Hans' Thoughts: The Game Table

On Friday, May 4th at 1800 hours, a remarkable journey ended with the delivery of a custom-made maple game table. The spark that kindled my desire for such a extravagant geek-luxury ignited years ago in Indianapolis, IN. I was attending the 2008 Gen Con just months after buying our current home. We had planned an extensive one-year remodel and I knew that I one of the new rooms would be dedicated to gaming. In a stroke of karma, that convention happened to be the premier for a new furniture company based near Seattle, Washington: Geek Chic. They unveiled the "Sultan", an outrageously enormous game table that looked like a converted pool table.

Interesting: a custom designed game table for a custom game room. Too cool . . .

Years passed as I saved my money and watched as Geek Chic grew in popularity, adding table designs to their line that are considerably more reasonable than the "Sultan". In August 2011, I finally found enough nerve to sit down with the their designer at that year's game show and we worked out a plan for my "Emissary" table. It would replace my trusty, yet small wooden table that had been gracing the game room (aka dungeon):

In October, Geek Chic called and confirmed my order. We tweaked the design slightly to allow for plenty of room on the sides. This called for a somewhat narrow table, but it was very long. I paid my balance and the craftsmen in Washington got to work. The cut the shapes and pieces they would need from the maple:

Joined the pieces together to make the game top with game well:

Then the assembled pieces and accessories (drawers and cup holders) got several coats of clear finish to preserve the inherent beauty of the maple.

Finally, the pieces were assembled together for one final check before they were packaged up for the journey to Iowa. This whole construction process took 6 months. That is a long time, but the care and detail that goes into each piece is remarkable. One little example: there are pins with springs inset into the hardwood leaves that cover the game vault (the center depression where the game board goes). The slats, when pressed against each other, with bounce slightly to minimize any force onto the cover- like shock absorbers.

Then the table was loaded on the truck (along with a few other Midwestern deliveries, including two of the aforementioned Sultan tables!) and driven out to Iowa. The good people of Geek Chic came themselves to hand deliver the table. Here they are backing the truck into our yard and rolling the table into our basement:

The table was brought into the dungeon and unpacked. They explained the use of game vault with clear acrylic, drawers, clip on side desks, cupholders, and covering leaves.

Sophie and I couldn't wait to try it out! The first game to set up was Fortune and Glory (a pulp adventure race across the globe hunting down treasure and fighting Nazi's, a la Indiana Jones). Next, we set up the House family favorite game, Eurorails. The first big test comes in a couple days for our first Dungeons and Dragons game. It should be sweet!