The $8,500 Gaming Table You Want

Recently I stumbled upon The Sultan Gaming Table. With a price tag of over $8K, it would have to be awesome: but it has little compartments for the players and DM as well as a drop-down playing surface. If you find the pricetag daunting then you are a sane person, and might instead want to look at the Emissary which starts at a "mere" $1,500 and has many of the same features. Honestly I just love the idea of having my minis on a playing surface underneath the dinner table. I ought to be allowed to expense one of these. I also wish they had more pictures and fewer renderings on the site.

Comments

It's Just A Table

[Obyron]

Get some first hand experience with carpentry and build yourself one. It's not difficult. Borrow some tools from friends and family if you need to, or possibly neighbors. Tell your friend you have a sheet of MDF or something and that you need to make some cuts with a table saw, and would he mind if you came over and used it for 15 minutes. Treat it as an excuse to socialize. Borrow your father-in-law's miter saw and pay him back with a case of beer. You'll get a lot more than 8500 dollars worth of enjoyment out of the process, for a very small fraction of the price, and you'll still get your geek table. And you'll get a good story out of it. The thing may not turn out perfect. You might have a drawer that sticks or something, but big fucking deal. What's their target audience? Millionaire gamers? Good luck with that.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Pojut]

Indeed.

I'm doing the same thing with a desk. I've been thinking about getting a tricked-out Ikea Galant setup, but figured out I could build something similar for about 1/4th the cost. When possible, do it yourself...this applies to just about anything. Costs less, you can get EXACTLY what you want, and you get the satisfaction of a job well done.

Re:It's Just A Table

[pedestrian crossing]

Heck, at that price, you could buy all of the tools as well as materials. Really, projects are just excuses to buy tools, right?

Re:It's Just A Table

[Chelloveck]

Get some first hand experience with carpentry and build yourself one.

But.. But... That won't be Heirloom Quality!

What's their target audience? Millionaire gamers? Good luck with that.

Have you checked the prices of games lately? Won't be long until millionaires are the only people who can afford to game...

"I say, Chauncy, don't roll your solid gold d12 there! You'll scratch my Sultan Table and Wooster will be hours buffing it out."

Re:It's Just A Table

[oldspewey]

This may be true to some extent, but I can also report from my own direct first-hand experience that there have been times I've seen an item in the store for what I thought was an exorbitant price, and I decided to build it myself instead. And while I did get the "enjoyment" payoff you mention, after buying all the wood, fasteners, hinges, paint, etc. (not to mention a specialized tool if the project requires one) I sometimes found that I spent as much or more than the "exorbitant" item would have cost in the first place. There are certain economies of scale offered by bulk container ships and million-square-foot factories that a lone handyman working in his garage or basement can never match.

Having said that, the finished product I built by hand always turns out way cooler than any store-bought alternative.

Re:It's Just A Table

[geekoid]

Yes, building a table like that IS difficult, even for experienced carpenters. Did you even look at this thing?

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, building a table like that IS difficult, even for experienced carpenters. Did you even look at this thing?

I agree. It's incredibly difficult to build a real life table that looks like an artist drawing of said table.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Rogerborg]

Every morning you wake up breathing is an excuse to buy tools.

Re:It's Just A Table

[orsty3001]

America has lost it's craftsmanship. If it's not pre-ordered ready to build, it's not going to happen.

Re:It's Just A Table

[idontgno]

I don't intend to need even that excuse.

Hmm... where have I heard the phrase "zombie carpenter" before?

Re:It's Just A Table

[0100010001010011]

And MDF is NOT a hardwood.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Em Emalb]

Yup, sometimes doing it yourself can cost as much or more than just buying something. But, for a lot of us, the satisfaction garnered in doing it yourself outweighs the financial cost.

I personally love doing things myself. Especially when I complete a project I wasn't sure I was capable of handling when I started out.

Re:It's Just A Table

[eln]

Sure, I could build it, but I hate carpentry and I know from experience I would get no joy out of it. So, if I were the kind of person who was really obsessed with gaming and had $8500 to throw around (I'm not and I don't), I might buy this table. I would certainly not build it, because that would be a huge pain in the ass. Different people have different interests, and carpentry is not one of mine by any stretch of the imagination.

Obviously the market segment for this thing is limited, but the vast selection of furniture stores out there tells me there are plenty of people who would rather pay a premium for furniture to avoid having to build it themselves.

Re:It's Just A Table

[ShakaUVM]

>>Get some first hand experience with carpentry and build yourself one. It's not difficult.

The only B I got in middle school was in woodworking. I did win the award for "Best Citizenship in Woodworking", which was kind of like getting kicked in the nuts for the long drive out to the school awards ceremony.

I've been looking for a gaming table for a while now. If their prices were about half what they are now, I'd probably buy one.

Re:It's Just A Table

[idontgno]

But.. But... That won't be Heirloom Quality!

This is Slashdot. How many regulars do you anticipate ever having heirs? (Unless someone perfects budding or full-organism mitosis)

Re:It's Just A Table

[pnewhook]

Why not just buy a pool table? It certainly looks like one.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

at a similar price tag, you can get windows surface and a copy of http://www.rpgvirtualtabletop.com/

Re:It's Just A Table

[geekoid]

In furniture, Heirloom Quality has a pretty specific meaning. It would take years of carpentry expreience to make a tqable like that at that quality level.

They define what they mean:
http://www.geekchichq.com/Theory_Conjecture/Heirloom_Quality/Heirloom_Quality.html

Seriously, you sound like a non geek making fun of USB 3.

Games are not that expensive.

Savage Worlds: 10 bucks for the main book.
DnD 4e retail 34.00 The first Players Handbook in 1978 was 20 bucks. Calculate inflation into that
In 1995, Computer games where 30/40 bucks.
Ticket to ride, 40 bucks: The is the price of equivalent quality board games in the 1980s.

Gaming is not becoming more expensive If anything, it's cheaper.

Re:It's Just A Table

[hoggoth]

Amen.

Re:It's Just A Table

[harl]

How can you look at it? There are no pictures of it. Just concept renderings. Does it even exist?

Re:It's Just A Table

[iamhassi]

"Did you even look at this thing?

I agree. It's incredibly difficult to build a real life table that looks like an artist drawing of said table."

No, it's real, as you can see in the photos below, but I agree, it's very strange the website has no real photos of a $8,500 table.
http://www.wraithwerks.net/blog/GenCon%202008%20Photos/Sultan%20Gaming%20Table.jpg
http://www.purplepawn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/sultan-gaming-table.jpg
http://www.robotviking.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sultan01.jpg
http://www.saveordieradio.com/storage/photo-755372.jpg
http://images.forbes.com/media/blogs/images/digitaldownload/images/2008/08/15/sultan_2.jpg
http://www.robotviking.com/2009/07/08/geek-chic-the-absolute-greatest-gaming-table-ever/
My new Gaming Table: The Emissary from Geek Chic (Picture Heavy)

Re:It's Just A Table

[Lumpy]

And make it a LOT better. Using BOOKS for the DM? How drol. give them a laptop station or better yet a 21" monitor location for reading all the PDF files of every book needed. Plus using decent Virtual tabletop software and camera control for adding in long distance players. Yes this is getting more and more common having a player skype in.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Lumpy]

A buddy of mine plays with a set of polyhedral dice that cost him $3800.00 for the set. They are cut from meteorites. his D20 cost $450.00 on it's own.

