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Gaming Tables

With a new gaming room coming into my life soon, I've been taking a look at options for gaming tables.  This is a quick overview of what I've found so far.

First up is a Kickstarter I helped fund by the newly created Mortise and Magic.  The kickstarter has a good overview of this add-on style gaming table.  By setting this on a good sized table, like a dining room table or a coffee table you can create a cool set of gaming nooks.  There is also a version that is stand-alone.  Some neat features include book slots on the corners and integrated lighting.  The kickstarted version will have additional features.  I like this table as an inspiration piece, though I'm not sure it is exactly what I'm looking for.  I look forward to getting a copy of the plans so I can potentially hack them in the direction I want.




The next table is the "Ultimate Gaming Table", aka "The Avenger", which has its own dedicated website with lots of pictures.  This one has lots of slide outs under the able, which I like a lot.  It is also a full size table, which gives the gamers a lot more room, and the GM even more room.  The top is plexiglass, and the pull-outs have plexiglass too for wet erase marker usage.  I am a big fan of using wet erase markers because they don't smudge, but I'm not a big fan of plexiglass.  It tends to scratch easily.




The "Green Monster" is my nickname for the gaming table at our local FLGS.  The green monster is a 4 x 8 green felt stool height gaming table build out of lumber.  When I am playing, I like the height.  It is harder to use for non-gaming stuff.  The felt turned out to be not nearly as flat and useful as I thought it would be.  We regularly get dice landing not quite flat on it.  Recently, they added plexiglass to the top to put maps under.  Again, I'm not a big fan of plexiglass because it scratches easily.




The Cadillac of gaming tables are made by Geek Chic and they have a whole website with gaming furniture.  You might recognize their tables in use by Acquisitions Incorporated or Tabletop.  Their top model is the Sultan, shown below.




So, looking at all of these tables, what table do I like the best?  It is a chimera of a lot of the tables.  I like the two level effect, so a center table that has a second level that can be raised or set on top would be nice.  I like the pull-out drawer features of the Avenger.  I also like the cover up gaming space under the top of one of GeekChic's tables, like the portal (shown below).


Ultimately that means, the first table I need to worry about is my saw table so I can build my own.  It will take some time and money and love, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.  I am also looking into integrated tablets, projection display, or touchscreen as an additional feature.  

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