Pros

• Price
• Variety of options
• Legs for the toppers
• Mats

Cons

• Price

The Page

This isn’t the first Kickstarter that Game Toppers LLC has run, and you can tell. Now, it can be a bit intimidating to look at because there are a ton of different options. So you need to scroll through all of them to see what there is and what you might want. I wish that there was an easy to read infographic about the size differences.

Now, with that said, for each topper size, they do a solid job of laying out what the size would probably be best for. And the do have a graphic that shows what different mat designs are in different sizes, but it doesn’t scale well on the page, so I had to mess around with it to figure out which images were available on which sizes.

The Product

The products look really good. Even with the legs, these are a whole lot cheaper than most board game tables. And I think that it’s a product that makes pretty good sense. Now, I will knock it a tiny bit because you need to store it, and these aren’t small, even coming in multiple parts. If I were to get one, I would just put it onto my gaming table and leave it up for good, and I guess that a fair number of people just do that.

So, I do have price as a con as well, and that’s more just that these are a luxury item. They are priced really well, and I mean really really well. But $700 plus if you want to get some different mats and shipping, it adds up pretty quickly. But that is very reasonable for the product being sold.

And finally those mat designs. There are a ton of awesome ones in there. I like a lot of them, in particular the Viking, Laukat, and Cthulhu all look amazing. Even if you aren’t in the market for a full topper, those are great looking. And again, super reasonable price for the size of mat that you are getting.

Back or Brick

So, is this a back or a brick for me? You probably guessed already that it is a back for me. Now, I am not backing for a table topper. I have a decent gaming table already. But I want a mat, or two. The mats make it so much easier to pick up cards, and these are some of the best priced mats I’ve seen. The Kickstarter is definitely the time to get them as well. And I won’t lie, I am really tempted by the double mat bundle and give my games a little bit of thematic choice so I can match what type of game I am playing. Plus the Game Toppers LLC is from my home town.

Is Game Toppers 3.0 a Back or a Brick for you? Do you already have a special gaming table or game mat that you use to play?

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The Simplest Solution

The easiest way to make a gaming table, actually, isn’t to make a gaming table. It’s to make a gaming table topper. Now, I said that those can be expensive, but you don’t even need a full topper. The reason gamers like gaming tables isn’t because the table, the padded rail, and all of that make the games better to play, it’s because it can be hard to pick up cards off of a regular table. You can slide them, but that doesn’t always work. So instead of doing a table topper, a neoprene mat is a great option. One that the cards can sit on for each player, if you are doing something like Magic the Gathering, or a big one if you are playing The 7th Continent. Whatever you decide, it’ll help keep the cards off of the table and make them easier to pick up.

Don’t Go Too Fancy

With this, however, don’t go too fancy. There are a ton of gorgeous looking mats out there, but they are super busy. I have a very nice looking one for Hanamikoji, but it doesn’t get used. Why is that the case? Because, it is too busy. You can’t see the cards on the mat. Now, that doesn’t mean you go with a solid color one, necessarily. Game Toppers, is an example of a company that does artwork on a neoprene play mat right. You see how the design is in more detail on the edge, so as you play in the center of the play mat, you don’t lose pieces or cards on the design of the board. With that said, the plain colored mats also look great, and you don’t have to think as much about theming/look in the room.

But You Really Want a Table?

Okay build a table yourself? Now, you aren’t a woodworker, I’m not a wood worker either. But it isn’t impractical for most people to make themselves a functioning board game table. What are the things you look for in a gaming table? Ease of picking up cards and somewhere safe to set a drink are the two that pop into my head.

The Table

Keep it simple here. All you really need is a large enough table. Where you find it, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are both great spots to find a used table set for a reasonable price. This isn’t something you need to go and buy new for, especially since it’ll be getting modified. Instead look for something that is large enough for the games that you have. If you have Gloomhaven, you need a much bigger table than if you play primarily games like Ticket to Ride and Catan. So judge what you need for game play, but also for how much space it takes up in the room. Some spaces can’t accommodate a huge table. You might be playing Gloomhaven, but not be able to fit a Gloomhaven sized table in there. In that case, look for additional things, such as TV trays to help supplement, plus TV trays work well for holding drinks.

Table Surface Options

I already mentioned one with the neoprene mats. But if you picked up a table, you now know your dimensions, and could get one. There are other options a well. For a cheaper option, get some wood staples/stapler and a big thing of felt. Start stapling on one side pulling the felt under the lip to staple it and stretching it as you go. You want to keep the felt tight as you go around so it won’t slide too much. Felt will stretch and get dirty, but you can vacuum is off easily. This won’t be as clean a look as a neoprene mat, but it is much cheaper, especially if you already have the wood stapler or know someone who does.

