# Building Your Own Gaming Table?



## Flynn (Dec 6, 2007)

Good Afternoon, All:

I'm interested in possibly building my own gaming table. I've looked at the "Ultimate Gaming Table" website ( http://www.ultimategamingtable.org/ ) and it has some good ideas. I'm still looking for some ideas, though, while this project is in the design stage.

Have any of you built your own gaming table? (If so, and you want to show off pics, I'd appreciate it.)

What are the qualities you feel would be good for a gaming table?

Do you have any budget-minded suggestions for this little project?

I've heard of doing a double-tiered version, with a smaller table to set on top of the main table. The smaller table is 8-12 inches abve the main table, and is roughly the size of a gaming mat, so there's room under it for books and sodas, that kind of thing, and nothing blocks the view of the maps and minis. Does anyone have experience with something like this that they'd like to share?

Very Curious,
Flynn


----------



## Queen_Dopplepopolis (Dec 6, 2007)

The Universe and I (read: The Universe and a friend of ours) built our gaming table this past fall.  It is bar-height with a plexiglass-covered mondo-mat.  It is glorious beyond words.  

I'd guess that we spent, all told, about $300-$400 on the table, chairs (stools), plexiglass, and mondo-mat.

Because I did very little actual construction, I'll encourage The Universe to drop by and ramble... and I'll find some pictures to post!


----------



## Flynn (Dec 6, 2007)

This would be excellent! I'd love to see what you guys came up with. 

Thanks,
Flynn


----------



## Castellan (Dec 6, 2007)

Our solution was a bit simpler: we used a folding table, but then bought a piece of 4'x8' plywood and attached super-cheap shower wall laminate (looks like tile with "fake" grout lines). Why? Because it's very white-board like. We then placed the board on top of the table and roll office chairs up to it that we bought at a local second-hand shop.

We still use a mondo mat for gaming, but it's awesome to be able to use a wet-erase marker on the table around my space. I use it less as a player, but as DM, I'm tracking monster hit points, spell effects, and even my initiative tracker on the tabletop. It's all throw-away info, anyway, so I just wipe it up when there's too much, or the game session ends.

Since the tabletop is available to everyone, we've really taken advantage of it. Not too expensive to make and we've been using it for about 5 years.


----------



## Flynn (Dec 6, 2007)

I have to admit that your plan sounds better than these approaches, in terms of work load, if nothing else:

http://www.drunkdwarves.com/pages/artttgttcultimatetable.html
http://www.drunkdwarves.com/pages/artttgttctabletops.html

http://ask.metafilter.com/74963/Help-me-build-a-gaming-table

Still, it sounds like the folding table might not be very sturdy. What size folding table due you use?

With Regards,
Flynn


----------



## Queen_Dopplepopolis (Dec 6, 2007)

Do you have a Costco/BJs/Sam's Club membership?  These places have some STURDY "folding" tables.


----------



## Festivus (Dec 6, 2007)

Let me start by saying that I have built the Ultimate Gaming Table, so my words come from experience and lessons learned.

First are foremost, think about what you have for space.  The 4' x 8' table is massive, but it also requires a large area to use fully (like a two car garage).  My old house it worked as long as you didn't use the pull out drawers.  No biggie, plenty of room on top.  My new house it won't fit at all, so it's now my craft table in the garage.  Be sure to measure and make sure before you expend the funds that you can actually fit the table, drawers, chairs and people.  Remember that folks need to get around the table as well.

Second, they use an interesting leg system consisting of grooved joints for the support of the table.  In hindsight I would rather have purchased four legs at the hardware store and run a stringer around the table for support.  Not only would it have been less expensive, it would have been easier to assemble.

Third, check your furniture stores for closeout tables and damaged returns.  I saw a table at Ikea for $50 that would have worked great as a support base for a new game table.  Then just bolt your game table to the old legs and stringer... done 

Fourth, buy smaller plexiglass for the cover.  I went with a single 4'x8' sheet of plexi, it was expensive, it's dificult to manage, and I have cracked it once already.  Buy the smaller sheets, you will be happy.  Two smaller ones are way easier to handle than one big one.

