If IKEA Made a Dedicated Gaming Table, Would You Buy It?

[Zhaleskra]

The company has some good design ideas. Unfortunately, I find their pictures only instructions ineffecient and some of their attachment choices make me scratch my head.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I voted maybe. That is because while I am a gamer, my wife isn't. On top of that, we only game fortnightly. So a gaming table would have to have a lot of overlap (basically total overlap) with being able to be used as a regular table. Alternatively it would have to be very easily storable. I really can't see them coming out with something that matches those parameters.

Honestly my current table works just fine for gaming. A little bigger would be nice, but the current size works well enough.

Olaf the Stout

 

[jaerdaph]

The problem I've had with Ikea furniture over the years is that while it is cheap, functional and even stylish, in my experience it seldom survives moving to a new home intact.

 

[Pbartender]

The problem I've had with Ikea furniture over the years is that while it is cheap, functional and even stylish, in my experience it seldom survives moving to a new home intact.

It depends on what you get... Anything made of particle board "laminate" is garbage. IKEA, however, has quite a few lines of furniture made from real, solid wood (usually pine), which will last a surprisingly long time. We've got a television stand, a dinner table (with chairs), and a complete bedroom set that were all purchased from IKEA more than 10 years and two moves ago. Aside from the usual nicks and bumps from kids and pets, they're in very good shape.

 

[jaerdaph]

It depends on what you get... Anything made of particle board "laminate" is garbage. IKEA, however, has quite a few lines of furniture made from real, solid wood (usually pine), which will last a surprisingly long time. We've got a television stand, a dinner table (with chairs), and a complete bedroom set that were all purchased from IKEA more than 10 years and two moves ago. Aside from the usual nicks and bumps from kids and pets, they're in very good shape.

Yeah, I was thinking more of my Billy shelving (which I freely admit were great while they lasted).

 

[falcarrion]

Better yet, two clear pieces of plexiglass, so you can put your custom (and non-custom) maps in between and not have to worry about drawing on them.

I have already done this. I made the frame from pvc pipeing. I have one peice of plexiglass that I made one inch grid using a permanment marker. the other I left clear. As the base surface I use white foam board. I then can place the map on top of that and the plexiglass on top of that. All held within the frame. On the bottom I put those felt circles to protect the table surface. I also have another peice of plexiglass which is just clear. So incase I don't need a grid.
When I want to use my projector set up, I just use the foam board as the screen and the clear plexiglass over it. Then just shine the projector down on it. the nice thing is the way I made it I can take two of these frames and connect them togather and make it bigger. I can also remove the cap ends and add another frame on top so you can have two levels or even three. Which is perfect for using in a living room as a low sitting game table.

Also dry ease pens work on the plexiglass too.