• The Forum Is Not Used - J...
  Forum: News and Announcements
  Last Post: Skud
  07-28-2026, 07:18 PM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 119
• Wan Shi Tongs Trials
  Forum: Tournaments
  Last Post: HUMANCHILD
  06-09-2025, 05:00 PM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 1,568
• Gathering of Sun Warriors
  Forum: Tournaments
  Last Post: HUMANCHILD
  10-03-2024, 01:18 AM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 2,708
• Gathering Around The Ston...
  Forum: Tournaments
  Last Post: Uncle Iroh
  09-21-2024, 02:30 PM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 2,977
• Skud's thoughts about Iro...
  Forum: General Avatar Talk
  Last Post: HUMANCHILD
  05-31-2024, 01:50 PM
  » Replies: 3
  » Views: 28,060
• Hidden in the Yellow Wood...
  Forum: Tournaments
  Last Post: HUMANCHILD
  05-30-2024, 08:37 PM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 2,935
• Heat of Passion
  Forum: Tournaments
  Last Post: turtlebutme
  01-17-2024, 01:28 AM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 3,417
• Origins of Skud Pai Sho
  Forum: Skud Pai Sho
  Last Post: Awyrlas
  11-01-2023, 03:51 AM
  » Replies: 1
  » Views: 6,255
• Skud Pai Sho and "Avatar"
  Forum: Skud Pai Sho
  Last Post: Awyrlas
  11-01-2023, 03:47 AM
  » Replies: 1
  » Views: 6,844
• Play against a Bot
  Forum: Site & Board Feedback
  Last Post: gal
  10-22-2023, 05:29 PM
  » Replies: 0
  » Views: 4,283

• Forum posts:315
• Forum threads:94
• Members:1
• Latest member:Skud

Because I have so little time to work on fulfilling orders and making Pai Sho boards and tiles, I want to share everything about how I make what I do. If you'd like to become a seller of Pai Sho boards and tiles like the ones I sell, check this out and get in touch so I can help you with anything you need help with!

The laser cutter/engraver I use is a Glowforge Basic. My referral link to learn more or buy one for yourself is https://glowforge.us/f/rqq2fk - using that to purchase one will save you money and will get me a credit as well. I have enjoyed working with the Glowforge and recommend it. Glowforge also sells laser-ready materials that are (supposedly...) pre-finished and masked and guaranteed to work well. I've had some issues with the quality of finish on their materials not being as good as they've shown that it could be sometimes. But overall, working with their materials is great. By selling Pai Sho boards and tiles, my Glowforge paid for itself in less than a year.

Design Downloads

Any designs mentioned here as freely available are available at the Design Downloads page.

Tiles - Designs

I have offered tiles for Skud Pai Sho, Vagabond Pai Sho, Capture Pai Sho, Nick Pai Sho, and a set of Canon Tiles (a set of tiles that have designs that are true to the show). I did not design the tiles for all of these games. The few tile designs I have created are freely available.

Skud Pai Sho

The "Modern Designs" tiles I make for Skud Pai Sho are designed and owned by artist Hector Lowe. Please contact him at hector.lowe[at]gmail[dot]com - he would love to work with you so you can use or produce his designs.

The "Vescucci Designs" tiles I make for Skud Pai Sho are designed by Vescucci. Many thanks to him for offering the designs to everyone as freely available to use!

The Ancient Oasis expansion for Skud Pai Sho features tiles designed by Vescucci.

Vagabond Pai Sho

The Vagabond Pai Sho tiles I make are designed by Coeur De Lion and myself. I love Vagabond Pai Sho and the designs of these tiles, and I have arranged for them to be freely available.

Capture Pai Sho

The Capture Pai Sho tiles, and the game itself, are designed and owned by Tom Ford.

Nick Pai Sho

I designed a Nick Pai Sho set using the glyphs representing the elements (which you can find on the Avatar World Maps and other places), the Lion Turtle tile design by Vescucci as the Avatar tile, and the White Lotus design by me.

Tiles - Materials and Quality

I have offered three levels of quality for tiles. Each level uses different materials and a different engrave quality. Note that I no longer do the White Lotus Initiate quality tiles.

General Glowforge Tile Printing Notes

I print one row of tiles at a time. This is both to prevent any alignment issues when cutting out the tiles and also so I can peel the masking off the tiles while the next row is printing.

I use the "honeycomb material hold down pins" to hold the material in place while cutting. See the Glowforge forum post for more details.

I use a coaster-sized square (because it's a coaster I made) to help place the material on the Glowforge bed. I should share a picture of this so you know what I mean.

Glowforge Settings

The format of any shared Glowforge settings are as follows:
[speed] / [power] / [lines per inch]

Focus Height will always be the default of the Proofgrade material or the measurement of the material being used unless it is provided after the lines per inch value.

White Lotus Initiate

These tiles are made from the least expensive plywood that is available directly from Glowforge. The designs are engraved in low quality, resulting in a design with less detail when compared to the higher quality tiles.

Materials:
Least expensive Proofgrade Medium Plywood. For Capture Pai Sho, I have done light colored plywood and walnut for dark tiles.