Re:It's Just A Table

[jduhls]

You've got three days to get to him with your Milwaukee 6523-21 Super Sawzall 13 Amp Reciprocating Saw with Rotating Handle before he rises. After that, 2000 years of world domination!!!

Re:It's Just A Table

[Jurily]

you can get EXACTLY what you want

Or, if you're like me, you'll get EXACTLY what that table looked like the moment you got bored with the idea and went back to programming instead.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Mister Whirly]

When possible, do it yourself...this applies to just about anything.

Except surgery.

Re:It's Just A Table

[zach_the_lizard]

Hey, I'm a bacterium, you insensitive clod!

Re:It's Just A Table

[TheModelEskimo]

I know a family who would have no problem spending the money on a table like this. They play games all the time, and $8500 for an heirloom-quality piece is nothing to them. They spend about that much on computer hardware every year anyway.

I don't think the owners of this company -- like any other company -- really care that there is an enthusiast market out there that is more than willing to build its own gaming tables. They probably would never match this table, feature-for-feature, anyway.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Mister Whirly]

Gaming is not becoming more expensive If anything, it's cheaper.

They make the games affordable, but then where they get you is the furniture. Sneaky bastards.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Veldcath]

A quick Google Images search turns up...
http://www.sjgames.com/ill/img/2008/sultan.jpg

and just plain google turns up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgwg5779i0M

But yeah, their own website needs photos.

Re:It's Just A Table

[twidarkling]

You missed the first part:
When possible.

Surgery on yourself is rarely possible :p

Well, unless you're Rambo, then you just need a bullet, some matches, a knife, and some fishing line.

Re:It's Just A Table

[vlm]

Tell your friend you have a sheet of MDF or something and that you need to make some cuts with a table saw

The "real thing" is made out of hardwoods instead of particle board. Next time you visit Home Depot or whatever, check the price of some nice chunks of oak. Also realize hardwoods are more expensive/difficult to work with... Given a hammer to start it, large pieces of cheapass pine darn near allow self tapping screws, whereas oak is so tough you'll practically need a metalworking tap set to screw it together.

Leading to my anecdote of the day, last week I was trying to build some model-RR stuff using some Oak (long story why I selected oak). So, a dull made in China home depot drill bit gets hot, seizes in the hole, and twists clean off. It was a shear fracture in a drill press not a "I bent it using my handheld drill". Well OK use the next smallest drill, a 1/32 smaller for pilot holes. Install a cheap made in China home depot screw, its getting a bit tight in there, twist IT off in the hole. Not sure if I should be swearing at China, home depot, or myself, or all three! Thats what you have to look forward to, when working with hardwoods. Now, working in cheapass pine or particle board, you can practically install screws with a hammer, I've seen illegals do that with deck screws, as long as you're careful not to split the wood.

And you'll get a good story out of it.

"So, I rolled a 2d10 to see how many appendages I chopped off, with no saving throw"

A table saw is probably the most dangerous large wood power tool the average person can buy, with the exception of a radial arm saw (are those even sold anymore?). Although it depends how you want to look at it. A jointer table probably won't remove your entire arm and its probably impossible to hurt your leg unless you're really doin it wrong, but it'll take off fingers. On the other hand a table saw is extraordinarily effective at hand and finger amputation. Then theres stuff thats only dangerous when you do something blatantly stupid rather than just bad luck, like stand in the line of fire when running wood thru a planer that occasionally catches and throws the board, although supposedly "that never happens anymore" due to safety stuff. Yeah whatever.

Re:It's Just A Table

[TheRaven64]

Actually, surgery on yourself with a local anaesthetic is very much possible for a lot of parts of the body. It's a lot easier for things to go badly wrong than if you're doing it on someone else though, which is why it's not done very often. Possible and sensible are two very different things.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus was a carpenter. Jesus came back from the dead. 'nuf said.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

What you're outlining is likely to fall apart in a year or less. The reason this table costs $8500 is because it's hardwood, not MDF, it's filled to the brim with dovetails, mortise and tenons, and other fine woodworking techniques.

Yes, the proper tools and real hardwood would likely be cheaper than the $8500 price tag (if you go with a brand like Ryobi), but that's not including your time. On the other hand, woodworking is quite enjoyable and you will definitely learn a few things. Just don't expect anything of nearly the same quality as the finely crafted table in the summary. That level of joinery only comes with experience.

I'm sure the makers of this table are fully aware that most gamers can't afford it. They're not making it for most gamers though.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Chris Mattern]

Hmm... where have I heard the phrase "zombie carpenter" before?

Jesus is back, and he's here to eat your brains *and* swipe your power tools!

Re:It's Just A Table

[Mister Whirly]

Surgery on yourself is entirely possible, even to the untrained amateur. There is nothing stopping me (well, maybe common sense) from grabbing a knife and cutting into my body. Now successful surgery on yourself on the other hand...

Re:It's Just A Table

[Chris Mattern]

Surgery on yourself is rarely possible :p

Unless, of course, you're Black Jack.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Milwaukee saws have been less than dependable in my experience. I would recommend the Hitachi CR13VBY 12 Amp.

Re:It's Just A Table

[quadrox]

Don't want to sound too negative, but while the quality of the carpentry itself may be "heirloom quality", the actual table looks like shit.

Seriously... If I was to shell out that much money, it should at least look somewhat elegant.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Aranykai]

And he still rolls ones just like the rest of us.

Re:It's Just A Table

[tsalmark]

I'm not sure want spawn budding from my shoulder. Full-organism mitosis on the other hand has the side benefit of massive weight loss.

Re:It's Just A Table

[quadrox]

nevermind, the one shown in the robotviking link looks much better already (but still not good enough to fork out $8500).

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus, is that you?

Re:It's Just A Table

[cmiller173]

well... http://www.lasikathome.com/

Re:It's Just A Table

[CannonballHead]

Wooster? Don't you mean Jeeves?

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you think Jesus did after he rose again? Messiah's gotta eat.

Re:It's Just A Table

[delinear]

Ditto, and it doesn't look too practical as a gaming table either. 2" of clearance, so let's hope you're not using scenery or models that don't fit or you're immediately $8.5k down the drain, and the recessed play area means you're pretty much out of luck if you need to get down to have a model's eye view for LOS-based games. Add to that the fact that it looks entirely impractical for use as a table (unless it's purely decorative, in which case if you have the space to leave a huge table out just for decoration, you probably have space to leave your game set up anyway) and suddenly it's clear why there are so few pictures of people using this for either purpose on the site. Nice idea.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Thud457]

Damn you slashdot! Cut that crap out!
http://crystalcaste.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CC&Category_Code=XS
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/04/the_10_most_shameful_rpg_dice.php

Wouldn't meteorite, steel or iron be affected by magnetic fields? Or is it assumed anyone this obsessive is honest to a fault?

