How Black Cat Escape Room scaled 3D printed parts for a new game beyond its own 17 printers
Black Cat Escape Room, the Warsaw venue behind the award-winning Warsaw Uprising room, had more parts to print for a new game than its 17 in-house printers could handle. 3Descu printed 24 part designs in black and in a matched "old gold" bronze, then followed with a repeat order of 4,000 PETG cat pendants for its guests.
Black Cat Escape Room runs six puzzle rooms in a 1,200 m² venue on ul. Grochowska in Warsaw, built by its own team of electronics specialists and set designers (Lock.me, Black Cat). Its Warsaw Uprising room won first place overall in the Lockme Awards 2022 and Best Historical Escape Room in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (Lock.me). In 2026 the workshop team was building a new game, Sunken Aztec Treasure, and needed a production partner for its printed parts.
The challenge: a new game with more parts than the workshop could print
Black Cat prints its own parts, but this game outgrew the workshop. The first brief listed 26 part designs and more than 4,000 pieces, from connectors and corner pieces to covers, flaps and modules. The workshop coordinator put it plainly: their 17 printers would not be able to print this project, and time was the deciding factor.
The brief set three conditions:
Print the parts in parallel and ship them in several boxes, so assembly could start before the last part was done
Keep the client's own print settings, 20% infill and 3 walls, with no finishing: from the printer straight into the box
Match the look of the set, including an aged gold the set designers already used
The solution: split the work by size, prove the risky part first
We reviewed every file before quoting. Parts larger than about 315 × 315 × 315 mm would have to be printed in two halves and glued, which leaves a seam. Black Cat chose to print those large parts on its own machines and send us everything that fits a single 315 mm build volume. That split meant no part we made needed a joint, and the workshop kept its own printers for the pieces only it could do well.
The decision rested on four steps:
Samples first. We printed sample parts and shipped them to Warsaw in March. The verdict: "The quality is very good and fully meets our expectations."
A support-free mechanism test. One corner piece holds a moving mechanism, and support material inside it would jam it. The team asked us to print that corner with no supports and film the result before the order. It came off the plate with no supports at all.
A signed agreement. The order ran under a written supply agreement with an order confirmation annex and production dates, signed before production started.
Colour matching. Two designs, then three more, moved from black to "old gold". The set designers rejected bright gold, so we sourced the same silk bronze filament they already use and printed those five designs in it.
Production ran on our medium-format FDM printers in Târgu Jiu, Romania, in an ISO 9001:2015 certified factory with 200+ printers. Parts shipped in several boxes as each batch finished, so the Black Cat team could count, check and post-process parts while the rest were still printing. When the client added a new module in three sizes (190 pieces) mid-project, we quoted, printed and delivered it within the same project.
The result: freed capacity, a finished game and a repeat order
Black Cat counted and inspected each delivery. After the first boxes the workshop wrote that the prints were "99% excellent quality" and that it had "no objections" to any of the parts received.
"Outsourcing part of the production to you freed up our internal capacity and significantly accelerated our project." Workshop team, Black Cat Escape Room
The partnership carried on after the game. Black Cat's own designer drew a cat pendant that the venue gives to guests, then made it smaller and lighter with a better tail connection to cut its cost. We print it in black PETG in batches of 4,000, with no post-processing, ready to hand out. The team reports that the pendants "turned out great" and are popular with younger players.
What the project shows, in numbers:
24 part designs in the main order, plus 3 module sizes in a follow-up order
5 designs printed in a matched "old gold" silk bronze
0 parts split or glued: everything over 315 mm stayed with the client by design
4,000 PETG cat pendants per batch, with a repeat batch planned
Why escape rooms 3D print their parts
Printed parts let a set-design team change a mechanism between test games without a new mould, and print a replacement when a guest breaks one. FDM printing works well for housings, brackets, connectors and corner pieces, where strength and repeatability matter more than a show finish. For visible decorative pieces, filament colour and finish can be matched to the set, as Black Cat's old-gold parts show.
For a new room, a refit or a run of guest merchandise, upload your files for an instant quote or book a call with our team.
Frequently asked questions
Can escape room puzzle parts be 3D printed?
Yes. Black Cat Escape Room in Warsaw used FDM 3D printing for 24 part designs in a new game, including connectors, covers, flaps, corner pieces and modules. Parts with moving mechanisms can be printed without support material when the geometry allows it, so the mechanism works straight off the printer.
What do you do with escape room parts bigger than the printer?
Parts larger than the build volume are either printed in sections and bonded, which leaves a visible seam, or redesigned to fit. On the Black Cat project, everything over about 315 mm stayed with the client's in-house printers, and 3Descu printed every part that fits a single 315 mm build.
Can a 3D printing service match a specific colour for set design?
Yes, when the filament exists. Black Cat's set designers wanted an aged "old gold" rather than bright gold, so 3Descu sourced the same silk bronze filament the set team already used and printed five designs in it.
Can one supplier print thousands of identical small parts?
Yes. 3Descu prints Black Cat's cat pendants in black PETG in batches of 4,000, packed straight from the printer with no post-processing. A factory with 200+ printers can run large batches in parallel instead of one machine at a time.
Does 3Descu work with escape rooms outside Romania?
Yes. 3Descu is an ISO 9001:2015 certified factory in Târgu Jiu, Romania, and one of the largest 3D printing factories in Eastern Europe. It shipped the Black Cat order to Warsaw in several deliveries.
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