Has anyone invested in a proper gaming table?

Always been tempted but just feel they are a rip off for what you are getting. I mean the first one is nice but £2700 is mental.
 
Looked at them, horrendously expensive for the most part. We'd be looking at 3-4ft by 5-6ft. So that'll be £2-3000. Ouch.

I'm in the process of designing a reasonably lightweight topper to use on our coffee table. Needs to be light enough for the other half to move.
Thinking 6mm mdf, 25mm expanded polystyrene foam, 6mm mdf. Bit of 25mm baton around the edge and from corner to corner to add strength. Then just some nicely shaped wood around the edge and a microsuede covered neoprene as a top surface.
 
Like any luxury item, only you can decide if it’s worth it. Let’s face it, this is an obscene luxury! Especially when you add accessories..

Will you game on it enough to warrant the cost?

Asking people whether you should get one will result in all sorts of replies
“You could pay for a woodworking course and then make one yourself” was one of the good ones I got :) which is true.. but does anyone have that spare time? I didn’t..

Anyway.. I got a geeknson coffee table made. Primarily to house a large Lego millennium falcon but it also converts into a gaming table.

When it arrives and they use it they all said “ooo this is so worth it. It’s awesome!”
 
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corkhead said:
Asking people whether you should get one will result in all sorts of replies
“You could pay for a woodworking course and then make one yourself” was one of the good ones I got :) which is true.. but does anyone have that spare time? I didn’t..
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You don't even need to do the woodworking course. BoardGameGeek has a whole forum section devoted to DIY gaming tables and people always post the schematics. Print off the set you like, take them to a local carpenter and you'll get your £2000 table for a few hundred plus materials.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Add to that the cost of the hand tools you'll want, and the workbench, and the vice, and all the other bits.... and then the cost of actual decent oak, plus the oil and all the electronic fittings... and finally the cost in time to make it all to a sufficiently high standard suitable for sale.
It's only when people try it for themselves that they appreciate why these things are so flippin' expensive!!
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but that's because you're only making one table, that the cost of equipment is high, relative to the cost of materials and time. yes skill is also involved.

whereas with the gaming table company (one would hope) they're making enough so the cost of equipment would be sufficiently amortised for it to be negligible per table...and sufficiently skilled that time and written-off tables would be minimised.
so then...one would be left paying for "skill"
but as above poster said...might as well then go down to the local carpenter and get it done for hundreds...and save thousands in the meantime...
 
JeditOjanen said:
You don't even need to do the woodworking course. BoardGameGeek has a whole forum section devoted to DIY gaming tables and people always post the schematics. Print off the set you like, take them to a local carpenter and you'll get your £2000 table for a few hundred plus materials.
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I went to a couple of local carpenters and asked the price for exactly the same thing that I asked from geeknson and their prices were no different.

Perhaps that’s because mine was quite different to the ones they usually make and the plans on BGG. It has toughened glass to cover the top for display mode etc

Big respect to anyone that does actually make their own though!!
 
I suppose the reason for considering one is we need a ~6ft x 3ft solid kitchen table anyway. Given demands on time these days it's rare we get to finish a game so I quite like the idea of being able to leave things set up and just put the lid back on. Not really interested in the LED lights, USB sockets etc.
 
So I'm in the gaming industry (tabletop) and I've recently got costs on the trade cost for GeeknSons tables, which is about 20% that of the RRP. That's for trade, so expect GeeknSons actual cost to be in the 5-10% range of the RRP.
 
I really wanted something special for gaming, but I also wanted to stay married, so I built a portable digital tabletop for about £70, had a monitor donated and it's pretty awesome for RPGs, paired with the right software. Plus I put it away at the end of games night, and my wife doesn't want to kill me (as much as usual).
 
Macro said:
So a £3000 table for £600 - wow, that's a hell of a markup if you can resell the tables.
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You'd find yourself without a supplier for over priced gaming tables if you don't sell close to the RRP I'm afraid!

But goes to show that you could get one commissioned by a carpenter for a lot less.
 
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