Burgle Bros 3D Tower by bobpony

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

We love the board game Burgle Bros. It's a great cooperative game where you all work together to pull off a heist, ala Ocean's 11. When the game came out there was also a thin wooden tower available, allowing you to play the game in three dimensions. I missed out on that, so I made my own!
My version has girders and lighting and gargoyles...it looks like a building. There's even a proton pack propped behind one of the gargoyles on the roof...I wonder who left that there? :)
But be forewarned, this is a monster to print out. You need many, many pieces to construct one of these:
4 Thin Bases
8 'A' Pillars
8 'B' Pillars
4 'C' Pillars
2 Gargoyle Toppers
1 Gargoyle/Proton Pack Topper
1 Helipad Stairs
1 Helipad Platform (Glue the two Helipad pieces together)
2 Light Frames
2 Light Globes (use clear filament for this)
24 Pegs
Assembly of each of the four corners goes in this order (top to bottom):
Topper (Gargoyle, Gargoyle/Proton, or Helipad assembly)
'C' Pillar
3 Pegs
'B' Pillar
'A' Pillar
3 Pegs
'B' Pillar
'A' Pillar
Thin Base
Build four of those and the 3D print portion of this is done. Note that on my machine everything fit together snugly, I didn't need any glue (other than to glue the helipad platform to the stairs). I also found some sticky rubber feet to apply to the bottom of the thin bases, so the building doesn't slide around.
For the playing surfaces themselves you'll need three sheets of 12"x12" foam core board. I used spray adhesive to attach some decorative scrapbooking paper to each of the foamcore boards (see the photos for the details, I found it at Michaels Crafts). The board corners slide into the springy clips designed into the pillars. The little spring tab will hold them snuggly in place, and make disassembly easy.
You also have the option to light the first and second floors of the building. I made light enclosures, simply slide each of the globes into a light frame, then squeeze the led keychain lights into the globes (Google the UPC code for the keychain light, it's 856434016144. I found these at our local Ace Hardware in a bin by the register). Apply some sticky backed velcro to the back of the keychain lights and to the bottom of two of the boards and hang the lights in your building. Mine have three settings - dim, bright, and disco strobe. Gives Burgle Bros a whole different feel.
There's also a JPEG of the Helipad landing graphic - print, trim, and spray glue that onto your helipad platform.
And finally, I made a box for the whole kit out of a Scene-It TV Edition game box. I rejiggered the game's graphics to fit on the 12 x12 box, that JPEG is here as well.
Enjoy, and go get that loot!
ps - If you need a copy of the game, you'll find it at http://www.burglebros.com
[Update - I'd forgotten that in the final design I built the pegs into the top of Pillar A. So you don't need pegs to connect A to B...that means you need only 24 pegs, not 48.
I'm also including an optional 'Shortened Pillar A' version of the long pillar. I've had one person note that their printer volume couldn't handle Pillar A, so you can use the shortened one as an alternative. It just means that your levels will be a couple of centimeters closer together. Less room to get your hand in there to move pieces, but it shouldn't be too bad.]