Re:It's Just A Table

[corbettw]

Behold, these are my brains, which are given up for you. Whosoever shall eat of them shall not die but shall live forever.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Moryath]

Or if you're like a lot of "jack of all trades, master of none" sorts, you'll get EXACTLY what you should expect of the first try from someone who really didn't, despite convincing themselves otherwise, know what the hell they were doing.

A lot more goes into many of these tables than you'd think. Personally, I have a 43"x93" table, that expands out all the way to 134" with both leaves in. The largest either the Sultan or Emissary come is 4'x6', or 48"x72", non-expandable. Since my dining/gaming room is narrower, 48" would actually be a bit tighter than I'd like, and the ability to go all the way to 132 inches is great for large gatherings (holidays, family, parties) where we have to bust out larger or "no upper player limit" games (card games like Apples to Apples, or team-ish games like Trivial Pursuit) or a smorgasbord of food.

Heck, mine is big enough to let loose a FULL Arkham Horror set with room for drinks and player cards still. 4'x6', forget it, you're out of luck.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Princeofcups]

Get some first hand experience with carpentry and build yourself one. It's not difficult.

Then please build me one. No, actually, I doubt if you've ever picked up a wood working tool in your life. Carpentry is a craft that it is not picked up overnight, not to mention the cost of the tools and wood. You need more than some "borrowed tools." Please go troll somewhere else.

Re:It's Just A Table

[the_fat_kid]

right, probably more like 1/3 of the cost.
In this industry the usual markup is materials times 3.
And your time is worth? Nothing?
I know that you have a CNC router in your garage.
The beam saw and edge bander are extras. You are just planning on making the one right?
That Ikea stuff is cheap.
Cheap mostly because they make a ton of it at one time.

I don't think you have any idea what you are talking about.

sorry to bristle but that is like me saying that IT departments are over priced.
I mean it's just computers. Heck, I can go to Best Buy and pick up some of those, cheap.

You are paying a Profesional to do something for you. Something that you know very little about.
Something unique.
It is going to be exspensive.

That said, I would not shell out $8500 for some thing that they can't show me.
Poor renderings from Sketchup or wherever just don't get my checkbook out.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Lumpy]

Ohh that gave me a great idea... I'm sticking some super magnets under his side of the table next time... This will be fun.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

"Borrow your father-in-law's miter saw and pay him back with a case of beer."

You must be Canadian :)

Re:It's Just A Table

[BobMcD]

In college I successfully performed oral surgery on my own mouth (gory story ahead):

I had a horrible wisdom tooth, growing in 'sideways'. It would surge 'up' occasionally, making my whole jaw swell and causing horrible pain. I got the notion that if the thing could hit air, it might just stop trying to come in...

I sterilized the tip of my Kansas City Board of Trade pen knife with my lighter, and went to work on it in the men's room. Five minutes later, I had successfully removed a flap of skin over that tooth.

It has never hurt since.

I tell this story and people are shocked, but I grew up on the farm. Sometimes the common sense solutions work, sometimes they don't. But my next stop would have been at a dentist (without either funds nor insurance), so I did my best to take care of it. In my case, it worked.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Or: spend your time gaming and enjoy the fruits of the labors of craftsmen who have worked hard to perfect their art.

Priorities.

Re:It's Just A Table

[H0p313ss]

This is Slashdot. How many regulars do you anticipate ever having heirs?

Pffft.... My heirs are on the verge of having heirs... and get off my lawn.

And yes that table makes me salivate... good thing I haven't played D&D since half of you were in diapers.

Re:It's Just A Table

[yeshuawatso]

Wow! That has got to be for the ultimate nerd. But then again, the ultimate nerd would just conjure up some CAD type system attached to an arduino board and a band saw and build the table him/herself.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Just ask Norm Abram to build you one.

"And remember: there is no more important safety rule than to wear these — safety glasses."

Re:It's Just A Table

[ShadowRangerRIT]

I appreciate that they actually define what they mean by "Heirloom Quality". It's not a throwaway bit of marketing trash; solid hardwood instead of the usual veneer over plywood, plus construction that can hold together dry fitted isn't cheap. My father bought a table meeting the same specs (though not a gaming table, just a nice dining table) and it ran a few thousand dollars (not sure on exact price). The construction tolerances for dry fitted integrity would be even tighter for a table with this many connected and mobile parts. The cost of the "desirable" hardwoods that they use in the Sultan is *way* higher than you'd expect. They're probably overcharging a bit, but even mass produced I doubt you'd see something like the Sultan for less than $5K.

Re:It's Just A Table

[hey!]

Even easier. Start with a pool table, strip out the bits you don't want, and trim the table with whatever geegaws you want. That appears to be what this company did.

The big advantage over building from scratch: the boring generic "table" part is already done for you, and you can concentrate on the gaming part. In fact, if you made a kind of arrangement that sat in the pockets of the pool table, you could remove the whole thing and still play pool if you wanted to.

This is pretty much what it means to be a geek. To the average person, the "constructed" part of his environment, the things he lives with, that is something fixed. He can buy new stuff or throw old stuff away. If you are geek, no thing's form has to be regarded as fixed.

Practically everything I own has been modified in some way. When I got my Kindle, my first thought was that the metal back was too slippery. I considered covering it with rubberized paint, but settled instead by putting a couple of strips of two inch velcro loop tape to it which makes it easier to hold. I applied velcro hook tape to the slip cover so the two pieces could be handled as one unit. I have a leatherette (vinyl) zip portfolio that I carry paper, writing implements and my kindle in, and I slapped velcro loop on the inside to give the kindle (inside its slipcover) crush space. Since I had velcro hook left over I slapped that on the outside and now I can stand the portfolio with it's spine up and it is a reading stand.

People see that and say, "isn't that clever." But it's not. Once you realize you can turn any surface you aren't otherwise using into a reading stand by slapping some velcro tape on it, it's obvious.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Thud457]

Damn, you got me excited there for a moment. I was hoping you were going to be the first guy to craft two kilo-gonal dice from plutonium and tickle the dragon's tail... hmmmm.... is that a 1 in a million roll for a save or a 1 in a million roll for criticality?!!!

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget grafting. I attached my spare arm to hardy maple stock, and I expect to have good news in the next few days.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Bigbutt]

The funny thing is that I see more people with Router injuries than table saw ones. Missing the end of a finger or two because they didn't use a piece of push or feather board and *zip* down an inch.

[John]

Re:It's Just A Table

[AndersOSU]

mmmm prions

Re:It's Just A Table

[AndersOSU]

I think "heirloom quality" furniture is impossible to mass produce. Wood is just too variable a material to get that kind of precision without fine tuning every piece by hand.

