Course: any tableHoles: 9Par: whatever the path saysBatteries: none

Tabletop Flick Golf

Twenty minutes of golf on the table. The course is built from printed hex tiles during the game, and you flick a 45 mm disc with one finger.

Age
Whole family
One game
About 20 minutes
Cost
900–1,600 CZK (about €35–65)
Electronics
None, and no AI

The course is made of printed hexagons that lock together. It gets built during the game, so every hole is different. Felt slows the disc down and a bumper sends it back. A slow disc that rolls into a water hollow stays there. Every player holds one secret tile and may swap it into the course once per hole, and my 6-year-old daughter takes one stroke off every hole. There are no electronics and no AI in this one, so it also works during a power cut.

Hole1

How a hole goes

  1. The tee and the hole go on the anti-slip mat, four tiles apart. Everyone holds one secret tile.
  2. Players take turns drawing tiles from the bag and snapping them in between the tee and the hole until there is a connected path. Par is the number of tiles in the path.
  3. Everyone flicks their own disc. Felt brakes, bumpers bounce, and a slow disc gets stuck in a water hollow. Leaving the path or landing in the water means you go back and add a penalty stroke.
  4. Once per hole you may swap a tile nobody is standing on for your secret tile.
  5. A slow disc drops through the hole into a drawer. My 6-year-old daughter takes one stroke off every hole.
  6. The winner moves the hole somewhere else and the path goes back into the bag. After nine holes, the lowest total wins.

The first 30 seconds

The mat goes on the table, and the tee and the hole go on the mat four tiles apart. Everyone gets a secret tile and keeps it out of sight. The first tile out of the bag is already part of hole one.

Hole2

Play a round

You play against Daughter (6), whose shots are simulated with a deliberately shaky aim. You take turns drawing tiles until the tee and the hole connect, and then both of you flick. She has a secret tile as well, and she uses it.

Hole 1/9

Your turn to build. Draw a tile from the bag.

From the bagnothing yet
Your secret tile…
Her secret tilehidden
    • Tee
    • Hole
    • Plain
    • Felt
    • Water hollow
    • Hill
    • Bumper
    • Your disc
    • Daughter (6)

    Score card

    Hole123456789Total

    The physics is a rough model made up for this page. Real felt and real PLA will behave differently, and that is one of the things the first prototype is for.

    Hole3

    The wow moment

    A disc creeps toward the hole, everyone leans over the table, and it drops through into the drawer with a clack. The hole tile is built around that moment. It only takes a slow disc, so a hard flick rolls right over it.

    Sample scene, made up for this page. Hole seven. I’m one soft flick from the hole. My 6-year-old daughter has kept her secret tile since the first shot, and now she snaps it in right in front of my disc. It’s a water hollow. My disc now has to be fast enough to cross the water and slow enough to drop into the hole on the far side.

    • Son (9)“Is she allowed to do that?”
    • Daughter (6)“Nobody was standing on it.”
    Hole123456789Total
    Par35464574543
    Dad45565594649
    Son (9)56476685552
    Daughter (6), −156465665548
    Sample score card with made-up numbers. The daughter’s row already has her stroke off each hole. Hole seven is the water hollow.
    Hole4

    Why a tenth time

    • Every hole is a new course. Tiles come out of the bag in a different order, and the winner moves the hole.
    • Par comes from the path, so a long winding hole simply has a higher par. Nobody has to argue about what is fair.
    • The secret tile gives everyone a plan: a water hollow in front of whoever is leading, or a bumper that saves your own shot.
    • Each tile needs a different touch. Felt wants a harder flick, and the hole wants a soft one.
    • The stroke off each hole keeps my 6-year-old daughter in the game against her brother and me.
    • Nine holes take about twenty minutes, which fits between dinner and bedtime. When the obstacles get old, a new tile type is one more print.
    Hole5

    What printing adds

    In place of AI

    This toy has no AI and no electronics, so this section belongs to the printer. About 30 tiles that lock together in any rotation turn one bag into a new course every hole.

    Each obstacle is its own tile: felt, a water hollow, a hill, a bumper. The tiles print with the colored face down on the bed, so the top comes out flat and the seams stay smooth for a sliding disc. The 45 mm discs have a steel washer printed inside, and the hole tile has a drawer underneath to catch them.

    The MMU3 handles up to five colors, and the waste from color changes is part of why the estimate is about 2 kg of PLA for thirty tiles.

