Built a Boardgame Table

All discussions regarding Board, Card, and RPG Gaming, including industry discussion, that don't belong in one of the other gaming forums.

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Skinypupy
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Skinypupy »

I like that, but feel like it might be a bit small for some of the more table-hoggy games like Mage Knight or Gloomhaven.

Suppose I could supplement with a card table, if needed.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Smoove_B »

I use one of these for solo gaming. I put a neoprene gaming mat on top (the plastic is just too slippery) and then cover it with a cheap tablecloth like this. I have green and blue that I can switch out if I'm playing with miniatures and want a solid background.

FWIW, it's still not big enough for table hogs, but at some point the table you'd need (size) is too big to sit behind for solo gaming (you just can't reach far enough). Definitely better to set up a side table than get something wider (IMHO). What I do add for group gaming is this table. I tape down thin cardboard (like cereal boxes) to cover the seam, and then put the neoprene mat and table cloth over it. Adds another 18" of width. If you have orangutan arms, maybe that's a good option. :D
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by coopasonic »

Skinypupy wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 12:12 pm I like that, but feel like it might be a bit small for some of the more table-hoggy games like Mage Knight or Gloomhaven.

Suppose I could supplement with a card table, if needed.
The boardroom tables we have in the big meeting rooms at work built for 16+ attendees are inadequate for Gloomhaven. Put the map/board on the wall, get some vertical rack for the shop items(hey anybody have a suggestion there? I think I saw a solution like that for firefly that might work), but the monster stuff in a drawer/bin you can pull out when needed... what's left is actually not THAT much.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Blackhawk »

Space is a serious issue for me. The house that was 'cozy' when we moved in with two adults and one toddler is utterly cramped with two adults and two teenagers. If I had a full-sized board game table I wouldn't even have anywhere to put it temporarily - there just isn't that much physical space without shutting other people down. I can manage a standard sized card table for a few days, and even that requires that we walk sideways through the bedroom. Playing a game that sprawls out requires quite a bit of hoop-jumping.

I'm really hoping that the Level Up will help when it arrives. It should make the card table viable for quite a few more games.
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Skinypupy
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Skinypupy »

coopasonic wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 3:22 pm
Skinypupy wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 12:12 pm I like that, but feel like it might be a bit small for some of the more table-hoggy games like Mage Knight or Gloomhaven.

Suppose I could supplement with a card table, if needed.
The boardroom tables we have in the big meeting rooms at work built for 16+ attendees are inadequate for Gloomhaven. Put the map/board on the wall, get some vertical rack for the shop items(hey anybody have a suggestion there? I think I saw a solution like that for firefly that might work), but the monster stuff in a drawer/bin you can pull out when needed... what's left is actually not THAT much.
I do use the Gloomhaven helper and Gloomhaven Campaign Tracker apps for GH, so I don't need the map or any of the monster cards. I got the tip (here, probably), to store all monster tokens and cards in CD sleeves in the box, which has worked great. Even then, it's still a big game. And Mage Knight is a beast, no matter what you do.

I was using a setup similar to Smoove's folding table before Mrs. Skinypupy claimed her crafting room, so I might just go back to that rather than ordering anything new. For the short term, anyways.
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Kurth
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Kurth »

I've been wanting to invest in a vaulted gaming coffee table for a while now, but the price tag is just too much for something that may not get as much use as I'd hope. It's really just me thinking about solo board gaming and a bunch of games I've bought to play with the kids that I'm more enthusiastic about than they are. But now that we've been playing some D&D, I've started looking around at available options. Still too expensive.

So . . . I'm going to do working from home, quarantine thing and try to build my own. Bought some of the lumber today along with a pocket hole jig and a new rip blade for my table saw. I'm no wood worker, but my father is, and so I've got a fair number of hand me down tools from him, and I think I have what I need to do the job (in tools, not experience or skill). The plans seem relatively simple though. Here's what I'm hoping to build:

Image

With any luck, I'll be done by the time this lock down is finished, and I'll finish the project with all digits still intact. :D
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by hentzau »

Nice! I'll be interested to see the end results/costs/time spent to build it out.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Smoove_B »

You could definitely spend your virus time doing worse things - trust me, I know. Good luck - I don't have the skill or tools but commend you on your effort.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Tao »

Good luck and definitely share your experience as you work on it. Curious how long it took the person to build the table in the pictures; there is a box in the corner that reads Super Pong IV, so maybe 30 years. :D
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Kurth
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Kurth »

Tao wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 5:26 pm Good luck and definitely share your experience as you work on it. Curious how long it took the person to build the table in the pictures; there is a box in the corner that reads Super Pong IV, so maybe 30 years. :D
Well, we're just working on the base so far, and it's been challenging. I like the design, but this guy has a real issue with his measurements. I'm not sure he gets that lumber dimensions aren't usually their real dimensions. Or, sometimes he gets it, and sometimes he doesn't. In the end, we've had to pretty much scrap his measurements and start over, treating his posted design and notes as a rough sketch on which to base actual plans.

Luckily, my son has gotten pretty good with Autodesk Fusion 360 from his work with our 3D printers, and he's recreated the entire project in Fusion. By doing that, we've been able to come up with proper measurements that should actually work!