Re:It's Just A Table

[ShadowRangerRIT]

Depends on the definition of "mass produce". Remember, the original assembly lines were just people doing the same specific task over and over, then passing the completed piece to the next person to do the next step, over and over. It might not be possible to automate, but mass production is possible, just not worth it unless everyone and their mother wins the lottery and starts playing RPGs overnight.

Re:It's Just A Table

[ArhcAngel]

We need a mod for Interesting/Hilarious/Scary

Re:It's Just A Table

[harl]

That's nice but I shouldn't have to search for pictures of it. Additionally both sites are blocked from where I am currently. The company's page is not.

If a company can't be bothered to put up pictures of an $8500 dollar item it raises huge red flags. It's at best an unprepared/unprofessional/incapable company. At worst it's a scam.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Get some first hand experience with carpentry and build yourself one.

And if you insist on something looking roughly similar, here is the size info.

Re:It's Just A Table

[fm6]

Another "everybody's exactly like me" post. I took carpentry in Junior High, but I sucked at it, and have only a single (really ugly) bookcase to show for my training. Maybe you can throw together something like this without a lot of effort. I never could hope to attempt something like this, and I suspect most people are in the same category.

Don't get me wrong, I admire (and envy) people who are good with their hands. And even though my own experience was less than positive, I bemoan that fact that most kids don't get a chance to take shop anymore. But dude, people have different strengths and weaknesses.

And, not incidentally, $8K is not that much to pay for this kind of furniture, if it's well made. Whether it's worth it to an individual is a personal call. But if you're a really serious gamer (I'm certainly not) it strikes me as a decent investment.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Or maybe if you're Jack Black.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

America has lost it's craftsmanship.

Oh, quit whining. America hasn't "lost its craftsmanship." If you truly think that then maybe you need to get out more, make new friends or something.

Re:It's Just A Table

[ultranova]

I can't help noticing that the guy who's holding the eye surgery device he invented is wearing glasses. So I guess this is a either a clever troll or an incompetent scam.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard a story about a carpenter that came back from the dead once. It was a big deal 'bout 2000 years ago or so.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Prefader]

The materials are what help to pump up the cost.

I recently built a small box for locking up a bottle of wine and two envelopes and the binding for our guestbook out of birdseye maple as part of my wedding ceremony. The wood was quite expensive, and my el-cheapo table saw and router were just barely up to the task of working with it. I can only imagine what it would cost to buy enough walnut and maple to build this table . . . not to mention that your neighbor's ryobi table saw is gonna burn itself up trying to cut walnut.

Sure, you can build something like this . . but you're gonna pay out the nose to get set up with the same materials (and the tools to work with them). For what it is, this probably isn't all that bad of a price. They could probably do it a lot cheaper by building it out of MDF and veneer, but that wouldn't be "heirloom quality", would it?

Re:It's Just A Table

[Obyron]

I'm not sure I buy that. You can buy a jig at a reasonable price (50 bucks on sale) to cut dovetail joints. You can get hardwood boards if you want, and they cut the same (usually better, in my experience) than the cheap stuff. It's not like using dovetail joints and higher quality lumber is something no amateur would ever think of. Heirloom quality is still just marketing speak.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

When possible, do it yourself...this applies to just about anything.

When possible, certainly...

But I think many folks are guilty of thinking that unless it's one's own area of expertise, everything is really simple. I hear system administrators talking about programming that way. Programmers deride system administrators. Over the years I've learned that there are professionals and there are dilettantes. Almost without exception, a person off the street cannot do the job of a professional without some years of study.

For example, think of actors. Until I started working with film, I'd assumed that acting was the easiest part of the film production process. But to be a decent actor there's a host of learned skills that are necessary. It may start with learning the vernacular, learning direction for everything from how to hold one's head, where to look, where to stand, how fast, how to stand still or how to move. Everything has a command. On smaller productions, many actors have to know lighting and sound or how to hoist a mic.

As a part-time furniture maker (meaning I spend over 15 hours a month making stuff from wood), I can tell you that the professional furniture makers are artists and craftsmen and their products are not easily duplicated. Ever try to get 4 planks of wood to be dead level and glass smooth as a tabletop? Try aligning five table legs so that all are even.. Or cutting and assembling a nail-less set of non-square joinery for a pentagonal table.. Something as apparently simple as joining two pieces of wood together takes a lot more than Elmer's Glue or a couple screws. That's if you want to do it *right*.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

While I appreciate your enthusiasm, fine wood working is a craft that takes many years to develop.

I imagine most people reading this are more capable of something like this:

Homemade Poker Table

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually the first AD&D Player's Handbook was $12.00, as was the Monster Manual. The Dungeon Master's Guide was $15.00.

Gaming is not becoming more expensive If anything, it's cheaper.

True, it's just that our purchasing power hasn't really increased much since the 80's, once you factor out easily available credit.

Re:It's Just A Table

[interiot]

John 6:51-58 (KJV)

51 "I am the reanimated bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will 'live' forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" 53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the brain of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 "Whoever eats My brain and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will reanimate him up at the last day. 55 "For My brain is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 "He who eats My brain and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 "This is the bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will be a zombie forever."

Re:It's Just A Table

[Graff]

Have you ever tried making something this complex? It's not at all easy, the tolerances on a quality table are pretty tight and there are some complex cuts, measurements, and joins that need to be made. A professional carpenter can put a table like this together in a couple of weeks, it might take an amateur a couple or months or years. Not only that but an amateur will waste a lot of wood and probably end up with something that leans at a bit of an odd angle, is finished unevenly, and has to be re-glued and re-joined every few years.

I'm not saying that you NEED a professional to make a quality piece of furniture, just that a professional will be far more efficient at it and the final product is likely to be of much higher quality. This is one of the cases where, if you value your time properly, it might actually be less expensive to have a pro do it. Yes, if you are a hobbiest carpenter then your time building this is your leisure time so that doesn't matter as much. Just don't think you will save that much money by building it yourself. Put in some overtime at your job and buy the thing, you'll probably make out on the deal.

Re:It's Just A Table

[nuckfuts]

Good god - what utter conceit! You look at a large and intricate piece of hardwood furniture, with all kinds of drawers, sliding parts, and recesses, put together with numerous dovetail joints no less, and you think anyone with access to a table saw and a miter saw could build one.

The sheer arrogance of this assumption leads me to believe you've never built anything like this before. If you had, you'd know that even building a single drawer using dovetails is not a trivial endeavour. Add to that the challenge of making many drawers, selecting and mounting hardware that aligns them nicely and lets them slide in and out smoothly. And after you have it all built, there's the significant task of applying a nice finish to the wood.

