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Tell me what you think about board game tables!

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Shwaleti
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Joined: 10/09/2014

Hello all,

My name is Andrew. I am a senior in industrial design and for my thesis project I have chosen to design a table for board games. I'm currently in the research phase and have some questions I'd like to throw out to the community. Please feel free to answer any number you want/feel comfortable answering, I know there are quite a few so any feedback would be great!

If you want to include age and gender it would be nice to put some context to answers but really not that important and not necessary if you would like to withhold.

1. Where do you most often play board games? e.g. home with friends, local game store, etc. why do you like to play there?

2. How many people do you play with? Do you have a preferred number of people or game size you like to stick to?

3. What are you favorite games to play? Are there any that you tend to avoid? Why?

4. Do you have a committed space at home for playing board games?

5. If so can you describe what this space entails (like what kind of table chairs or other tools to help play)

6. If not what kind of changes do you have to make to your space to play comfortably?

7. Do you like to display the games you own or do you keep them put away until you're ready to play them?

8. Have you ever run into troubles setting up and playing a board comfortably? if so, what were the issues?

9. How did you solve or deal with the issues?

10. How does playing board games make you feel?

11. What is your ideal atmosphere when playing games?

12. How do things like music and food play a role in your gaming sessions?

13. What would an ideal gaming table look like/do for you?

Word Nerd
Word Nerd's picture
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Joined: 02/02/2012
Five cents

1a. Where do I play? A table is almost always involved (indeed is required in most cases). Venues have included player's homes, restaurants, pubs and cafeterias, buses and airliners. I used to play only at home (or someone's home); now, I only play out of the home (seldom at another's home). Why do I like playing in these places? I suppose the location is chosen for the convenience of the players, myself included.

2. The number of players involved depends most upon the game selected. Some folks may have a preference for games designed for a particular number; I am not such a person.

3. I don't have any favourite games; I like to try lots of different games. I've tried games involving miniatures before and these are definitely not my favourite. I'm not keen to spend a lot of money buying (and protecting) game pieces which are so vulnerable to damage and other perils.

4. I don't have a space at home dedicated to games. There's a large table available, and it's seldom used for anything else, but it's still not a dedicated space.

5. Not applicable; see #4, above.

6. The table I have is too big for the space it's in. It's too difficult for people to walk around the outside of the area while anyone is sitting at the table. For a game night, I would prefer to move the table into the living room instead, but this cannot happen as the living room is already overfurnished.

7. My games are stowed away; my preference.

8. Problems associated with using boards on tables include (1) the board(s) not laying flat, (2) insufficient table space around the board (for cards, tokens), (3) reflected glare from overhead lighting, (4) board(s) shifting position on the table, (5) incompatible use (e.g. snacks, drinks, cutlery, napkins, toothpicks, coasters, phones).

9. Most of the problems (see #8, above) can be ameliorated with simple adjustments or repairs. However, item #5 requires enforcement of a play group behavioral standard: non-game materials are not allowed in the game play zone.

10. The analogy I would use for myself is that of a big meal, with several courses. Its elements are more or less appealing, but work together in aggregate, and are both stimulating and satisfying.

11. My ideal game playing atmosphere is free of distractions. Mood music is not distracting; muggles in the peanut gallery are distracting.

12. In my role-playing groups, players usually have their own theme song; some even bring extensive playlists to game sessions. In all game formats, players will sometimes take another's expression and play the "Band Name, Album Name, Boat Name" game (or a variant thereof), or the "Cover Band Name" popularized by Wil Wheaton's Tabletop on Geek and Sundry. Food is not allowed in our game play zone; players may not even sit at the table if they are eating (or drinking) anything. Offenders (it happens) must put $20 in the kitty for each infraction (we've never had a repeat offender).

13. My ideal table would be expandable (e.g. from square to oblong), with a broad rail upon which to lean for support while stretching to reach across it. Maybe there could be some recessed lighting in the rail around the perimeter to augment or replace overhead lighting (reducing glare?). I don't want food or drink near the game surface, but it might be nice to have cup-holders (or a pull-out tray?) somewhere. Speaking of storage, I'd like to have a little drawer where I can keep my cards, tokens and such between turns (if they needn't be on the play surface). I'd like to be able to plug in my USB stick or memory card somewhere to have background music played on speakers mounted in the table somewhere.

