Farmer's Roulette/Virolon spinning top game

Bauernroulette/Virolon

Bauernroulette, also known as "poor man's roulette", is a traditional German game that originated as a form of entertainment for peasants or farmers who couldn't afford to play traditional casino roulette. 

Virolon or Giroulette is said to have appeared in bars and public houses of the 18th century in the Flanders region, between Belgium and France, with a resurgence in popularity in the 1950s. It's considered an ancestor to modern roulette, providing a tactile, physical version of the game where skill in spinning the top plays a role.

Here's how it works:

• Gameplay: The game involves a circular playing surface with several hollow indentations or slots, 2 players or more. Players use six balls (from ZB001 Plastic Ball, four blue, one orange/pink, and one green) and a spinning top. The players place the balls in the center of the playing surface, then spin the top. As the top spins, it causes the balls to scatter, bouncing off in random directions. The balls may land in the hollows on the surface or pass through small holes into chambers outside the spinning area.

   

• Scoring: Points are awarded based on where the balls land after the top stops spinning. Each hollow or chamber has a point value. If the orange ball lands in a hollow, the points for that hollow are doubled. Conversely, if the green ball lands in a hollow, its points are subtracted from the total. The goal is to achieve the highest score, and be the first player to reach 1000 points or another agreed-upon total.

Those are the most common rules and you can create your own like:

• If a player manages to shoot all six balls into a depression or corner hole with the spinning top, he can play again.
• Give special properties to the orange ball like it must be pocketed to make all the points valid.

Beyond simple entertainment, Bauernroulette fosters skills like fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, and basic arithmetic through the scoring system. It's also seen as a game of chance mixed with skill, particularly in how long one can keep the top spinning.

Dimensions in mm are 220x220x22

• Plate 1 contains the gaming tray.
• Plate 2 has the spinning top in two parts

Filaments I used for this print are:

• Matte Latte Brown (11800)
• Yellow (10103)
• Matte Ice Blue (11601) 

Disclaimer: The prototype, I printed and tested, is not the version in the published .3mf. What you will be downloading is an improved version of that prototype with a shallower bowl, larger corner pocket entrance and thinner tray height. My feeling from play testing was that it was too difficult to score on the corner pocket. The lesser overall height makes it a 6h print instead of 8h. Due to the important print time and being mindful of the filament waste, I have not reprint the modified version, but I’m confident the newer version will print as good as the prototype.

One of the issues I encountered from the prototype was the hot end hitting the infill pattern that it was previously laying. However, it did not affect the support function or the final appearance of the tray surface. I modified the infill pattern from adaptive cubic to rectilinear in the hope to avoid that issue. Although a bit worrying, if it happens to your printer, it should be ok to continue.

Notes

• Notes

• Includes bambu studio 3mf file.
• All photos uploaded are of the actual printed model, and are copyright protected
• If you enjoy this model please consider to buy me a coffee
• If you prefer you can send me sats instead.