At this point, we've bought all the lumber for the base ($60 at Home Depot), have cut the posts (had to use a table saw to re-saw 4X4 posts down to the called for 3X3 sections for the table legs), we've cut the notches in the legs to receive the table top, and we've cut down all the connecting lumber for the base. Tomorrow, we're hoping to get started building the base. It's taking a while, but I've got time these days, and we're having a lot of fun doing it. :D
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Tao
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Tao »

Awesome! I have absolutely no wood-working skills but looking at the picture and having spent hours drooling over the boutique gaming tables, my initial though was "measurements". Building the table looked pretty straight forward; frame out a box and put some legs on it but the really hard part seemed to be the top. It seems if your measurements are off by even a small amount the top of the table won't sit correctly on the inner lip and will either not stay up or at best look terrible with gaps. Glad to hear your having fun and seems like a fairly inexpensive experiment.
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Kurth
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Kurth »

Tao wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 12:34 am Awesome! I have absolutely no wood-working skills but looking at the picture and having spent hours drooling over the boutique gaming tables, my initial though was "measurements". Building the table looked pretty straight forward; frame out a box and put some legs on it but the really hard part seemed to be the top. It seems if your measurements are off by even a small amount the top of the table won't sit correctly on the inner lip and will either not stay up or at best look terrible with gaps. Glad to hear your having fun and seems like a fairly inexpensive experiment.
Exactly. As I see it, we're bound by two different measurements that pretty much dictate everything else:

(1) The width of the shelves on the base. His design calls for these to be made using 7 boards of 1X4 lumber (nominal) which is 3.5 inches wide (actual). So those shelves have an overall width of 24.5 inches.
(2) The table top. His design calls for this to be made using 8 boards of 1X6 lumber (nominal) which is 5.5 inches wide (actual), framed by 1X2 lumber (nominal) which is 1.5 inches wide (actual). So the total length of the table top is going to be 47 inches.

Unless you want to start using a table saw to rip the 1X4s for the shelves or the 1X6s for the table top, those measurements are pretty much carved in stone. So once you have those, you can build the frame for the base and the top to match.

At least, that's the theory, and that's what we (my son, not me) mocked up in Fusion 360. If this works out, I'll post all the measurements and the 3D file for anyone else who wants to give it a go.
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Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Zarathud »

Good luck sanding and staining. I made beds for my kids, but a stained table is a lot of work.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

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Zarathud wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 10:18 pm Good luck sanding and staining. I made beds for my kids, but a stained table is a lot of work.
Yep. I think that's going to be the most challenging part. We'll do it in sections (the base, table top frame, table top), but it's still going to be a bear. My biggest concern is where to do it. I was planning on finishing it in the garage where we're building it, but that's also where our treadmill is where my wife works out every morning. She's got a hyper sensitive sense of smell, and I can already imagine her reaction if she goes out to get on the treadmill one morning and faces a wall of fumes from the stain. I'm going to have to tread carefully! :shifty:
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Skinypupy »

It has taken a somewhat Herculean effort, but I finally have my own dedicated board gaming space in my office (with Street Masters all ready to go). Finally got all the bookcases in, the thrift store donation stuff out, and the office supplies moved to another room. 8-) I do have a second folding table that we can use for the more table hoggy games.

Next order of business will be to get an actual gaming table ordered, but...baby steps.

Image
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

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This makes me so jealous :D
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Holman »

Holman wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2019 5:02 pm Here's mine:

Enlarge Image

It's nothing fancy at all, and it's really only seatable on two sides, but for the first time I have a dedicated surface where I can leave long-term games up for weeks at a time. This is in my third-floor office, so there's no danger of human traffic bothering it, and the dog seems uninterested.

The corner of my long computer desk is visible at right. I can do work and then spin around to think about ongoing games.

The blocked closet is deep storage and very seldom accessed, but the table is easy to move.
My bare-bones table here is 46" by 70", but it feels a bit flimsy due to its 1/2" thickness.

I'm about to buy a 50" by 78" second layer to give it heft and additional dimensions.

(I've got a couple of four-mapper monster wargames that will require that much real estate.)
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Kurth »

Finished the table: Tough to estimate how much time it took. Began it in last week in May and finished just before the 4th of July, but it was one of those things that was done in fits and starts. We were definitely taking our time with this one, but if you were aiming to really get it done quickly and put in a couple hours consistently on nights/weekends, you could probably bang it out in two weeks.

As far as a cost breakdown, this is what I spent:
  • Wood, screws, glue: $106.88
  • Neoprene for vault: $80
  • Spray adhesive for neoprene: $10.27
  • Polycrylic water-based polyurethane: $17.97
  • Total outlay: $215.12
I'm leaving out some additional costs that were more tool-related (bought a pocket hole jig and some sanding discs for my orbital sander) since those aren't solely related to this build, but $215 and change is a pretty good estimate for what this thing cost me to build.

