Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[shwaleti]

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?

[sudgy]

17-year old male here.

1. At home with family or at parties wherever the host plays them.  These are the only times I really am able to play.

2. Depends on the game; I like playing with whatever I like best for the game.  This can range from 2-8 with some games I'm thinking of.

3. I like Dominion and Settlers of Catan as competitive games, I also like Curses as a party game.  I don't avoid much other than ones that are really boring (War).

4. No, but it's usually the dining room table.

5. A big table, a bunch of chairs, and something with napkins, salt, and pepper (which we obviously never use for board games).

6. Clear anything off of the table, wipe off any food junk

7. I like putting games away, but our game closet got full recently so a few games have been sitting out.

8. Yes, our tablecloth can be annoying.

9. Deal with it, rarely move to another table (that isn't as comfortable)

10. It depends on the game, who I'm playing with, whether I'm winning or losing or close (in competitive games).  Most of the time I'm happy, but when I'm losing in a competitive game it usually brings me down.

11. No distractions

12. No music, no food because that can ruin the pieces

13. A large enough area for either a big board and/or other things all players have access to (bank, Dominion supply, etc.), with compartments along the side for things belonging to players specifically.  While I'm not looking for a gaming table, if I was I would look for something cheap but still useful.

Hope this helps!

[Lekkit]

25-year old male.

1. Either at home, at a friend's place or at the FLGS.

2. Usually 1-5 players. Preferred players depends on the game.

3. I usually play deckbuilding games. Dominion, Ascension and Legendary, currently. I tend to avoid Munchkin and Settlers, since I can't really stand those games. And I don't get to play that many games that take forever, due to time constraints.

4. No. we have one table that's large enough for gaming. Unless it's a game that requires VERY little space.

5. A pretty large and expandable table. More often than not covered in playmats, since we mostly play card based board games, and I'm also a TCG player. And we like the feel of cards on playmats.

6. Not much. We usually remove the playmats when we need to use the table for something other than gaming.

7. We have our games where there's room for them. Which currently is in the closet.

8. We live in an appartment that's not too spacy. So when we're more than 3 players we have to move the table.

9. We all take one side, lift the table and move it.

10. I play board games because it's fun to compete. I don't play for the win, but rather the competition. And I also like the thinking aspects of games. So in a way, playing games makes me feel happy.

11. No distractions sounds great, so I think I'll go with that as well.

12. We sometimes have music that's not too crazy. Usually we don't eat while we play, but it can happen. Tea, coffee or other beverages are common.

13. Expandable, easy to move and a nice and soft gaming surface that can either be covered up or removed to turn the gaming table into a "regular" table.

[ipofanes]

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.

male, 49a

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?

at home with family, sometimes with friends

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

two to five

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

favourites: Through the Ages, Caverna, Monad, Dominion, Terra Mystica, Bao, Titan

avoid: The Mafia/Werewolf family

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

dining room table most often, sometimes the floor

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

Built-in 90° corner bench, kitchen chairs, table extendable

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

clear the table, like of kids' school debris, sometimes of dinner

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

Display (in a shelf)

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

Through the Ages (CGE edition) consumes a lot of space with four mats, could be optimised by separating the card row from the culture/strength/science counting tracks.

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

play in a cramped space

10. How does playing board games make you feel?

involved into the mechanics, yet still connected with other people

11. What is your ideal atmosphere when playing games?

no distractions, good drinks

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

very little music, absolutely no music during rule explanations, non-greasy food such as cut-up carrots or kohlrabi. Breaks for meals.

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

Felt surface, elevated rims, extra wooden overlay for converting them into dining tables (no fancy mechanics as there are enough people to wield wooden boards around). Possibly cup holders but no more drawers, bells or whistles.

[Awaclus]

19-year-old male here.

1. At home, at school or at a friend's home.

2. Depends on the game, although we usually choose what game to play depending on how many people there are playing. Usually 2-5, very rarely we have had up to 9 players in a game at school.

3. Dominion, Hanabi, The Great Dalmuti, Puerto Rico, Carcassonne, Magic: the Gathering, Bohnanza, Takenoko, Qin, Himalaya, Modern Art to name a few. Also sometimes RuneQuest. I avoid games that take ages to play and aren't fun, such as Monopoly.

4. No, we play them in the dining room or in the living room or in someone's room usually.

5. Varies from pretty much nothing in, for example, my room, to a table, chairs and lighting very suitable for board games in the dining room.

6. If there are too many Magic cards on the floor in my room, I might have to move them, but as long as there's enough room for the board and the people sitting around it, it's comfortable enough.

