Print & Play Maker
Generate professional print-and-play PDFs — with cut lines, bleed marks, and proper component layouts — straight from your project's component library.
On This Page
What Is the Print & Play Maker?
The Print & Play Maker is a Pro tool that lets you turn your project's component library into a downloadable PDF file your testers can print at home — no graphic design software, no manual layout work.
You pick the components you want to include, configure your page size and margins, and choose print aids like cut lines and bleed marks. The tool packs your components onto pages at their correct physical sizes and generates a PDF ready to hand off to anyone with a printer.
Print-Ready PDF
Components laid out at accurate physical sizes with optional bleed and cut marks
Auto Layout
Components are automatically packed onto pages — no manual positioning
Saved Layouts
Save your configuration and regenerate updated PDFs as your game evolves
Getting Started
The Print & Play Maker is available to Pro subscribers. To access it, click Tools in the top navigation bar and select Print & Play Maker, or go directly to /print-and-play.
Pro Feature
The Print & Play Maker requires a Pro subscription. Free users will see an upgrade prompt. View plans →
Before generating a PDF, make sure your components have:
- Correct physical dimensions — width and height set in inches or mm on the component form
- Front image URL — a public URL pointing to the component's front face artwork
- Quantity set — how many copies of each component to include in the PDF
Select a Project
Choose the game project you want to generate a print-and-play PDF for. Each project has its own separate component library and saved layouts.
If you have previously saved layouts for a project, they appear below the project grid under Saved Layouts — click one to resume where you left off instead of starting fresh.
Choose Components
Pick which components to include in the PDF and how many copies of each. Components are organized by type (cards, tokens, dice, boards, etc.).
What you can configure per component:
- • Include / Exclude — toggle components in or out of the PDF
- • Quantity override — adjust the copy count for this print run
- • Include back face — add the back image as a separate printable sheet
Tips:
- • Components missing a front image URL are skipped automatically
- • You can exclude token sheets or boards if you only need cards for a specific session
- • Quantity overrides here don't affect your project's component records
Page Setup
Configure the paper size and margins for your PDF. The tool uses these dimensions to pack as many components per page as possible.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Page Size | Letter (US, 8.5" × 11") or A4 (international, 210 × 297 mm). Match your printer's paper size. |
| Orientation | Portrait or Landscape. Landscape can fit wider components like boards more efficiently. |
| Margins | Space between the page edge and the component area. Most home printers require at least a 0.25" margin. |
| Gap Between Components | Horizontal and vertical spacing between components on a page. Increase if cut lines feel crowded. |
Tip: If you're sending the file to a print shop, ask them for their required bleed size and set your margins accordingly. Home printing typically works fine at 0.25" margins.
Print Guides
Print guides help whoever is cutting out the components know exactly where to cut. Choose the style that matches how your testers will be cutting.
Cut Lines
Thin lines drawn at the exact edge of each component. The cutter follows the line. Good for scissors or paper cutters.
Bleed Marks
Corner tick marks extending slightly beyond the component edge. More subtle than full cut lines — preferred for professional-looking sheets. The component image should extend to the bleed edge for best results.
No Guides
Components printed without any cut marks. Useful if you have artwork with natural borders that already indicate where to cut.
Generate PDF
On the final step, click Generate PDF. The server fetches all your component images, lays them out at their correct physical sizes, and streams back a download.
Generation time
PDFs with many high-resolution images may take 5–30 seconds to generate. Don't navigate away while waiting — the download starts automatically.
Saving your layout
Before generating, give your layout a name and click Save Layout. This saves all your configuration so you can regenerate with one click after updating artwork.
Pro tip: Save your layout first, then generate. That way your settings are preserved even if the generation takes a while or you need to come back to it.
Saved Layouts
A saved layout stores your component selection, page setup, and print guide preferences under a name you choose (e.g. "Full Set – Letter" or "Cards Only – A4"). Saved layouts are per-project and appear on the project selection screen.
Resume later: Pick up a layout right where you left off — every setting is restored exactly as you saved it.
Regenerate on demand: When you update component artwork, open the saved layout and regenerate — no reconfiguring needed.
Multiple layouts per project: Save a "Cards Only" layout and a "Full Set" layout and switch between them as needed.
Delete anytime: Remove saved layouts you no longer need from the layout list screen.
Tips & Best Practices
Image resolution
For clean prints, use images that are at least 300 DPI at the physical print size. A standard poker card (2.5" × 3.5") at 300 DPI needs an image at least 750 × 1050 pixels.
Use HTTPS image URLs
Component images must be hosted at a publicly accessible HTTPS URL. The server fetches them during generation — private or local URLs will fail silently and those components will be skipped.
Backing cards
If your cards need backs, enable "Include back face" for those components. Backs are laid out on separate pages so you can print them on the flip side of the front pages for double-sided cards.
Test with one card first
Before generating a full set, select just one component and generate a one-page test PDF. Print it, cut it, and check the dimensions match before running the full print run.
Naming your layouts
Use descriptive names like "Full Game – Letter – Cut Lines" so you can tell layouts apart at a glance. Include the paper size and guide style so you know exactly what each layout produces.
Sending to a print shop
Professional print shops often want PDFs with 1/8" bleed on each side. Set your margins accordingly and use bleed marks so the cutter knows where to trim. Ask your print shop for their specific file requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can include any component type from your library that has a front image URL set — cards, tokens, tiles, boards, and custom parts. Dice are excluded since their physical shape can't be represented as a flat image cut-out. Components without a front image URL are skipped during generation.
The most common causes: (1) The image URL is not publicly accessible — check that you can open the URL in a private browser window with no login. (2) The URL returns a redirect rather than a direct image — make sure it ends in an image extension like .jpg or .png. (3) The image host blocks server-side requests — try re-hosting the image on Imgur, Google Drive (with "anyone with link" access), or Dropbox.
Yes — the server has to fetch every component image from the internet and embed them all in the PDF. A deck of 50+ cards with high-res images can take 15–30 seconds. Don't navigate away from the page while it's generating. If it times out, try reducing the image resolution or number of components per batch.
You can assemble and configure a layout, but the PDF will only include components that have a front image URL. If you want placeholder cards, use a simple placeholder image service (e.g., https://placehold.co/750x1050.png) as the component's front image URL until your real artwork is ready.
No — it's a Pro feature. Free users can navigate to the tool but will see an upgrade prompt instead of the layout builder. See Plans & Pricing or apply for Beta access to unlock it.