Hextraction Riptide Tile

Cast a stuck ball out to sea with this folding combo effect tile!

The Riptide tile is the first Double Lane folding tile to have an effect (beyond opening it). Balls trapped in adjacent tiles to the effect tile get rolled down the ramp, thus forced into the other tile half. A standard Riptide half is included, but being a double lane remix - you can mix and match with any of the 16 (at time of writing) tile halves! I list my recommendations in the Assembly section.

Rules Card Text Ongoing: If able, roll stuck balls in adjacent tiles down this tile's ramp. Ignore balls that are part of a tile.

Printing / Assembly Instructions Choosing the non-effect half:

• If using the standard half, simply print the model.
• If customizing with a Double Lane, print your choice but don't cut the indexing tabs yet. Double lane tiles purposely allow different orientations, but Riptide locks placement to three orientations. Technically you could cut them all, but if you're like me you'll want to only cut the correct tabs. Some suggestions that I think will pair well are: DC, DI, IC, IH, Kite, Reroute, VF, W, X, yF, yV.

For the Riptide effect tile, you can choose to print the single-part model (and paint/apply layer changes if you'd like) or assemble my multi-part model. If doing the latter:

1. Print each piece separately. I would suggest matching the color of the non-effect half with the base color of the effect half, but go crazy with colors for fun variants - I went for a beach theme per the tile concept.
2. If you want a strong connection, apply glue in between the pieces. My pieces fit snugly, so I didn't use any. Press the middle onto the base, apply glue again, then press the top on.

Combo Assembly:

1. Print and insert one link in the hinge slot, jam a snippet of filament into the hinge axis, then loosely cut the filament. Repeat for the second half, joining the two.
2. Close the combo and precisely flush-cut the filament. Play-test a ball through the both double openings.
3. If using a Double Lane substitute, now is the time to test it out on the board and decide which tabs to cut. Following Riptide's dessign, this would typically mean cutting just three tabs.
4. (Optional) Glue in two 6x2mm magnets with one reversed. Glue two more on the other half, with proper polarity alignment. This will allow the tile to close nicely. Make sure to reference any existing Double Lane tiles you may have to allow for future swapping of halves, if desired.

If you've read this far... should this have been named Rip Current? Maybe, but Riptide sounds cooler.