Glowforge Settings:

* Proofgrade Medium Plywood: 1000 / 90 / 225

White Lotus Master - Proofgrade Hardwood

These tiles are made from the hardwood available from Glowforge. The designs are engraved in good quality. Note that I have switched to using thicker hardwood from Colorado Heirloom (see below).

Materials:
Proofgrade Medium Hardwood - Maple, Walnut, Cherry, Red Oak, Poplar

Glowforge Settings:

* Maple, Walnut, Red Oak: 560 / 60 / 270 or 1000 / 95 / 270
* Cherry: 560 / 55 / 270 or 1000 / 90 / 270
* Poplar: 540 / 50 / 270 or 1000 / 90 / 270

White Lotus Master - Colorado Heirloom Hardwood

These tiles are made from 3/16" hardwood available from Colorado Heirloom - their "Solid Hardwood Laser Strips". The designs are engraved in good quality.

Grand Lotus

These tiles are made from exotic wood that can be purchased from various sources. I've used materials from Inventables and The Wood & Shop. Before lasering, I hand-finish the boards with Shellac, which is a laser safe finish, and apply masking.

The idea behind the Grand Lotus tiles was that they are a special way to support The Garden Gate. Exotic woods and extremely high quality engraves.

Tools and other materials needed: Shellac (spray or brush); sanding sponge; sandpaper (all purpose 220 grit); masking - EnduraMASK MHT 130 Medium-High Tack Transfer Application Tape from SignWarehouse (12x100 or 16x100 depending on the material used for tiles)

Materials:
White Lotus Master woods, and these 1/8" woods from Inventables or Wood & Shop: Purpleheart, Narra, Yellowheart, Chakte Viga, Katalox, Zebrawood, Padauk

Glowforge Settings and wood notes:

* Maple: 380 / 30 / 340
* Cherry: 395 / 30 / 340
* Walnut: 375 / 30 / 340
* Red Oak: 375 / 30 / 340

Note: Cuts all at FULL power. Cut settings in the format of:
[cut speed] / [# of passes, if more than 1] / [Focus height, if not 0.125 in]

* Bloodwood: 380 (or 375?) / 30 / 340 | CUT: 155
Beautiful dark red wood with a near holographic feel to the color. Keeps color well but is dark. Smells fantastic.
* Chakte Viga: 385 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 165
One of my favorites. Beautiful orangish color that gives fantastic engraves.
* Katalox: 340 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 145
One of the strongest woods in the world. Wonderfully dark. Engraves and cuts surprisingly well. I think this one works best with no finish at all - just a fine sanding.
* Mahogany: 410 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 175 / 2 / 0.09 in
Char city (but not compared to Bubinga)! Some of the biggest flames I've seen while cutting. I won't be using this more if at all.
* Narra (Red Narra from Wood 'n Shop): 395 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 175
One of my favorites! Finishing gave it a golden brown/bronze color and it has beautiful grain patterns, gives great engraves and cuts well.
* Padauk: 380 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 180
Color darkens fairly quickly if exposed to light often. Works well in the laser.
* Purpleheart: 360 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 145
Let Purpleheart sit in the sun before lasering and finishing - it adds to the purple! This wood chars a fair bit. Worth it.
* Redheart: 405 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 185
Can be very bright red, but will lose it's color fast and go dark and dull. Works very nicely in the laser though, so you may want to give it a shot.
* Yellowheart: 380 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 165
Finish it nice and carefully to get the best color. Works very well and keeps color well.
* Zebrawood: 390 / 30 / 340 | CUT: 155
Finish it nicely to give it a golden color. Very striking, works well in the laser though it does char a fair bit.

Material Preparation:
To finish the non-Proofgrade boards, I prepare them ahead of time by at least a day, by doing the following:

* sand with sandpaper
* coat with shellac
* between coats, use fine sanding sponge
* apply multiple coats until finished well (3 or 4 coats, can be less or more depending on the wood)

The Pai Sho Board

Proofgrade Thick Plywood Bold Score Settings:
Thick Plywood Score: 170 / 28 / 0.35 in

Glowforge's Proofgrade thick plywood should have a great finish, but the thick maple plywood began to consistently have a poor unfinished feel. I never got a satisfactory response from Glowforge support; it seemed like they didn't really care. So I have switched to using 1/4" plywood from Colorado Heirloom. It's much cheaper, but has to be masked and is sold in 12"x24" size so it has to be cut down by 4" as well. I have a great saw that I can recommend to you for this if you don't have a tool for it.

Colorado Heirloom 1/4" Plywood Score Settings
Coming Soon

Colorado Heirloom 1/4" Plywood Cut Settings
Coming Soon

Running An Online Store

Etsy will take a sizable percentage of a sale as a fee. That's more than $20 when selling a full Pai Sho set, so I have switched from Etsy to a different store hosting called Ecwid. Ecwid's free plan is very good, and their $15/mo plan is great. I have upgraded once for one month only, because I wanted to use some of the paid features that month (inventory management, etc).

With Etsy, you get the buyers who discover your products through Etsy, so you may want to set up shop both places. Though if you're following in my footsteps and getting help from me, you'll have all of The Garden Gate community being referred to you!