    Hole6

    How it’s built

    Printed parts

    • About 30 hollow hex tiles, 12 cm, in PLA, with locks that work in any rotation. Printed colored face down so the seams are smooth.
    • Obstacle tiles: hills, felt, water hollows and bumpers. The felt is real felt glued onto a tile.
    • The hole tile, with a drawer under the hole.
    • Discs, 45 mm, with a steel washer printed in. One per player.

    Not printed: the anti-slip mat, the felt, a bag and score cards.

    Electronics

    None. There is nothing to solder or charge.

    Everything fits the MK4S with the MMU3, and PLA is enough. Nothing in the set needs a flexible material.

    Plaincolored face, printed face downhollow insidelock on every edgeFeltfelt glued onWater hollowHillBumper12 cmHole + drawerdrawer slides outDisc45 mmsteel washer printed in

    Parts list

    ItemAmountPrice
    PLA for the tiles, the hole tile and the discs, including waste from color changesabout 2 kgmost of the total
    Felt, steel washers, anti-slip mat, bag, score cardsone setthe rest
    Total900–1,600 CZK (about €35–65)

    The estimate covers the whole set. Most of it is filament, so the price moves mainly with the PLA you buy.

    Architecture

    One hole is a loop, and the whole game state sits on the table: the tiles in the path, the discs, and the pencil marks on the score card.

    9 holeslowesttotal wins1 · The bagabout 30 tileseach player keepsone secret tile2 · Buildsnap tiles inuntil the teemeets the hole;par = tiles in the path3 · Flickone finger,one disc each4 · The tiles reactfelt brakes,bumpers bounce,a slow disc getsstuck in water,off the path: back, +15 · The drawera slow disc dropsthrough the hole6 · Score cardstrokes per holeDaughter (6): −1winner moves the holeSecret tile: once per hole,swap in for a tilenobody is standing on

    Where code ends and the model begins

    Code does

    Nothing here runs code.

    The model does

    Nobody asks a model anything, not even who won.

    What does the work instead

    • The score card keeps the state: strokes, penalty strokes, par, the stroke off for my 6-year-old daughter and the running total.
    • The tiles do the physics. Felt brakes, bumpers bounce, water traps a slow disc, and the hole only takes a slow one.
    • The rules settle the rest. A secret tile can’t go under a disc, and leaving the path costs a stroke.
    Hole7

    Safety and offline

    • Nothing in the set needs power, a network or an account. There is no microphone and no speaker, so the house rules about voice and AI don’t come into play.
    • The smallest loose part is the 45 mm disc. Its steel washer is sealed inside the print, so there is no loose metal.
    • The locks are printed as part of each tile, with no separate clips to lose or swallow. There are no batteries or magnets anywhere in the set.
    • The felt is glued down and the drawer belongs to the hole tile, so a 6-year-old gets the same set as everyone else.
    Hole8

    Roadmap

    A weekend

    First playable prototype

    • Ten plain tiles in one color, without locks, on the anti-slip mat.
    • Felt glued onto two of them, a hole without a drawer and a disc for each player.
    • Water, hills and the secret tile wait. Building the path and flicking stay, and those are what need testing first.
    • Printing takes about a day.

    Later

    Full version

    • About 30 tiles with locks that work in any rotation, printed colored face down.
    • Hills, felt, water hollows and bumpers.
    • The hole with a drawer, 45 mm discs with steel washers, secret tiles, a bag and score cards.
    • About 2 kg of PLA and 900–1,600 CZK (about €35–65) in total.
    Hole9

    More ideas to try

    • A golf bag of discs

      Each player gets three discs that work like clubs: a slick one for long shots, a regular one, and a felt one that stops almost where it lands. You call the disc before the shot, and the water hollow turns into a real golf decision. You can go over it or stop safely in front.

    • Family handicap

      Everyone gets a handicap card with their average strokes over par from the last three games, and the lowest score after the handicap wins. Par comes from each path, so it stays fair on a different course every time. My 6-year-old daughter’s fixed stroke off becomes her own number, and it drops as she gets better.

    • The builder plays it last

      Instead of drawing random tiles, one player builds each hole for the others, and builders take turns. The builder plays last, takes a stroke off for every opponent who misses par and adds two strokes for missing par on their own hole. The secret tile goes away, because the whole hole is now the trap.

    • Carpet mini golf that grows

      Real putting across the living room with golf balls, kids’ putters with PETG heads on wooden sticks and bumpers from wooden strips with printed connectors. Each hole is designed by one of the kids and gets a name, its author’s rule and a record in a logbook. Whoever finishes last draws a new obstacle for me to print, and the course grows up to eighteen holes.

    Status: an idea. Nothing on this page has been built or tested yet, and the demo is a simulation with pre-written answers. Prices are estimates from Czech shops in October 2026.