7. I have no preference. For games that we play often, it's more convenient to not put them away, but it's also nice to see all the games in one place when you're deciding on what to play.

8. I guess playing the 5-player Elder Dragon Highlander game in a bus without a table was pretty difficult. Issues included cards falling off of people's laps, having difficulties to see what cards other players have, etc.

9. Pick up the cards that fell off, (which was pretty difficult because there still were other cards in your lap that were supposed to not fall off) ask other players what cards they have.

10. Awesome.

11. It doesn't really matter for strategy games, but for role-playing games, it is important to create a fitting atmosphere.

12. For role-playing games, both are essential. For strategy games, they aren't important, as long as there isn't any food that makes your hands dirty if the game contains parts that are sensitive to that (such as cards).

13. Two tables, one of which is large (enough for Carcassonne+all expansions) and the other one is smaller and has two layers (so that when you're GMing an RPG, you can keep your computer on the top layer and your books/printed material on the lower layer while keeping the contents hidden from the players).

[soulnet]

30 years old (for now) male (for now)

1. At my home or family/friend's homes. I would go to a board game store or club, but there aren't that many in my city and those have limited and inconvenient times. Also, the games I like more are not the most popular.

2. Usually 2 with my wife or 4 with some extra family members or friends. I am confortable with any number between 2 and 6. Depending on the game, the ideal is different, but I would say 4 is a good number if you want to play several different games.

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

3. Dominion, 7 wonders, Puerto Rico, Citadels. I also play some party games or simpler games when I am in the mood for talking more than for playing. I try to stay away for games with too much AP or too long turns (Carcassone especially), Puerto Rico being and exception because it is so great.

4. No, we use our "main" table, that we also use for eating. We do have a different space for work.

5. Our table is about 1 meter x 1 meter, extendable to 2 meters x 1 meter. We have plenty of chairs to put around, and we usually remove the tablecloth we use for eating because cards and chips slide better on the wood. We use it extended only when playing with more than 4 or 5 people.

6. Well, we usually keep the chairs against the walls because there is only two of us at home in a daily basis, so we have to move the chair around. Also, we keep the table against a wall too, so when we are more than 3, we have to move it to use all the perimeter. And the extension thing I mentioned in 5.

7. Something in between. I have two compartments in a big piece of furniture with 3 shelves each exclusively for games (one of them have the games we like and use more). I usually try to keep them sorted in a way that they are all visible directly upon opening the door of the compartment.

8. Some games with big setups (Dominion and Puerto Rico, for instance) take long to set up / put away and can be a bit annoying to display properly.

9. We just take some extra sorting time to place things properly.

10. Great of course. Huge sample bias asking that question in this forum

11. Nerdy people for thinking games, friends and family for casual games. My friends and family are mostly nerdy, so I get to do both with the same kind of people, although I like to play with people that play more seriously when I have the chance (I usually don't).

12. I don't like music when playing or talking, it gets in the way. Food, I try to separate to avoid ruining game pieces. We usually eat in between games, and during games only snack or have some tea.

13. I like the green soft thing poker tables usually have (don't know the name in English). Customizable/interchangeable drawings for my favorite games (like placeholders for Dominion cards or built-in mats for 7 Wonders and Puerto Rico) would be awesome. It would also help make the set up a bit faster, especially for Puerto Rico that has several different mats and cards that are used only as mats (the ships). Being able to use it also as a dinner table would be important in my current space as well.

[theory]

We use the IKEA BJURSTA, which lets us contract/expand the table as necessary.  This, in my view, is the most important part of a good gaming table.  I have thought previously that little grooves in a table could be useful for holding knick-knacks, but would be concerned that it would detract from the table qua regular dining table.

[ipofanes]

13. I like the green soft thing poker tables usually have (don't know the name in English).

Felt (see my answer to Q13). Not that much different from Spanish or German.

[soulnet]

Felt (see my answer to Q13). Not that much different from Spanish or German.

In here we call it "paño" which is really different. Maybe in Spain they use other word? The only one I can think about is "felpa" and a quick google search on "felpa poker" does not seem to point in the direction of that being a common name.

[Archetype]

16 year old male

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/family. I have enough space to host game nights and love having people over.

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

I usually play with 4 or 5 people. For more serious games, that's about the right amount. But for larger party games, I'd like to have more.

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

I love The Resistance, 7 Wonders, Dominion, and Escape: The Curse of the Temple. Mostly light strategy games or fun social games. I don't like to play games where you have to wait long periods of time before it's your turn again/there's nothing to do when it's not your turn.