Fifth, buy a mondomat for the tabletop.  Drawing the gridlines took forever.  Save yourself the time and effort of painting, sanding, painting again, sanding again, and then drawing 144 lines... trust me it is really difficult.

In my new place I just bought a 40"x60" sheet of thick plexiglass (it's like 1/4") and some felt discs, and play on top of our nice dining room table with a flip mat.  It works pretty well, though not nearly the space of my old game table.


----------



## dcampbez (Dec 6, 2007)

There are some cool gaming tables here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/gamingspaces

from Treasure Tables. Mine has it's pictures under dcampbez.... it's the result of several discards designs, the first of which was a 4x8 board screwed to the top of an old pool table, topped with whiteboard taped on.... the pool table legs make up the legs of the DMs area.

Dave


----------



## Freak of Nurture (Dec 7, 2007)

I made a Greyhawk table about 10 years ago.  Used an 8 foot folding table and put the big GH maps in the center with the Marklands maps of Furyondy and Nyrond on the sides.  On one side I put the GH timeline and holy symbols.  Also made a border of the backs of the GH Wars boardgame cards (alternating black and white GH city coat of arms).  Then I put masking tape around the outside and poured liquid polyurethane on it about a half inch thick and let it dry for several days.  Nothing special but it's tough, looks pretty good and has a lot of handy info for my players while the action happens on the mondo mat.


----------



## FoxWander (Dec 7, 2007)

We went with a two-tiered design. We built an octagon shaped table top (designed to be put on top of a standard folding card table) with cut outs for drink holders and dice cups. On top of this goes a smaller table for the game mat. 

The bottom table top is wide enough that each flat side is 2 feet wide, making the whole thing about 4 ft 10 in wide from side to side. Each person has plenty of space to game. The smaller table is high enough to open/close books underneath it. At each of the 8 corners are two holes- 1 with a cup holder and 1 for a dice cup. I've attached a pdf of the word doc I did the initial design work on. 

It works great as a game table. The DM uses one of our bar height chairs so he's up higher which makes it alot easier to draw on the battle mat. The battle mat is kind of high for the players but not too high- if that makes any sense. Sitting in one of the office chairs around the table puts the map table at about chest height- low enough to easily look over, see the map and move your mini around but high enough to look at and keep books underneath it.

We don't have any pictures but I'll try and get some to post.


----------



## BaldHero (Dec 7, 2007)

dcampbez said:
			
		

> There are some cool gaming tables here:
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/groups/gamingspaces
> 
> ...




I just found the coolest new word to add to my vocabulary, at the site listed above...

Dorktuary.

i have had a dorktuary for years, and never even knew what to call it.

Re: game tables, i simply had to make do with a dining room table i paid a hundred bucks for from the local junk shop. My friends and i have grown fond of it, to the point that now that i have a permanent space, and can build what i want to suit our needs, our sentimentality is sort of holding us back.

L.


----------



## Lanefan (Dec 7, 2007)

Flynn said:
			
		

> What are the qualities you feel would be good for a gaming table?
> 
> Do you have any budget-minded suggestions for this little project?
> 
> I've heard of doing a double-tiered version, with a smaller table to set on top of the main table. The smaller table is 8-12 inches abve the main table, and is roughly the size of a gaming mat, so there's room under it for books and sodas, that kind of thing, and nothing blocks the view of the maps and minis. Does anyone have experience with something like this that they'd like to share?



You're already most of the way there with your thinking...2-tiered is the only way to go unless your table is *huge*.

What we use is a chalkboard (can get one 3'x4' at any teachers' supply store or at one of the more useful hardware stores) marked off in 2" = 10' squares (you can use pretty much anything to do this, even an ordinary pen).  You'll also need 5 wood blocks - 10" lengths of 4x4 will do fine - to put the board on; one for each corner and one for the center.  Get some chalk and a chalkbrush and you're set...total cost should be well under $100.