Drink Holders

Final issue is where do you put your drink. I have coasters that I normally use on my gaming table. But for some people, they want separation between their food/drinks and the game. I get that, I’d prefer not to have wine or beer spilled on a board game. So there are a few options to consider. The first goes back to TV trays. Those are great when it comes to being able to set snack plates on and drinks on. It keeps the drinks completely away from the board game. Or you can get cup holders. Now, some of the fancy tables come with them built in, and you could get nice wooden ones. But I found some that I was going to use that I liked. They were just plastic cup holders that I was going to screw onto the table. They have a little lip to hold onto a rail on a boat, but that set them out far enough that it’d work for a table. Getting 8 of those was cheaper than anything wooden and gave me the distance I needed with the lip of the table.

Start Playing Games

Now, this isn’t going to look as pretty as an actual gaming table. But if you look enough on Craiglist or Facebook Marketplace, you can probably find a solid table and chair set for $100. Even with a neoprene mat and cup holders, you are looking at $300-$500 versus an actual gaming table which is probably going to be thousands. Maybe, eventually, you’ll want to set aside money for one of those, but let me know what creative ways you have made a gaming table.

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At a basic level, there are going to be two primary things that you’ll need for your gaming room. The first is a place to play the games, and the next is a place to store the games. However, you can certainly bling it out more than that, but let’s start by talking about those two things.

The Table

The table, and this includes the chairs is going to be fairly important as you think about setting up the room. Consider things like how large your games are, now many people you want around the table, and how much overall space you have. If you’re playing something like Gloomhaven, you’re going to need a bigger table than if you normally only play games like Santorini and Hanamikoji. Or even a game like Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, you’re going to need space to get a larger group around the table, even though the footprint of the game isn’t that large. So look at the largest game, numbers wise and space wise to determine how large a table you might need. Now, that might not work for the room you’re using, it could be too large, in that case, consider the games that you will be playing most down there, and you can move the bigger games elsewhere for playing.

With this also consider your playing surface. You can go out and find a lot of premium gaming tables that cost $1000+ and are going to be amazing to play on with built in cup holders, rails for holding cards, a sunken play and padding place surface and more fun things like that, but that’s probably overkill. Most of the time, an old dining room/kitchen table will do. What I’d consider when thinking about that is what sort of surface do you need for it? There are a few different options to allow you to be able to pick up cards easier, felt or neoprene. Both of these have a little give, and if you have trouble picking up cards at times like I do, it might be something you’d want to invest in. Felt works well because you can stretch it and staple it to the underside of the top of the table and it’ll give you a nice playing surface. That’s what I’ve done for the table that I use for Malts and Meeples streaming. This will give you a consistent top across the table, but it does pick up dust, another option would be buying a neoprene mat to put on top of it. This is going to be higher quality, and it’ll allow you to more easily swap out the surface of the table since you can just roll up the mat, but it’s a spendier option, but still cheaper than getting a premium gaming table.

Storage

Storage is another big thing to consider, how do you want to display your games. This could be for aesthetic reasons, but mainly it’s going to be so that you know what games you have. If you’re using a bedroom and you shove them into a deep closet, the ones in front will get played, the ones in back will not. This is just simply do to the visibility of the games in front versus the back.

The most common suggestion that you’ll hear are Kallax shelves from Ikea. Or Better Homes and Garden cubby shelves are basically the same things. The cubbies are basically the right side for a board game, in a normal sided square box, to fit nicely. They can be stored either vertically or horizontally. I have a Kallax and it works really well. You can even find them used, fairly often it’ll be the older version of the Kallax, Expedit, but basically the same thing and same sized cubbies. The Better Homes and Garden one I believe is slightly lower quality, but more readily available since it’s at Wal-Mart. But really, any bookshelf will do, it just might not store quite as neatly. And plastic shelving works well, as well.

That’s really it that you’ll need for storing and playing your games, but let’s talk about some other things to think about that you might want to do.

Some of these are going to be additional decor, I know people who hang box covers, especially for expansions they’ve fit into one box, on the fall, or Board Game Geek sells some amazing art prints for various games. Etsy is another place that has good art.

Lighting is another big thing to think about. Indirect lighting for the games are going to be best. By that, I mean having a big light on the ceiling pointed down is probably not the best. It’s going to create glare off of boards and cards and make them harder to read. Floor lamps where the light is directed up and can reflect down off the ceiling are going to give you an easier light to see the board and cards. But also having enough lighting is important as well so that you can read the cards without straining. So sit around the table from each side some evening and see how it is to see a hand of cards.

Now, finally, I want to talk about seating. I said that was implied with the table, but most tables you can cram more people around than chairs that come with the table. So consider picking up some folding chairs and test out the folding chairs to see that they’re comfortable. Folding chairs have definitely improved since hard metal ones to stronger and more supportive feeling plastic seats and backs. Find something that feels comfortable to you and that you think will be comfortable to anyone who might join in the gaming fun.

What else should you have in a game room? I mean, you need games, but I’m assuming, if you’re thinking about a particular game room, you probably already have a lot of those, like I do. Also, tweet pictures of your game room to me, for future inspiration.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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