There is a huge difference between knowing basic carpentry and knowing how to make hardwood furniture. You clearly have no grasp of how much time and skill a project like this requires. It involves hours and hours of planning, measuring, cutting, machining, fitting, gluing, clamping, sanding, and finishing. It requires a sizable workshop with an extensive array of tools, and the quality of the results is directly proportional to the quality of the tools you employ. Don't kid yourself that you could easily build such a thing.

Re:It's Just A Table

[SteeldrivingJon]

" What's their target audience? Millionaire gamers?"

Or people taking money out of their houses via home equity loans. Whoops! I guess they're getting to market a little late, the cash machines are closed.

Re:It's Just A Table

[damien_kane]

In my gaming group, almost all of us have laptops, and .PDF copies of the books we own.
We all (save one) prefer the books and character sheets on paper over PDF and digital character sheets.

Re:It's Just A Table

[AndersOSU]

Mass production requires a level of reproducibility of the operations.

The level of reproducibility when machining wood is less than the tolerances required to produce a piece of "heirloom quality" furniture.

Sure, you could have a production line that roughs out the parts for you, but it's going to take a skilled craftsman to assemble them. I wouldn't call that mass production, because at the end of the line you feed everything to one guy who modifies every piece in a different way every time before he puts it together.

It's similar to the difference between a normal production automobile engine and a Mercedes AMG/Italian supercar/F1/Nascar engine. You can mass produce an engine, but if you want everything to fit "just right" you have to get one engineer to assemble everything by hand making one-off modifications as needed- and you see a noticeable performance difference.

(IAAPE - I am a process engineer)

Re:It's Just A Table

[Chyeld]

First Picture on the page. Not that you were going to pay for one anyway.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Chyeld]

The geek in me says you simply need to have the right sensors checking the right stuff to be able to cherry pick the wood prior to cutting. You'd probably have a reject pile worse than the production lines for early 60 inch LCD panels, but in theory it should be possible.

Re:It's Just A Table

[IndustrialComplex]

Actually, surgery on yourself with a local anaesthetic is very much possible for a lot of parts of the body. It's a lot easier for things to go badly wrong than if you're doing it on someone else though, which is why it's not done very often. Possible and sensible are two very different things.

I was out and about once, and ended up with a chipped/partially shattered bone in my foot. It started to show signs of infection so I removed the bone chip and cleaned it up the best I could. Taking care to keep everything clean and the wound area sterilized and dressed regularly. The swelling and inflamation went down over the next two days and I was able to get out and have it treated by a regular doctor (with actual antibiotics). If it wasn't already getting infected, I probably would have left it alone, but it was becoming too painful to walk on and I wanted to give it a shot before it got too far and I couldn't walk.

Infection was the scariest part for me. I knew I could remove the bone fragments, but I wasn't sure how bad it would get infected if I couldn't get access to real antibiotics. I got lucky and the infection was minor and was going down when I got back, but I could certainly see it getting worse. There was just no walking on my foot until the shards came out though.

Re:It's Just A Table

[cmiller173]

I can't help noticing that the guy who's holding the eye surgery device he invented is wearing glasses. So I guess this is a either a clever troll or an incompetent scam.

Much like the saying "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" sometimes a joke is just a joke.

Re:It's Just A Table

[SpeedBump0619]

Yes, but he rolls ones FROM SPACE.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

And he still rolls ones just like the rest of us.

Maybe... For $3800 minimally I would want the dice weighted in my favor.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Darinbob]

Heirs? I'm not even sure I can find the 6 friends necessary to make full use of the table.

Re:It's Just A Table

[RIAAShill]

What's their target audience? Millionaire gamers? Good luck with that.

Dungeons & Dragons was first published in 1974. If the typical early adopter was between 14-24, then that means there is a segment of gamers who are between 50-60. Saving $6,000 a year at 7.5% interest, starting at the age of 25, earns you just a tad over one million by the time you hit age 60. Assuming that some segment of gamers fit the stereotype of being well-educated (and thus capable of and foresightful enough to save such sums), then it is highly likely that there are a fair number of millionaires who, at the very least, hold a nostaligic soft spot for role playing games. Furthermore, many people in this group may want to have a product like this, but do not want to invest their time to make it themselves. For instance, someone who has achieved earning potential of $200,000 / year might estimate that an hour saved is worth about $100. Considering the hours designing, buying stuff, building, fixing newbie mistakes, finishing, cleaning, etc., and then throwing in the cost of tools and materials too, buying a professionally-made product may be worth it to a fair number of people.

Re:It's Just A Table

[AndersOSU]

I'm not a carpenter, so I'm not 100% sure what the critical variables are, but at every joint you're dealing with a dovetail, a three dimensional feature, every inch or two. I imagine that for precise work, each dovetail has to be within a couple of hundredths (probably thousandths) of an inch of the corresponding feature on adjoining piece. Some of these joints are 6' long.

So yeah, if you're willing to accept a high enough scrap rate, if you have a rainforest to spare, and if blow your capital budget on sensors, sure, it's possible to automate it.

Or you can hire a master craftsman to make the pieces in your scrap pile fit together.

Re:It's Just A Table

[kramulous]

Over my dead body!

Re:It's Just A Table

[Obyron]

I guess I found their target audience. Or their marketing department.

Re:It's Just A Table

[LordVader717]

It's not just a few joints here and there. Anyone can pick up carpenters tools and make some reasonable cuts with a bit of practice. But all the different techniques and know-how that goes into all those little drawers and supports is indeed a lot of work.

You sound like you already have some experience making your own furniture, so you probably have some of the basics under your belt. But to someone who has close to no experience working with wood every step of the way will be challenge and deliver unsatisfactory results.

And that's assuming you have the plans to build it in the first place.

Re:It's Just A Table

[KDR_11k]

I don't know but those stepladders they carry are really annoying, fortunately a magnet shroom can pull them away and keeping a row of chompers behind your wallnuts will deal with the occasional intruder.

Re:It's Just A Table

[KDR_11k]

He takes great care to pre-roll the ones out of them.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Speak for yourself, burger jockey

Re:It's Just A Table

[stonewallred]

You got all the mods points you can stand. I would use solid cherry or oak honestly. If you know a person with a large table saw, they will probably have either a biscuit joiner or drill press. Make the hardwood into larger pieces and then plain them. It would be much better than MDF, and not too much more expensive.

Re:It's Just A Table

[stonewallred]

Very badly infected in-grown toenail, was doing hard time in a backwoods NC prison farm on 24 hour a day lock up for hitting a guard (long fucking story, chalk it to being 17 and strung out)and they were denying me medical care. Took a razor blade from a disposable razor I had hooked, and a pack of matches, made a toilet paper burner (cone of tightly would toilet paper, burns hot and slow with little smoke)tore the staple out of the matches, melted it into a toothbrush, used the razor after sterilizing it in the fire to cut the toenail out. I then started heating the staple until it got red hot, using a small piece of sheet wrapped around the base to keep it from getting too hot and falling out of the toothbrush. I used it repeatedly to cauterize and burn out the infected tissue. The things we will do when it is necessary doesn't surprise me anymore.