Shipping and general shop materials needed:

* Padded shipping envelopes, both small 4"x8", medium 6"x10" and large 10.5"x16"
* Shipping scale, to weigh packages: I use this kitchen scale
* Bubble wrap, to wrap and protect Pai Sho boards: I use this
* Packing tape
* A working printer to print shipping labels
* Masking tape: masking

---

Note: I'll be able to update and add remaining details as needed when anyone needs them, just contact me.

This is the thread to report all match results and post game links, please reserve all conversation for the other thread. It is the Winner's duty to report results.

The bracket has been randomized and can be found here; Bracket

When posting please use this format

Happy New Years to all, whether you celebrated the western new years, are soon to be celebrating Lunar new years, or are celebrating a change of different season later on, we are in the time of renewal for all seasons. There is no time so ripe to launch the first official tournament for our community than now, so I am happy to say that the first skud tournament on the Garden Gate is open for participants, and will begin within the next week, sooner rather than later as I am sure everyone wants. There is no limit to tournament size and due to not being done before no estimate as to the time this will take to be completed, though if an extremely large number is reached then changes may be made to the format.

The tournament will be a double elimination style with each round being standard skud, played with a time frame of two days to complete the game. If the game is not completed within that time it will count as a disqualification, though if one player is able to bring forth that the game was uncompleted due to their opponent or if a contestant vouches that they were unable to finish for any reason then the participating contestant may move on to the next round. After the round is over, the winner will be required to post a replay link to the forum post for the Tournament games with the format outlined in that post.

If there is a large turn out for the tournament then there will be a prize of a Large white lotus tile, provided by Skud at his discretion. If the Tournament is large enough, it will be announced at the start of the tournament.

Link to Forum post for Reporting matches

I hope this works for everyone and I apologize if not, please direct all complaints to my complaint department. I look forward to seeing how the games go, and hope that everyone has their tea pots at the ready. Feel free to introduce yourself here, discuss anything, or just chat before/between the games.

The designs I create or own are freely available to download from https://skudpaisho.com/site/more/design-downloads/. So if you would like to make your own Pai Sho board or tiles, especially if you have access to a laser-cutter, there's no better place to start!

When I make Pai Sho boards, I follow a certain process to get the wood grain at a certain angle and to get things to work just right. Let me know if you have any questions about what I do for that or anything else you might wonder about how I do things. Thanks!

Let's have a Solitaire Pai Sho tournament to test out The Garden Gate tournament features!

This will be a simple one-round tournament. Whoever gets the highest Full Score wins!

The tournament will begin on November 17, 2018. Please be signed up before that day.

Check out this amazing glider staff build. The designer of this was able to build the collapsible wings with a locking mechanism to hold them out, all in a reasonable and realistically sized staff! That, along with the design put into it in order to bring it into the real world make this something special.
http://ingeniusdesigns.com/finished-proj...ction-form

Flameo hotmen, we got a new show for everyone called Over Tea: The Pai Show!

Aba and I thought it'd be super fun and interactive to make some kind of watchable media for the community to enjoy and even participate in, so we collaborated and made the first episode a match against each other. What we'd like to do is review games that people have had and analyze them, or even have them participate by going over their thoughts of their own games! So if you'd want to be on Over Tea: The Pai Show go ahead and contact Aba or me and we'll see what we can do.

As far as the Over Tea goes, go ahead and check out the first episode here:
Vagabond Match

And the channel here:
Over Tea: The Pai Show

I hope you all enjoy! 

Hello! Thank you for being here at The Garden Gate. I'm Skud, or Zach, and I created Skud Pai Sho and made it playable online at The Garden Gate, along with other Pai Sho games I have dug up since diving into bringing Pai Sho to the physical world.

I've written about how Skud Pai Sho and The Garden Gate came to be before. Read that at https://skudpaisho.com/site/2018/10/11/w...rden-gate/.

But here's a little more about Skud Pai Sho, The Garden Gate, and me.

Remember that Skud Pai Sho is based on older existing rules. It was definitely a lot of hard work over the course of months and months to get it to where it is, but most of all, I'm a fan like everyone else here.

The name "The Garden Gate" is what I'd name Skud Pai Sho if I had to rename it to remove the "Pai Sho" from the name, but it's also just such a great name for this place and community. I wonder if I should rename it to "Garden Gate Pai Sho". What do you think?

The name "Skud" is a lot like the name of a minor character named "Sud" in Avatar. If you're not sure who that is, try and find him! I used it as the name for Skud Pai Sho when I began writing the fanfiction story I'm working on slowly but surely where there's a Pai Sho-obsessed character named Skud. I then took that as the name for Skud Pai Sho and as my username as well.

Out in the real world I'm a programmer inside a company somewhere, and more importantly a husband and father. It's busy, but I have a blast playing Pai Sho and making it so everyone else can, too!

See you at The Garden Gate,
-Zach

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd try my hand at Vector backgrounds. First go, let me know what you think  I plan to have some more coming if you all like it.

Hey everyone,

Does anyone know where I might be able to get some high resolution screen grabs?