It’s that tips box time of week again; read on to see how you can print games for cheap entertainment, build a pipe-based monitor stand, and enjoy easy timer countdowns on your Android phone.

Old School Print and Play Gaming

Ken writes in with the following gaming tip:

As awesome as that 3D-printed dungeon crawler you guys shared is… not many of us have a 3D printer! Until the day I’ve got my own garage 3D printer to crank out sweet 3D games, I’ll be sticking with print and play games of a more papery variety. For 99% of my print and play needs I turn to the awesome archive at Board Game Geek. The wiki covers the basics of actually doing the printing/crafting and the links to the game archives gives you plenty to play.

We’re big fans of Board Game Geek around here—it was downright negligent of us to not mention the great print and play games found there. Thanks for writing in Ken! Image from Micropul, one of the free Board Game Geek print and play games.

Build a DIY Pipe-Based Monitor Mount

Vince writes in with the following monitor mounting tip:

As much as I dig a good carpentry project, carpentry just isn’t my thing… so that makes me a poor candidate for your wood triple-monitor stand project. That said, I do love a good monitor stand made out of sturdy metal. I built mine earlier this summer using this guy’s build log as a template. Hidden wiring, clean lines, nice heavy base, it’s like buying a cheap stand from Monoprice but getting the heft and quality of a $$$ stand.

We have to admit, his use of piping and hidden cabling is quite slick. Nice find Vince!

Simple Timing on Android Phones

Nicole writes in with the following Android-centric tip:

You wouldn’t think it would be hard to find, but it’s a real pain to find a simple Android timer that had nice big buttons, a nice big read out, and just gets the dang job done. I found Kitchen Timer earlier this week and after way too much searching and testing timers out, I have one I’m happy with. It’s free, well reviewed, but surprisingly not heavily downloaded. I’m spreading the word!

We certainly feel your pain, Nicole. Timer apps seem so simple in concept but often times end up so ugly and impractical in execution. A timer app that does just what you want it to do, the way you want it, is a real gem.

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Have a tip to share? Shoot us an email at tips@howtogeek.com and look for your tip on the front page.