Oh, and don't be tempted to nail the chalkboard to the blocks - leave them separate, unless you're looking for something that stays permanently in place.

The advantage with this is it's easy to take down after each session so you can use the table for other things the rest of the time. 

Lanefan


----------



## Darkwolf71 (Dec 7, 2007)

Being a player at The Ultimate Gaming Table I absolutly love it. Sure, I'm a bit biased. Oh well. 

Before building it though you definatly want to be sure you have room! The owner of the UGT lives on the other side of Houston from me, so it's a 40 minute one-way commute every weekend to play. Because I wanted to do some things of my own, on my side of town, I built my very own 'bare bones' version. Sans all the pullout drawers.  I still barely have space for it in the game room. It does work, but with the drawers it would be too much. Which is too bad because having the space for book storage is nice when the battles GROW and they do, because, well we have the space for it.


----------



## frankthedm (Dec 7, 2007)

Fast & Cheap - Pegboard  or other 1" grid with clear vinyl on top of it.
Cheap - long sheet of fabric store marine vinyl, lay peg board over the vinyl, doting each hole with a permanent marker for a battle grid.
Fancy - Tabletop with  1" or 2" mosaic tile as a surface. Plexiglas sheet on top or clear vinyl tablecloth.

upholstery / Marine vinyl






Pegboard should be available at a hardware store.


----------



## jmucchiello (Dec 7, 2007)

A design I always wanted to try but being all ring-fingers, I'm not allowed near power tools.

Take a transparent piece of Plexiglass (or Lexan whatever) about 30" x 36" and get is etched/screened with 1" grid. Attach 6" dowels as feet to the plastic. Create a similar plastic sheet 24" x 30". The plastic sheets are set next to each other on a 36" x 72" table (with the 30" widths lining up giving you a 30" x 60" raised area with a 3" and 6" border. 

Books and stuff stay under the raised grid. Minis and weterase markup goes on top. When flying occurs, you can move the smaller board on top of the larger board to better visualize the height differences.

Not too fancy. But just getting the books off the map would be a godsend.


----------



## Flynn (Dec 11, 2007)

There are a great many recommendations here. In researching what a stringer was, I came across the following site for building a shop table:
http://woodworking.about.com/od/shopequipmentsupplies/ss/portableTable.htm

Hmmm.... sounds like I've got a lot of great suggestions to work with so far, and I'm sure there are others that could be made.

Here's the current plan, at least at the moment:

Build a base for the table, following a similar pattern to the above link, or the Drunk Dwarves version. Then put together the lower table to hold books and act as a gaming surface while I put together the smaller mat tier to go on top. I can probably fit a 4x6 or even 4x8 in my current gaming space, but I'll double check before I finalize my plans.

So far, it seems like the best I can do, given my minor carpentry skills and the availability of detailed plans free online.

Thoughts or suggestions are always welcome.

With Regards,
Flynn


----------



## Festivus (Dec 11, 2007)

Be sure to share pics when it's done.  Good luck!


----------



## Wulf Ratbane (Dec 11, 2007)

How wrong is it that I want to buy a new HOUSE specifically so that I can build my gaming table/game room?


----------



## Flynn (Dec 11, 2007)

I have plans to eventually convert the two-car garage into a game room if we don't move into a house with a reserved game room, so I feel your pain, Wulf. 

When I start that project, there will definitely be another thread, but that's a few years down the road.

With Regards,
Flynn


----------



## Stile De Mornay (Dec 11, 2007)

A friend of mine using the large wooden "Header" boards (2x12s or something like that) some 2x4s built a large wooden table with a couple sheets of plywood.

then using the large header boards went in the table about eight inches and sat them on the narrow end.  Now, every player has a surface away from the center and the "battle" area is player eye level.

