We Bought a New Dining Table…For Games!

In a break from pretty much everything I’ve ever written on here, I’m going to talk about something that’s traditionally a bit more grown-up – household furniture! Nothing more exciting than that is there?

Our dining room table is something that has been in our house for as long as I can remember. As a kid, my family and I would eat together around it every night, and I can distinctly remember everyone had their own place they would always sit. Thirty years later and my family was still sitting around that table. But rather than it being myself, my parents, and my sister, it’s now myself, my wife, and our two kids. Same house, same table. As you might imagine, after more than 30 years it wasn’t in the best state. Falling apart would put it mildly, so we decided to get a new one at the start of last year.

My wife, in her infinite wisdom, suggested we get a dedicated gaming table for the dining room! I’d seem these sort of things on various YouTube shows and thought they looked pretty great, so I jumped at the suggestion and started looking around online. The idea was a table that had a recessed gaming area underneath the tabletop, allowing us to have dinner at the table, but with a game ready to play lurking beneath.

Getting it to this stage was by far the most difficult part.

After a week or so of searches for something we could afford, I’d managed to find two options, and went with Rathskellers in Greece. The quality looked great and there were so many options to personalise our table that it seemed like a good choice. The lead time was about nine months, so we expected it before the end of 2018, which would be ideal for Christmas. We paid our deposit, and spoke to the company about what we wanted from it (stained oak and a wine coloured gaming surface) and settled back to eating at our gradually disintegrating table.

Well, nine months came and went (and what a nine months it was, as we conceived and had our second child in that time!) and still no table. It was, in fact, fifteen months before it finally arrived! But arrive it did, and we’re pretty damn happy with it.

The red fabric is the gaming area, but there’s a plastic top to use to ensure it’s protected when not in use.

The 160kg crate was delivered by DHL and had to be left outside as it was just too awkward and heavy to get in the house, so after I got home from work and we put the kids to bed, we set about unscrewing and unpacking. There were only really four components to it – the table, the legs, the insert (for inside the table), and the leaves (to go on top). We had to ask a neighbour to help us get the table itself in as it was absurdly heavy, but once in we managed to put it together. The legs bolted on fairly easily once we worked out the best way to do it and still turn the table over the right way. The inserts slotted straight in and leaves did much the same. There’s a small catch that helps lift the leaves up for when you want to play something, plus a set of Bluetooth speakers built into the base for added musical ambiance should it be needed.

Whilst it’s taken a long time to get here, we’re very happy with the quality of the table. The first game that was played on it was Sonic the Hedgehog Crash Course (which I’ll be reviewing for Big Boss Battle soon) but I’m sure we’ll be getting started on something a bit more meaty soon!

The finished product. It looks like a pretty good table!

Is this the sort of furniture you’d want to have? What games should I play on it? Dark Souls The Board Game will end up on there before long if I have anything to say about it!