Re:It's Just A Table

[stonewallred]

Lol unless you buy a very good jig for that endeavor. Dove tails, and especially blind ones are hard without practice, jigs and a little skill. And you would not use dove tail joints to make the table top. You'd use biscuit joints or dowels, and glue. And then you need a good planer to smooth the surface and get them all the same thickness. I could probably make a table like that, layout wise and it would be nice, but nowhere near the grade of finish nor the perfection. And I have some small experience working with my hands with wood and power equipment.

Re:It's Just A Table

[stonewallred]

If he is not rubbing them across gary's signature left to right at least 20 times per dice, he is doing it wrong.

Re:It's Just A Table

[stonewallred]

Norm would make the table, make it better, and make it quicker. But of course Norm has a shop with a couple of million dollars worth of tools, and whole crew of master-level carpenters (although he is one himself, no doubt)and the magic of TV to knock the sucker out in three shows of 30 minutes each.

Re:It's Just A Table

[deniable]

Put simply: everything's easy until you have to do it yourself.

Re:It's Just A Table

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

No, games workshop is still fucking you in the ass for the cost of minis.

(They are pretty and Warhammer is still fun, but christ is it expensive. thank god i'm not paying the price in GBP.)

Re:It's Just A Table

[Theoboley]

sounds similar to what i did.

I was born with a small string of warts on my jawline. Adolescence came round, and they started getting bigger. I took matters into my own hands and started cutting the end off with a nail clipper. It'd grow back about a month or two later.

I used to pick at this thing constantly, so one night, after i had picked it to the point of raw and angryness, I hopped on the bathroom sink, and positioned the clipper. I positioned the clipper to where i thought the wart was, and clipped. Only i missed and tagged the skin in front of it about a centimeter away. And it bled and bled for about 15 minutes, finally got it to stop.

I finished cutting the wart off thereafter, and it hasnt been back since.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Chelloveck]

Please. Jeeves is such a trite name for a butler. Only those vulgar nouveau riche would have a butler named Jeeves.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Supurcell]

You've got a point. Being right handed, I could probably do some light surgery on my left hand, but would have a much harder time operating on the other hand.

Re:It's Just A Table

[Anonymous Coward]

Agree. Dr. Lucky - under $5. I have many other games, but that one has seen more play than all the others. It helps to have painted comical miniatures to move around too. :)

Stop with the Slashvertisement...

[blahplusplus]

... thank you.

Re:Stop with the Slashvertisement...

[Monkeedude1212]

ymbnh

Re:Stop with the Slashvertisement...

[AP31R0N]

Yeah, we don't want to know about things we can buy. Like computers and books and video games and and and....

Re:Stop with the Slashvertisement...

[Anonymous Coward]

But at least the poster has a place to rest his minis. Heh heh heh heh

Re:Stop with the Slashvertisement...

[Anonymous Coward]

How about you just ignore the post when you can clearly see that it is a "Slashvertisement"? Why come in here and annoy all of us with your endless bitching?

Make it cooler

[Tisha_AH]

What would really be cool is if the table surface was a touch LCD display that you could put digitized maps up on.

Re:Make it cooler

[oldspewey]

A touch-sensitive table-sized LCD gaming surface would be something I'd actually consider spending $8K on.

Re:Make it cooler

[dyingtolive]

For $8500, I would build one before I bought this one. With a cheap projector and some patience, I've priced DIY multitouch tables at less than $1000. If you could actually make a slick interface for the multitouch that did not look like a pain in the ass like all of the ones I've seen thus far, you could probably justify that kind of price.

Re:Make it cooler

[mikael_j]

My first thought when I read "$8500 gaming table" was something along the lines of a multitouch "table" that would've been perfect for RTS gaming and various non-gaming tasks. To say I was disappointed when I read the summary and realized that this was just a fairly expensive table would be an understatement.

Re:Make it cooler

[idontgno]

Here you go.

Although that's a Microsoft site which is richly laced with Silverlight dependencies, there's some usable content there even with good ol' XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Re:Make it cooler

[minsk]

Now make it 6x the size, triple the display resolution, add space for your knees, and a whole whack of custom software...

Except that would be a few hundred thousand dollars. Canned technology is not the solution for all problems.

Re:Make it cooler

[vlm]

With a cheap projector and some patience, I've priced DIY multitouch tables at less than $1000.

Forget the expensive multitouch, I think it would be fun just to have a monitor underneath to select your own custom background. Maps, some relevant object from the campaign, Pr0n, who knows. I've been planning on putting a cheap-o "big" TV underneath a glass coffee table for this purpose, once I have nothing better to do / nothing better to buy. Basically a horizontal version of a vertical digital picture frame.

Re:Make it cooler

[drinkypoo]

What would really be cool is if the table surface was a touch LCD display that you could put digitized maps up on.

Now that is what I was thinking it would take to make me want an $8500 gaming table. Something like this on top of a nice 1080p display (yeah, you can count pixels when you're up close, but it will do) with as little bezel as possible. I like some of these design elements, though, especially the lowered surface. Maybe when we get high-resolution holographic tanks I'll want to spend a lot of money on my tabletop gaming experience, but by then video games and tabletop games will have merged to an even greater extent, and likely have merged with mainstream entertainment more as well, and the whole conversation will just sound silly.

Re:Make it cooler

[corbettw]

For $8500, I want a table with compartments to keep the hooker(s) in. And it better come with some hookers already installed.

Re:Make it cooler

[FrostedWheat]

Are you planning to nuke the site from orbit?

Re:Make it cooler

[Syberz]

Indeed, then it might actually be worth the 8500$.

Re:Make it cooler

[ModernGeek]

For $8500, it should.

Re:Make it cooler

[mmalove]

I think they have something like this. There's also an imbedded app to simulate the die throw (you glide your finger to "roll" the d20): as rolling physical dice on an LCD screen would probably not end well.

The joke is, what you're talking about would probably be cheaper.

Re:Make it cooler

[dyingtolive]

In that case, you can do it for the cost of tv + 6x4 sheet of plexiglass + 4 table legs. The problem in my opinion isn't the hardware, its the "making the technical solution more time efficient" part that keeps me away from it. Any time I've tried to implement a technical aspect into a tabletop game, it's usually gone south. Something as simple as displaying maps probably wouldn't be too hard, so long as the software has solid fullscreen support with rotate, and ideally some sort of way to in realtime scale the picture. Right now, I'm having a wetdream about something like a fullscreen google maps, except with user supplied images and running on a local box. One minor setback: A 70" tv has dimensions of 6"x3.6", making it just under what I would consider "ideal" for a game table. That's not viewable dimensions, thats including the 3-4" border on every side. With this in mind, the current Sony 70" LCD is a little pricy at $32999.99. I think that, sadly, the underslung projector is the way to go.

Re:Make it cooler

[XnavxeMiyyep]

In fact, forget the table entirely!