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

We normally play on our dining room table.

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

A long, wooden table with 6 chairs - 2 on either side and 1 on each of the ends.

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

Take off any stuff that's on the table.

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

If there's going to be a longer board game-filled weekend, we'll normally leave them on our table. Otherwise, we'll store them in my room.

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

Sort of. Sometimes there's a lot of non-game stuff on the table.

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

Just pushed it to the other end and play on only one half of the table.

10. How does playing board games make you feel?

Great! I can get competitive, so a loss can stick with for a while after the game has completed (especially if it was a more serious game).

11. What is your ideal atmosphere when playing games?

Sitting around the table with a bunch of good friends who actually want to sit down and play board games and not just mess around.

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

For short party games like Curses or Wits and Wagers, I usually put out something like pretzels or peanuts. I almost never allow drinks or messy snacks.

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

Something large enough to play the big box games and that has some sort of material that makes picking up cards from off of the table much easier.

[ipofanes]

Felt (see my answer to Q13). Not that much different from Spanish or German.

In here we call it "paño" which is really different. Maybe in Spain they use other word? The only one I can think about is "felpa" and a quick google search on "felpa poker" does not seem to point in the direction of that being a common name.

Oops, I relied on Google Translate for Spanish, which said "fieltro".

[Ratsia]

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!

I won't provide a set of full answers to your questions since I've recently notably changed my gaming habits, but I provide replies to a subset. Nevertheless, I wanted to point out that none of your questions explicitly consider the size of the games or the table -- to me this sounds like a rather critical dimension. I'll answer this issue in the last question.

36yo male.

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?

Primarily in dedicated (semi-)public spaces that host gaming clubs. The most common sites are a class room at a local library and a club room of a building complex (a smallish room open for tenants to book and do various things). Pubs and at (friends') home are close second.

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

These events typically have anything from 4-10 people, with 3-6 sitting around one game. The space rarely limits the size of the players, so it all boils down to the game itself. The biggest games are played at the homes of friends who happen to have the biggest tables.

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

Not really, but gaming has been taken into account when deciding what kind of a dining table to buy (though in the end it had no effect on the decision; see my reply to the last question). The living room (which is where we Finns keep our dining tables) is anyway rather optimal place for gaming, since it where everything else happens too; not everyone present needs to be playing but everyone can still interact with everyone else.

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

Sure. Typically the issue is running out of space when playing bigger games in non-dedicated places. Sometimes lighting is also an issue, especially when playing in pubs in the evening.

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

Either don't play the big game in a small space, or just suffer the limited space. For very big games (say, the largest 18XX variants like 18C2C) we always go to dedicated spaces with big enough tables, but occasionally still need to use an auxiliary table for holding some rarely used components.

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

Now this is where we get down to the business, and unfortunately my answers are probably bad news for a designer: What I describe as optimal is pretty much exactly a stereotypical Scandinavian dining table design.
- The table should be a rectangle; round tables simply do not work except for special cases (Crokinole and some other dexterity/balance games really call for a round one)
- It should be as plain as possible; a flat surface with absolutely nothing else, no seams, no wrinkles, no cushioning like the ones surrounding poker tables, no specific elements designed to help playing board games, etc. This holds also for the space beneath the table; no drawers or anything there, just four (preferably straight) legs close to the corners.
- It should be solid wood, definitely not having a soft surface like felt. Glass is also bad.
- It should be large enough, but not too wide. In practice something like 2x1 meters is close to optimal as it can fit 6 chairs either as three per side or as 2 per side and 2 in the ends, but for a big enough space perhaps something like 2.2x0.9 or 2.4x0.9 would be okay as well. One rarely needs anything bigger than that.

[DG]

1. Home with friends
2. Between 2 and 5
3. Most types, euro, ameritrash, finance, card game fillers
4. I do but my friends don't. I only do because the room would be unused otherwise.
5. Room basically needs enough space for a big table (kitchen table size) and chairs
6. None
7. Frequently played games are shelved (in view) with less played games stashed elsewhere
8. Problems only arise with the biggest games (Railroad Tycoon size).
9. Side tables can sort that out and provide places for drinks and food.
10. Manhattan makes me angry but the rest generally leave me happy
11. Warm?
12. No music. Non sticky biscuits. Hot drinks. Beer is left for special occasions.
13. Quite large (comfortably big enough for Powergrid). Rectangular. Flat surface (important if the table folds away). Clean. Easy to sit with legs under the table. Good height. Stable.