I would never replace my normal dining table with a specific game table because I already bought my dining table so I could game on it (Arkham Horror at the time needed lots of space) We also bought really comfy chairs and were surprised when people wouldn’t move to the couch after dinner even when it wasn’t game night.
We also have a red felt cover that my partner got for a few poker nights some years back. Though I only put the cover on when I want to make it an extra special game night… and the coffee machine is close by
However, we do plan to move in a couple of years and my parents’ home has a big basement room we mean to convert into a gaming den and the gaming table issue is sure to come up then…
PS: this table was the most difficult piece of furniture we bought back then… I changed my mind so often my partner still teases me about it 13 years later But it was worth it…
Having said all of that though I did used to own a foldaway poker table - one of those octagonal ones with a faux leather padded arm rest and plastic cup holders built in. It rarely saw the light of day though. This was back in the day where I could play cards all night and my ideal board game session was a marathon epic interminable battle-to-the-death Risk session that wasn’t a real session unless the sun came up and we were still playing.
Oh how times have changed.
My parents also have a little side table that folds out into a card table and it is to die for. I was trying to find a picture and this is probably the closest thing I can find. The top swivels 90 degress and then unfolds with a lovely felt surface. Nowhere near big enough for the modern board gamer but fabulous for a game of Bridge or four-handed Cribbage.
Having just moved house I needed a small dining table that could double as a gaming table for 4 or 5 people. So I got the same table that Quinns used to have. Its 90x90cm in its smallest form and extends up to 180x90cm. I’m contemplating a slip over felt cover for game nights.
One of my Gloomhaven group owns a gaming table tho it’s not by a brand I’ve previously heard of. To access the innards you have to remove 5 slats and a cross-member which is super awkward. After a few times using it none of the slats lay flat and there are considerable gaps between them. So in order to use it as a dining table you have to use a table cloth lest food (or cat hair) get all over the surface. Oh and the surface is neoprene, which marks if you leave anything heavy on it (say a boardgame box).
I admit it’s certainly very useful for Gloomhaven, being able to leave the game set up, but I’m not sure that outweighs the cons.
That is definitely an Arkham-Sized table! One of the things I was surprised by when I installed my table was the importance of comfortable chairs. Not counting labor, I have spent slightly more on good chairs than what building the table cost.
I was going to ask if people knew of alternatives to tables - I have no space for a new wooden table, and frequently just need a flat surface to put on top of a kingsize duvet, or on the floor.
I was thinking of just getting stiff board in A0 size, but the “plywood and felt” example above seems better.
I know there are smaller “lap trays”
And large fold-out jigsaw puzzle boards
And foam boards might be suitable
But does anyone have a good solution for bigger, totally lightweight or foldable flat gaming surfaces?
I think jigsaw puzzle accessories are about as good as you’ll get for foldable large flat surfaces. You don’t need the flat storage of course, but having some sort of slightly crushable surface, as that one does, makes picking up cards much easier.
Stiff board with felt* draped over it would probably lead to wrinkles. I suppose one could tack round the edge.
* or equivalent, crushable nylon would do, we don’t need to be picky
The puzzle boards I’ve seen tend to be in a format that’s 3x as wide as they are tall (with side folding arms), and looking at the last time I set up Eldritch Horror or LotR: JiME the space was much more square (and at least 100cmx80cm). They do look kinda perfect as a portable surface, though.
As a slightly off the wall suggestion, I have in the past used pieces of Laminate flooring clicked together to form a gaming surface. I mean this stuff:
Clicking together a number of the flooring panels in line will give you an extendable flat surface.
Positives:
If you need a bigger surface you can just click in another panel.
A single pack is pretty cheap, and if you’re lucky you can sometimes find an end of line pack that’s even cheaper. Of course if you’ve just laid a floor there will be a ton of this stuff hanging around.
It’s easily stored, just un-click the sections and sack them.
The cheaper stuff is sintered and seems less prone to warping than some other boards.
The Negatives:
They have little strength along the line of the join; pressure applied along this on a soft surface, like a bed, will cause them to un-click (I ended up gluing a bunch of panels together to stop this happening).
Lots of clicking and un-clicking them together will wear the joint making them a bit wobbly after a while.
Because of the length of the panels you end up with quite an oblong area if you only click a few together. (I actually trimmed off the pieces that I glued together to give me a smaller square section).
You’ll still need to cover them with some sort of material if you want a softer surface.
Alternatively have a look to see if there’s a good supplier of reclaimed wood in your area.
There’s one in Croydon that’s supplied me with loads of old scaffold boards and roof joists that I’ve made up into shelves and they’ve been really helpful with digging out appropriate bits and cutting things to size.
If you don’t mind your table looking ‘rustic’, then I’d second what @bengeile said about re-purposing something and saving a lot of money. Dining tables with a solid frame underneath practically have a vault already made, it just needs a floor and cover put in, and the tabletop removed and converted to be removable. Over in the other forum I posted about my own foray into making my own table, which actually came out much better than I expected.
Pallets as an example may not be the best wood, but it’s solid and can polish or paint up quite nicely with a bit of TLC. And usually you can source the wood for free. From there it’s a case of buying or borrowing some basic tools - a sander and jigsaw or table saw are a must really (I bought a jigsaw and sander for about £60 in total) - making your own design so it’s the size you want, buying some table legs (again, quite cheap if you don’t want to spend a fortune), and putting in the hours and sweat. A vault wasn’t for me, it was unnecessary and would have collected rubbish, and as I made a low one as a coffee table, it would have ended up too low.
I bought a good 90 x 90 cm mat to play on for £30 and would absolutely recommend something like it. As others have said, picking cards up is easier, it feels lovely, dice rolls are much quieter, and it’s an added layer of protection for your table.
My dining table is that exact size. I was considering making a covering for it, but it might just be easier to buy one. Might I ask where you got yours from?
Mine was from Amazon UK. It’s an Ultimate Guard brand. I wanted to get one from an online FLGS but the only one with a 90x90 (they do lots of other sizes I found was white, and it would have gotten beastly quickly, and I like the darker background.
Just a quick side note for those of you thinking about going cheaper…
Do be careful. A dear friend (and fellow gamer) offered to make me a new gaming table for a reasonable price ($400CAD, about half the cost of a comparably sized gaming table from a well-known Swedish furniture company). He had all the tools, he had a stockpile of mousepad surfacing material… and hey, I got to support a friend building a thing!
Tragically, the end result is… functional? It’s fine. But due to the size he decided to make it in 2 pieces with 4 legs on each piece and the legs are enormous which means that in the original layout you couldn’t actually sit at the middle of the table since there was a MASSIVE leg there. The two pieces didn’t line up perfectly either which meant there was a lip between the two halves, and all 8 of the legs (after relocating the 4 “middle” legs into the center of the table to reclaim more of the table edge) have since split. Not structurally a problem, but it looks… well, cheap.
Now, all that stated, the table is fine. But if I could do it over, I would rather find somebody who I was sure would do a great job for twice as much money (or three times!) than get a “fine” stop-gap measure that I’m just going to have to replace.
But it was worth it…
