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I made a board game accessory! what do you think?

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Shwaleti
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Joined: 10/09/2014
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Maybe some of you remember me coming around here a few months ago asking a bunch of questions about board game tables and playing board games. Well I'm back with a prototype I've made.

Here's a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa2xg5t3Iic&feature=youtu.be

It isn't a table but kinda of an extra platform for your games on your existing table. My prototype is about 14 inches square. It rotates 360 degrees and extends about 12 inches so that each player can pull the board or whatever you may have on it closer to them and orientate it to their own needs. It's elevated off the table leaving a bit more room below. I suppose you could use it in the middle and put the main portion of the game on it or you could put it off to the side to place smaller peripheral pieces that can be pulled into and over the main parts if need be.

This was made out of two lazy susan turnstiles, two drawer slides, some cardboard, and plywood. These pieces of hardware aren't made for this kind of thing so it rocks a bit. I think my next prototype will be a kind of articulated arm kind of like the way floor lamps can swing out and in. also I'm thinking about making the foot print a bit less maybe 12 inches (around the size of your average game box) and a littler shorter since there aren't many pieces that need 5 inches of clearance.

I've already play tested it with some friends and it turned out pretty good. We played small world with the smaller map since there were three of us. we could fit the map plus all the race/characteristic tokens on the board. It was nice to pull the board right up to you and see everything at once, but it was a bit nerve racking spinning it with so many pieces. I think this was mainly due to the construction of my model. I think that having a different mechanism to move everything and some friction grease could help as well as a stickier surface to place everything would help.

Anyways, what does everyone think? is this something you think would be useful? would you buy something like this?

firstcultural
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Joined: 09/11/2014
Rather than spinning, maybe

Rather than spinning, maybe having it slide on the X and Y axis would be best - rotating a board could be a bit disorienting.

RyanRay
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Joined: 03/27/2014
That's so cool to see you

That's so cool to see you working on something innovative like this, Shwaleti! It seems like a very useable and plausible tool. Is everyone at the table still able to see the board when it's being passed around?

I could almost see there being a game that uses this thing as a mechanic, hah!

laperen
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Joined: 04/30/2013
Looks great, although i think

Looks great, although i think your feedback will be a mixed bag. People who prefer to view a board from an angle of their own choosing will like it. People who prefer treating their own position as a reference point for everything else will not.

You might want to overlay the top surface with a material that has some grip just in case, like felt or rubber perhaps

SLiV
SLiV's picture
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Joined: 10/21/2011
Great, but not for me

I think it's a nice idea but I wouldn't use it. It just seems too unstable, even if you added more grease. The idea that the board edges are floating in the sky makes it look like the board could fold in on itself and drop all the pieces. And rotating the board would be very disorientating, I think. But that might just be me, so keep experimenting.

Despot9
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Joined: 07/26/2008
I know this is an early

I know this is an early prototype so later versions may be more stable in appearance but I would be constantly worried that something would get knocked over and messed up and a game would be ruined.

jrc5639
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Joined: 11/19/2013
Looking like a good idea. I

Looking like a good idea.

I think your biggest hurdle will be convincing players there pieces are securely in place, during motion.

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