Re:Make it cooler

[MaximvsG]

Touch LCD display would be awesome. You could play online MMO style. A war strategy game like Road to Moscow online would be really cool. Tons of other games as well, but similar theme. It would be a real-time war (terrain and armies) command center. Were that the case, I's shell out $8,500 form one.

Re:Make it cooler

[mark-t]

While what you're describing does have a wicked "geek factor" going for it, digital gaming tables require more in-advance planing on the part of the person who will be preparing it for a session, and are not very amenable to improvised scenarios. Nothing beets good old fashioned pen and paper, IMO.

Oh, and by the way... is this what you mean?

Re:Make it cooler

[Anonymous Coward]

Like this one?
http://gizmodo.com/5428620/way-more-dd-on-the-microsoft-surface

Re:Make it cooler

[mikael_j]

Except the Microsoft Surface is basically a lab prototype, I was hoping for a real product meant to actually be used in situations other than "Well, we have these three apps, two are useless but this one app actually has some uses and for only $gazillion you can have a MS Surface table in your company's offices...".

Insane

[vikingpower]

I maniacally voted against this story. This reeks too much of slashvertisement. Is this a slow news day, or what ?

The Sultan on PVP

[Mr_Blank]

The Sultan was recently featured in a PvP comic classic.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[ChinggisK]

That would be the Emissary, not the Sultan.

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[ArundelCastle]

The down side is that you have to rad the piece of shit comic.

Better radding that, than radding your comment.

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[Builder]

Dood - just back off.... He's rad, 'k ?

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[kaizokuace]

I always liked...cowabunga!

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[AllergicToMilk]

Your perfectly valid point being that CmdrTaco didn't "stumble upon" this table, but rather is probably failing to credit PVP with drawing his attention to it.

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[mr_gorkajuice]

Of course, we all know the (rightful) bashing that would happen if someone actually posted an article on /. reading:
"Oh, so this other day, while reading online webcomics, I heard about this sweet expensive gaming table! And guess what? It actually exists! See, here's a link to the company who sells it!"
Obviously, that would instantly make the poster even less popular than kdawson, for spamming an already degrading /. with complete and utter crap commercials.

Re:The Sultan on PVP

[mr_gorkajuice]

Why is parent modded funny? I'd think "Informative" is way more appropriate. I don't find it particularly amusing that the journalistic field work of /. editors is now reduced to reading web comics.

News?

[QuantumLeaper]

I saw that gaming table at GenCon Indy, two or more years ago, and every one thought the price was outrageous.

Re:News?

[Nadaka]

If the thing is made from the materials and quality of work that they claim? The price is not that unreasonable. A standard hand crafted cabinet or table made from those materials with old fashioned proper construction will cost thousands of dollars.

Re:News?

[Bigbutt]

Yea, I saw it last year at GenCon Indy and had read a few comments on rpg.net. It looks nice and all but it's really for the folks who are miniature gamers (which is basically what D&D 4E is; minis rules). I do use minis at times for positioning during the game but not throughout the session.

I made my own table for boardgaming, 6' x 6' which works very well. It holds Arkham Horror and all the expansions (so far). And for regular gaming, the three couches and two coffee tables work perfectly.

[John]

Re:News?

[ShadowRangerRIT]

Agreed. My dad bought a non-gaming table of similar quality (some absurdly expensive very dark colored hardwood, 100% dry fitted, no glue or screws involved). He was kind of sheepish at the splurge; all I could get out of him is that it cost well over a thousand, but less than ten thousand. The additional complexity of building the Sultan to be stable while dry fitted despite the large number of parts, several of which are intended to move would require even tighter tolerances and justify a fairly high price.

Re:News?

[ElectricTurtle]

I expect that these people buy their furniture from Ikea and wouldn't know quality if it backhanded them in the face. I've seen these first hand too, first at the Child's Play 2008 charity dinner and later at PAX. They are of a quality commensurate with the price, and if I played more tabletop I would buy one.

Re:News?

[SteeldrivingJon]

"If the thing is made from the materials and quality of work that they claim? The price is not that unreasonable."

Sure, if you ignore any cost/benefit analysis.

Re:News?

[Nadaka]

I have a table that my grandfather made from good wood and proper construction. It looks great with a dark and rich finish. It is 50 years old. It weighs so little I can lift it with a single finger. It can support at least 500 lbs.

You can get a table of similar size for a hundred bucks. It will never look as good. It will never support that weight. It will never be so light. It will break in 2 to 5 years even if you are gentle with it.

Decent furniture can outlast you. Good furniture will outlast your children. Great furniture will last so long that your descendants will be unsure exactly who first started handing it down.

Re:News?

[Supurcell]

You mean it's heirloom quality?

Why not mention where you saw it?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.pvponline.com/2010/03/17/4eplay/

As our way of thanking you for your positive....

[Shivetya]

As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable advertising.

Can we have a products section or one labeled as Slavertisements?

Honestly, unless the product is something reviewed on Anandtech or "trusted" computer site it always comes across as if the submitter works for the group in the story.

Cheap Pool Table = Better Value

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly, if a drop down playing surface is such a big deal, why not get a junior sized pool table to play on? In addition to being a cheaper solution for RPG gaming it doubles as...a pool table.

Cool but too expensive

[Herkum01]

While I am with the "must want one" crowd, the price tag is so outrageous I don't believe that many gamers would ever be able to afford one. Even if cheaper "Emissary" is $1500 for a 4 x 6 table, it is nothing bigger than a basic dinner table.

For price comparisons, look at a decent home pool table like the ones found here. Those are not cheap, they are pretty decent and of much better quality than the "Emissary".

I would love to have one of these tables, but until the price comes down, the slightly reasonable, I don't see these as pickups for the average gamer anytime soon.

Re:Cool but too expensive

[Lumpy]

Dude if you look a bit at Ikea you can build one for less than $300.00. Will it be heirloom quality? nope, but knowing the turds I game with neither will the $8900.00 one in 1 years time.

Bolt together some desks and shelf units to a table, add some tall barstool seats... Voila. go to home depot to get your "whiteboard plexi"

Honestly this is quite effortless, I can even make a felt covered insert board for MTG tournaments for less than $50.00

Re:Cool but too expensive

[Rockoon]

While I can easily afford the price tag, that thing just wont fit in my mothers basement.

Price tag

[mcgrew]

If you find the pricetag daunting then you are a sane person

If you don't find it daunting because you live in a fifty million dollar house and drive a hundred thousand dollar car, finding the price tag not daunting doesn't make you insane.

Hell, it hasn't been that long since a decent gaming PC cost that much. Now paying $5000 for a bottle of wine? That marks you as insane even if you're Bill Gates.

Re:Price tag

[geekoid]

Do you really not get it? seriously? People who pay 5000 Dollars for a bottle of wine are making one of two types of investments:

Long term. They will re-sell it in 10 years for 10,000

Business deal. They will be using it to toast a 100 million dollar deal.
It's like saying spending 5,000 dollars on a Rembrandt is insane because all you're going to do is hang it up in your living room and look at it.

