Commissioning a Board Game Table, What Should I Look Out For?
It's my first time commissioning something like this. The guy I'll be doing this with wouldn't know what a board game table is so I'll have to design it myself. (I have some drafting/cad experience so I'm up to the task).
What stuff should I look out for when designing this table? I made a partial list of things I think I ought to keep in mind.
Add a gasket for each wood topper to avoid leakage.
Use multiple wood topper instead of single wood topper
Look for pre-made plans in the internet
Find basic table design to get leg clearance height, and table height.
Which wood would be best value? (I know this would be dependent on my area, Philippines)
I plan to keep it simple and probably wouldn't need extra features like led lights, cup holders, etc. As long as I can have my board game in the table while using it as a dining table when not playing I'll be okay.
You should probably ask on a boardgame community, this is way too specific of a question for this one (and it's not what anyone might think of as a "stupid" question)
I made my own using a coffee table as a base. Look for mahjong mats as a topper, they're the same material as mouse pads but giant. Moving game pieces around on one is an absolute delight.
Edit: as to what to look out for.. As long as you're specific about wants and needs for the table, there shouldn't be any issues. Shopping around for materials both wood and otherwise are going to be something you'll want to source yourself. Provide some decent plans and be abundantly clear on the usage and intention of the table.
And if you're going to have the dining top be a monolithic slab of material, make sure one person can reasonably lift it. Don't go grabbing some dense hardwood and making that thing a beast to remove.
On ours, the toppers on each end have 2 rubber stoppers on the bottom so that the top won't just slide off the table. I believe they're also magnetized.
Make sure you have enough clearance for any items you want to store in the table, and that they won't intersect with the stoppers if you add those.
all 14 comments