RyanRay
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Joined: 03/27/2014
1. Home with friends, or at

1. Home with friends, or at another friend's place.

2. My fiance and I are the most common combo, but we often play with family (3-6) or a few of our gamer friends.

3. I prefer light-medium games that usually finish in less than an hour and a half, but a good game of Robinson Crusoe or Thunderstone is always enjoyed. Some of our current favorites are Ticket to Ride, Rivals for Catan, VivaJava Dice, Love Letter, and Carcassonne.

4. No, we live in a single-bedroom apartment, though we often use our kitchen island for games with boards and many components.

5. We use tall chairs or just stand to play at the island. Otherwise we play on the couch or the ground.

6. N/A

7. We display our collection in its own bookshelf next to the ones with actual books in them.

8. Not that I can recall.

9. N/A

10. Happy! It's all about the interaction with my friends and family. I hate games that are slow economic build-ups or have lots of convoluted rules because the focus then turns to figuring out the game itself, not the player interactions.

11. Someone's house, light music in the background, decent lighting.

12. I generally avoid food at the game table, but good music is always appreciated! We often put on a Pandora station with something like movie or videogame scores or relaxing classical music in the background; something that we can listen to but not get distracted by.

13. Plenty of open space, more of an oval shape than the typical rectangle, rails that can be removed or lowered at will, lots of legroom underneath, convertible into a dining table, felt top, room for 6-8 people comfortably. The quality of the wood is never a big concern for me.

Good luck on your endeavor!

Jarec
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Joined: 12/27/2013
Quote:1. Where do you most

Quote:
1. Where do you most often play board games? e.g. home with friends, local game store, etc. why do you like to play there?

Home with friends. We also had a space to use weekly to gather people to play (mostly wargaming related).

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2. How many people do you play with? Do you have a preferred number of people or game size you like to stick to?

Usually 4 to 8, sometimes divided to groups to handle games with more limited player count. Best situation would be to have games that'd support all the players.

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3. What are you favorite games to play? Are there any that you tend to avoid? Why?

I have my wargaming and boardgaming crews somewhat separated from each other. The wargaming crowd usually is down with board games, but I'd never bring wargames to the boardgaming crew, because of the density of the rules and player limits.
Otherwise it's all good. Sometimes bigger games will be the main course when planned, like Arkham Horror, and sometimes we're good with handful of quicker games.

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4. Do you have a committed space at home for playing board games?

No, but a friend has this dedicated workshop area which is easily converted into a gaming area.

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5. If so can you describe what this space entails (like what kind of table chairs or other tools to help play)

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6. If not what kind of changes do you have to make to your space to play comfortably?

Drag one long dining table there. 3 meters (10 feet) or so, if memory serves me right. It'll usually accommodate all of us.

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7. Do you like to display the games you own or do you keep them put away until you're ready to play them?

Only wargaming stuff is usually put to display. I'd consider framing a board if it is especially cool looking. (Like I have my Dread Fleet cloth hanging).

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8. Have you ever run into troubles setting up and playing a board comfortably? if so, what were the issues?

Some games (like Arkham Horror) take up so much space that it's horrible to get everything in order.

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9. How did you solve or deal with the issues?

Gaming aids. Some games just need them more than others.

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10. How does playing board games make you feel?

Good. Like anything you enjoy doing with friends.

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11. What is your ideal atmosphere when playing games?

I like to arrange the gaming meeting so that no one has no plans for the next day, so everyone can enjoy the evening as long to the morning as they want.

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12. How do things like music and food play a role in your gaming sessions?

We usually have beer, soft drinks or coffee on the table all the time, and some snacks stashed under the chair or something.

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13. What would an ideal gaming table look like/do for you?

I guess it would be this crazy transforming thing with minimum length of 4 feet to maximum of 8 (as is dictated by many wargames). Depth would be from minimum of something like 2,5 feet (for normal board games) up to 4 feet (again for wargaming). Some small shelves would be good for stashing away all the clutter that is sometimes happening on the table.

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