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to post the exact measurements taken from Fusion 3D so you don't have to recreate the work we did to improve the original plans. I'm really happy with the finished product. Is it the equal of a top-tier table like the Viscount from Uniquely Geek? Most definitely not. But a similarly sized Viscount goes for $1850-$2K. And we made ours, which feels pretty cool, too. Overall, I'm really happy with the process and the results. We made some mistakes along the way, but we had fun, and we ended up with a pretty great table for a fraction of what it would have cost to buy one.

Here are some pics of the build process and also the finished product.
Framing out the table base:
Image
Using pocket holes (plus some wood glue) to join the base frame:
Image
The base plus top and bottom shelves:
Image
Base with table top added, gluing top support on:
Image
Base with table top added, gluing top perimeter on:
Image
Finished product with multiple coats of polyacrylic semi-gloss finish:
Image
Finished product with top slats removed showing gaming vault:
Image
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Smoove_B
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Smoove_B »

Damn dude, that looks amazing. You're crafty!
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Malificent »

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 10:17 am Damn dude, that looks amazing. You're crafty!
Agreed - this is amazing, especially from my perspective as some one who is mechanically declined.

So when are you going to make me a table? :wink:
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Kurth »

Malificent wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 10:59 am
Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 10:17 am Damn dude, that looks amazing. You're crafty!
Agreed - this is amazing, especially from my perspective as some one who is mechanically declined.

So when are you going to make me a table? :wink:
Assuming you are in NC still, I think the shipping would be an issue! The thing isn't light. :D

But, seriously, it was fun to do, and if someone local who could pick it up wanted to foot the bill for the materials, I'd put one together for them.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Skinypupy »

Zarathud wrote: Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:44 am I ordered the 3.25 x 6 foot table from www.boardgametables.com and then 4 chairs from Ashley Furniture.

Enlarge Image

Enlarge Image

There are built-in cupholders on the sides that pull out, and I can clip in another cupholder on the small ends. The removable GM station drops into the vault, and the top is cut into 3 pieces for easy removal. The table is in the basement of my new place, next to the bar that my wife has taken over for her home business. At least the cooler is within reach (after it's fixed). Not surprisingly, the kids have already used it more than I have.
How have you liked that table?

I'm potentially looking at a nice bonus next month, and am strongly considering splurging on The Jasper model from boardgametables.com for my birthday.

It would just be the base table and a couple cupholders. It's in my office and wouldn't be used for anything other than board gaming, so I can't really justify an additional $350 for a topper.
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Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Zarathud »

I like it. What I really wanted was the vaulted space in a table safe from spills. The Chicago OOers give me crap about Wealth of Nations where my buddy spilled his Mountain Dew all over his player mat at the start, and they regret being exposed to my heavy economics game that night.

Not chasing dice has been a game changer. It’s solid and functional Oak. Not quite the Wyrmwood craftsmanship but not as pricey. The 3 piece topper lets my wife and kids use it for crafts, and helped seal her approval.

My table is slightly oversized at 3.25 x 6 play area. The extra space is great for player boards in big Euros. But I would almost recommend the more standard 3x6 or 4x6 sizes to make buying mats easier. The blue felt is good but my guests are sloppy eaters and the crumbs/salt show enough to bother me. Its not visible on a grass or dungeon tile mat.

The regular cup holders take cans, 20 oz and heavy glassware well. The other must-buy was the GM table insert as that gives plenty of space for D&D or snacks with a smaller game.

The only real downside was delivery. The service dropped it off on the sidewalk and left. it’s solid and heavy, so we had some people ready to help get it downstairs.
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Skinypupy
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Skinypupy »

Finally bit the bullet and ordered my Jasper table this morning. 8-)
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Skinypupy »

Jasper table arrived today, and is now officially open for business.

Image

Image

Will get some matching Kallax shelves eventually, but that'll have to wait a bit.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Zarathud »

Congratulations!
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
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“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by hepcat »

Man, now I want to play Lords of Waterdeep.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 8:04 pm Jasper table arrived today, and is now officially open for business.



Will get some matching Kallax shelves eventually, but that'll have to wait a bit.
If you can afford to do so, I highly recommend adding the custom wooden meeples for Lords of Waterdeep AKA DnDeeples:

Image

They add a whole lot more thematic character to the game and help make it feel more like you're actually hiring clerics, wizards, fighters, and rogues rather than gathering abstracted coloured cubes.
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Re: Built a Boardgame Table

Post by Blackhawk »

Thanks to some friendly advice and links, I engaged in an elaborate woodworking project using the same precision blueprint I used for my roleplaying table.

Step one:
Spoiler:
Two pieces of 2'x4' MDF, $20. One 48" piano hinge, $10. Five minutes of screwing (it used to take me longer.)

Image
Side note: If you remember me mentioning that my kitchen is small, that's my kitchen floor. I'm standing in one corner, and that 4x4 table fills most of it.

Step 2:
Spoiler:
Folded up for convenient storage. It takes about 30 seconds to open it up and put it on top of the articulated support framework (ie - a card table.) End result is an easily stored 4'x4' game table.

Image
I have to wait until I get two boxes of comics sorted and logged before I'll have room to set it up for in-use photos (I've had the two boxes sitting there a couple of years, procrastinating.)
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