by Mrs. Saint
Last year (2021), Brad and I knew early on, with our super mobile toddler and her utter refusal to wear masks for most of the year, that we probably were going to forgo a family vacation for the year. We also were reaching a point with our board gaming hobby where getting longer games to the table was getting harder and harder because our toddler was going to bed later and had also mastered the skill of pulling herself up into the chairs around the table we were using at the time. Knowing we weren’t going to be traveling, we decided to invest some money in what we would be doing for our fun activities during the pandemic -playing board games! With that in mind, we decided to buy a board game table. We both did some research online and read some reviews and landed on BoardGameTables.Com (BGT for the rest of this article) as our vendor of choice for our new table.
The first thing that impressed me was BGT’s website. It sets the stage for an easy and pleasant user experience of creating your custom table. We decided we liked how the table we were using fit so we went with a rectangle table that was the same dimensions. Dimensions can be hard to plan out, depending on what you’re looking for and the space you’re working with, so one of the things I liked the most about the table customization tool was that you could pick some popular board games and see a digital rendering of how the game would fit on the table style and dimensions you picked. Since Brad and I are huge Eldritch Horror fans and a lot of our games are similar in size, the Arkham Horror 2e with three expansions was the perfect reference tool, showing us that we should stick with the size we selected.
The process was easy and the pricing felt very transparent while customizing the table. If you’re going through the tool, you can see in the left side menu as you change the options that the price is increasing based on what options you have selected. For example, we liked the standard four leg table, but if we had selected the Pedestal or Trestle version we would have had to pay more. The same goes with any addons you decide to get like the topper, stoppers, cup holders, drawers, etc.
I’m not going to go into detail on all the addons and accessories. You can check out their custom table builder and see the wide range of options available –here. We really like the drawers on each side (me especially because I always have a pen and know where I put my phone). The sliding cup holders are pretty awesome too because of the flexibility the hidden rails provides for positioning.
There is one addon I want to spend a few moments talking about – the table topper. The table topper was an important feature to the board game table for us; after all, we needed it to hide our games from our curious two year old, lest we find the game a little bit everywhere instead of on the table where we left it. Our table topper is a beautiful three piece topper and we love it. However, we realize we made a mistake (one that BGT even warned us of) in ordering the three piece topper instead of four. The middle third piece for the size of our table is huge and I personally cannot lift it. Brad is able to take it off himself but even he needs help when putting it back on so that he doesn’t damage it. If you’re reading this and you’re considering ordering a custom table with a topper, make sure you listen to the table designer when they say that the three piece option “is really heavy.” We will probably, when it’s financially viable to do so, coordinate with BGT to have a new table topper made so that we can more easily take the topper on and off because the inability for me to remove the topper has limited one feature I was hoping the table would add to our gaming life: the ability for me to set up big games while our toddler naps and Brad is working during the week.
I liked that they split the payments into three for the table which made it easier to swallow and budget for. We ordered in the Spring and had our table by the beginning of September, which was also clearly communicated to us at the time of ordering. We also received regular updates while waiting for our table on the status of our order, which was a refreshing customer service experience. We were also very surprised and warmed as customers, when the samples of wood and our table fabric came, BGT also sent us a hand written thank you card and gift.
Our table did come with some slight damage with a crack in the topper. BGT and I both believe it was probably due to the delivery service putting something on top of the table (despite very large print from BGT to not put anything on it). The table comes in pieces but was very easy for Brad and I to assemble. The hardest part of assembly was carrying it into the house.
Probably the only sour pill in the whole experience was after such amazing communication and customer service (their team member Katy is just a rockstar), we had been told when we reported the damage that they would send a repair kit but then everything went radio silent. We spent a month trying to get confirmation of the kit being on the way, not even impatient to get it, just confirmation it was still happening. We recognize this was during GenCon and some other shows, surely a busy time for BGT. But the lack of response to emails and attempts at communication for several weeks was frustrating. However, when we finally did get in touch with them, they did send the kit and it did fix the issue, so all’s well that ends well (I think that’s the saying) and we are planning on working with them again in the future so the pill was not so sour that we would discourage anyone from ordering a table from BGT. In fact, if you missed the link above, here’s a second one for you to visit BGT and check out all their offerings – https://www.boardgametables.com/
All in all, I would say that the gaming table was worth the investment we made. We have been able to set up huge, long campaign games like Sleeping Gods and then put the topper on and play quick, single night games like Lost Ruins of Arnak when we wanted a break from the campaign or more honestly, were too tired to lift the topper off. Also, the table is a work of art and craftsmanship, and I love how our games look on it. I hope if you’re considering a custom table, this article helped to give you some insight into our personal experience with ordering one from BoardGameTables.com.
Saint Gaming 