Archon: The Light and the Dark, a board game originally developed for Atari computers, was released in 1983. Similar to chess, Archon, in which users fought battles, was one of the “stars” of the Commodore 64 epoch. It was developed by Free Fall Associates, and distributed by Electronic Arts. Nothing can prove its popularity more than the fact that a number of remakes were produced: it was rewritten for iPhone in 2009, and Archon: Classic was released for Windows in 2010. In 1996 Computer Gaming World, a leading computer game magazine, ranked it the 20th best game ever made.

The Swedish Jimmy Wilhelmsson, a great fan of retro games and interested in 3D printing, has decided to produce a physical version of Archon in 3D printing. The models were created using Qubicle Constructor, and the characters, in their original yellow and blue colours, were printed on a MakerBot Replicator 2X.

"They’re marvellous," said Jon Freeman, designer of the original Archon.

With consent from Free fall Associates, Wilhelmsson published the designs for the 3D models on Thingiverse-en (www.thingiverse.com/thing:187973), so the pieces can be downloaded and printed ? but no board is available for the time being.

Wilhelmsson’s work can also be viewed on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUO8cry5iw) with background music evoking the early 1980s.