colors. Though the orientation of ace through 5 can easily be inferred, due to a design oversight a dot needed to be added to the nulls for orientation. (Had I redesigned it, only one corner would have inverted colors, like the tiles.)
- Although the intent was to have the triangular coins fit perfectly into a sector, due to a custom ordering snafu I received triangles that were 1 inch in side length instead of 1 inch in height. These coins are using 3mm acrylic, which mirrors piecepack coins (albeit with the same error that 3mm is not ⅛” inch)
Finally, the minimal requirements of the Piecepack matchsticks:
- Each suit contains 6 pieces of each rank. Each rank is represented by sticks of different lengths.
- Piecepack matchsticks have a “2-D” or “3-D” specification. The “3-D” specification requires that sticks have a square cross-section, and that the null piece be a cube that is twice the thickness of the square.
- The null piece is marked with the suit on one side only.
- For the other pieces, two opposite long sides must be marked with the suit on one end and the rank in the middle.
- The length of the ace pieces must be the half the length of one tile, less the size of the null piece. The length of the 2 pieces must fit the diagonal from the center of a tile to a corner, less the size of the null piece, while the length of the 3 pieces must be the length of a tile, less the size of the null piece. The length of the 4 pieces is the distance from the corner of a tile to the middle of the side of a tile (a “knight’s move” in quadrants), again less the size of the null piece, while the 5 pieces is the length of a full diagonal of a tile, less the size of the null piece.
The specifics of my set:
- The nulls are ⅜” cubes, making the sticks 3/16” square acrylic rods. Due to the rough cuts from the supplier causing non-uniform lengths, they are completely unsuited to games where you have to place a stick on its end.
- The aces are 13/16” in length, the 2s are 1 3/16” in length, the 3s are 1 13/16” in length, the 4s are 2 1/16” in length, and the 5s are 2⅝” in length. Due to a sticker design snafu, the stickering on the 5 pieces are longer than intended, further making them unsuited to games where the sticks are placed on their end.
- The suit takes up a square portion of one end. To match the matchstick aesthetic, all suit symbols on the aces through 5s are inverted colors. The opposite end has a number of circles corresponding to the rank, matching the design found that on early reference prototypes.
Finally, while a standard piecepack has only 4 suits, my set has 12 suits. This is due to the fact that my set is based on the JCD piecepack, which consists of three subsets – one with traditional piecepack suits of “arms”, “crowns”, “suns”, and “moons”, one with French suits, and one with the four seasons. (Note that the “arms” are represented by anchors in JCD sets, which is repeated in my set here. Additionally, crowns are represented as green instead of the traditional yellow of Mesomorph piecepacks; JCD sets are intended to be monochrome due to their use in laser-engraved wooden sets.)
At this point, I’m not too sure whether I will also make any additional add-ons, including the piecepack pyramids that I have been so desperately trying to build for who knows how long.
Again, unfortunately, due to borrowing the JCD designs too closely (they are not public domain or have a free license), I am unable to distribute pictures of my set. (There are public domain designs that could possibly be used as a substitute, though; after all, piecepack itself is public domain.) I wouldn’t recommend using the exact construction of my set, either, as there are very obvious drawbacks of the construction of my set. However, this should be a guide in helping you build your own set.