Using an extremely dry erase board for the battle area just set it inside the "sand box" looking area.

I can't provide pictures as I don't game with him anymore.  But, the table was pretty cool.

Oh, we also attached a projector to his computer and mounted it above the table so he can shoot down maps from his computer and it saved time on drawing etc...

So his need for a battlemap was nil.


----------



## Dragon Snack (Dec 11, 2007)

I bought 2 4'x8' sheets of dry erase board, a couple of 2x4's, and a pair of fold up legs with the ultimate plan of building a gaming table.  Still haven't gotten around to it yet...



			
				Wulf Ratbane said:
			
		

> How wrong is it that I want to buy a new HOUSE specifically so that I can build my gaming table/game room?



I bought my new house partly due to the finished basement that became my gaming room...


----------



## Frost (Dec 12, 2007)

Actually, the only thing I've managed to post to my little Web site deals exactly with this subject.  Check it out:
Cheap Gaming Setup 101 

As others have mentioned, unless you're really into building stuff, you're better off getting a few folding tables from Sam's Club. If you are really cheap like me, check Craig's List.

As for gaming surfaces, I haven't gotten around to writing that article yet.    However, check out the Flickr link in my signature and you'll see what a cheap piece of shower board from Home Depot will get you.  You can get a 4 ft. x 8 ft. dry erase surface for about $11.00.  If you want a permanent grid, buy a drywall t-square and an exact-o knife.  The drywall t-square is a jumbo t-square and the long leg of it is a ruler.  Then use it and the exact-o knife to etch out the grid.  It took me about an hour to do.  I don't think there is another way to put a permanent grid on it. I tried using an industrial strength Sharpie, but no luck.  I have heard that eventually the shower board will stain.  However, given that it is only $11.00, it's fairly cheap to replace.  Personally, I have doubts that mine will ever be so bad that I will need to replace it.  Also, I have found that, surprise, shower cleaner removes stains nicely.

p.s. Photos of my table are also posted to the Gaming Spaces Flickr group.


----------



## Frost (Jan 19, 2009)

I bought a 4 x 8 piece of shower-board at Home Depot for about $11 and scored it with a grid.  I works just like white board and is fantastic.  Granted, getting that big piece home was a pain, but in hindsight, I'm sure they would have cut it down for me.  A dry wall T-square is a great help with the scoring...

I wrote a blog about how to make a cheap table here...

http://dungeoneeringdad.googlepages.com/gamingsetup101:thetable2


----------



## Monte At Home (Jan 19, 2009)

Here are some pictures of my game room that I took where you can see my table. It's a custom job designed to my specifications.

These show it with the top on:

Game Room Pics (Part 1) - Line of Sight and Monte's Blog - Montecook.com - Okay -- Your Turn - Message Board - Yuku

Game Room Pics (Part 2) - Line of Sight and Monte's Blog - Montecook.com - Okay -- Your Turn - Message Board - Yuku

The photos here show it with the top off:

Ptolus Reunion, Part 1 (Lots of pictures) - Miniatures - Okay, Your Turn - Okay -- Your Turn - Message Board - Yuku


----------



## Quintegamer (Jun 20, 2014)

Wow nice game room Monte!

We use a 6' x 4' dining table from the 40's for our game room. We're in the process of having a new surface for it built with supports that will make it 6' x 6'. I sit at a desk at one end of the table. With 6' on each side, we'll be able to comfortably sit 6 players, have about 4' x 4' in the center for minis & maps and everyone will be able to see. I'll be sure to post pics when the new surface is done.


----------



## CPezet (Jun 21, 2014)

Reading this thread and looking at some of these pictures has got me in the mood to try and make a gaming table of my own.

Making a truly awesome one will take a lot of time and effort, but boy will it be worth it in the end


----------



## Remus Lupin (Jun 23, 2014)

Monte, I just love that table. I wish I had a space like that at my place.


----------