Of course, if you are making millions of dollar in interest on your fortune every day, 5,000 dollars is nothing.

Re:Price tag

[mcgrew]

No, I'm saying buying a $5k bottle of wine to drink is insane, even toasting a business deal. Buying it to later sell at a profit is wise, drinking it is like burning that Rembrandt.

Re:Price tag

[radish]

Some things are enjoyed over an indefinite time (like a painting), some are one-time experiences (like drinking a bottle of wine). I understand some people preferring one to the other, but insanity doesn't come into it. Or are people buying concert tickets insane? Or people going on vacation? The actual cost is beside the point, it's just a value call based on how much the money means to you vs how much the experience means to you.

Re:Price tag

[chill]

Yeah, there is a whole category of people who have to be SEEN to be rich, or they aren't happy. Being rich isn't good enough. People have to see you spend absurd amounts of money on non-necessities and blow it off like it was no big deal. These people have a tendency to mention prices a lot, name drop and not-so-subtly brag.

For regular folks, the equivalent is an iPod. iPods aren't for people who like listening to music. They're for people who like to be SEEN listening to music. You see them constantly futzing around with play lists and songs in public. Hell, I've always just set the playlists on my PC, picked what I want to listen to and drop it in my pocket! But that defeats the purpose. I could have just some common MP3 player, and not be cool like the iPod crowd.

Supporting evidence -- the large aftermarket for white Apple or Apple-like earbuds. It makes people THINK you have an iPod in your jacket, so you must be cool.

Ditto Gucci purses, Manolo Blanik shoes, and...wait...did I just describe the entire fashion industry?

Re:Price tag

[mcgrew]

Or are people buying concert tickets insane?

At today's ticket prices, yes indeed. It's highway robbery.

Re:Price tag

[mcgrew]

Billy Joel said it well in "Movin' Out". That song is even more relevant now than it was when it was new.

Re:Price tag

[BobMcD]

No, I'm saying buying a $5k bottle of wine to drink is insane, even toasting a business deal. Buying it to later sell at a profit is wise, drinking it is like burning that Rembrandt.

I am beginning to understand your insanity.

In your world view, what does one do with wine, other than drink it? And how many pieces of art do you usually burn throughout a year?

Re:Price tag

[ShadowRangerRIT]

My father bought a dining table (not for gaming) of similar quality and cost recently. He lives in a townhouse that cost about $300K when he bought it ten years ago. He drives a used Prius (formerly my own, which I sold to him when I moved to New York City). He was moderately embarrassed by the splurge, but he could afford it, it makes him happy, and it will last at least a hundred years. I'd hardly count him among the insane.

One of the secrets of the wealthy of old was that, while they bought expensive things, they bought things that were built to last. Yeah, that stone mansion might cost a lot, but it could hold multiple generations of the family and require little to no maintenance. Hardwood tables built so well they don't need glue means their lifespan is nearly indefinite; a cheaper, plywood-under-veneer table held together with glue and screws may cost a lot less, but it also needs to be replaced a lot more.

Re:Price tag

[Anonymous Coward]

I could have just some common MP3 player, and not be cool like the iPod crowd.

Since iPods ARE the most common kind of MP3 player, you're not making any sense.

Re:Price tag

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound like someone with a major inferiority complex and/or a chip on their shoulder. If you think that everyone around you who has something on display is doing it to 'show-off', the problem is with you, not them.

Re:Price tag

[mcgrew]

Buying things that are built to last is wise, and was even moreso before our modern throw-away society. Especially anything real-estate related; it isn't often that real estate is a bad investment.

I don't remember what I paid for my oak dining room table, maybe five hundred bucks, but I've had it at least fifteen years. The leaf is now gone, as it warped from sitting on its end. But a gaming table isn't going to last a generation; it will be obsolete in no time.

Re:Price tag

[Chees0rz]

I used to think like you. I was insanely uncomfortable walking around in popular brand names because I did not want people thinking it was all for show (rather than because I liked the shirt, etc). I thought I was better than needing to be trendy. It was just my own insecurity and a reflection of how negatively I thought about other people (because of the chip on my shoulder)... Yes, some people notice brands, trends, etc, and it's okay to want to be trendy.

Now, if they hold it against you, or try to showboat, then they either aren't worth a damn due to their superiority complex or are insecure, themselves. Hey wait- sounds exactly the same as my old attitude.

Do what you want, and be confident and accepting... otherwise it doesn't matter which side of the fence you fall on- you're still a shallow, prick.

PvP

[Anonymous Coward]

I see CmdrTaco reads PvP.

Seen at GenCon

[DaRat]

I saw these at GenCon last year. They are really well made and designed in general though more geared towards RPG play than boardgame or mini play. Pricey, but they are meant to be furniture equal to your nice dining room furniture, not a 2x4 gaming table. The lower surface may require people to reach a bit much though, and I would have liked to have tried one in action.

The slat covers could cause a problem with spilled drinks leaking onto the surface below.

Re:Seen at GenCon

[dyingtolive]

Do you know how resistant the translucent inlays are? The table I'm using right now has a 6x4 melamine surface on it, which is resistant to everything from dry erase markers to Sharpie, however, it scratches REALLY easy. I'd hate to have shelled out this kind of cash, and then have a divot in part of it the first time a pewter mini gets dropped. I'd also be terrified of drinks around it getting spilled into the table and leaching their way into corners of the drop surface. The other nice thing about the melamine surface is that by design it's the most water resistant thing I've ever come across.

Re:Seen at GenCon

[Bigbutt]

Really? I saw it last year at GenCon as well and with the center hex or 1" square surface I figured it was perfect for Miniature gaming. Especially since you'd have to stand in order to play. Certainly not board games (well not exclusively anyway; you could play on the top but you'd still have to stand) and I know the groups I play with would rather sit on the couches I have in my game room than at the chair and table (which I created for board gaming).

[John]

Re:Seen at GenCon

[Anonymous Coward]

glass would seem to do most of those things pretty well

Re:Seen at GenCon

[HeckRuler]

This is my main worry about buying things like this. Worrying about actually using it.
I've seen too many people worship the nice things they bought to the point of keeping them under glass and never actually using them for their intended purpose. If you can't bring a drink to the table then that is in fact a negative aspect of that table.

So we just bought a house. It's rather nice. We've been in apartments and rented houses up till now. At one point I remember being really proud of, well, not having bought any of my furniture. Her parents moved so we got a bunch of junk from them, we got a TV and some Sofas from friends, and we had a few leftovers from college. The only thing we had paid money for ourselves was a little end-table to hold games we got from good-will. I guess I'm not the "need to be seen rich".

And now we have a rather nice house. We got some rather nice bedroom furniture, we need a new couch, and the wife is planning on a pool table and some furniture for the guest room. And we really do need a better office desk. We haven't hung up any pictures yet because we don't want to make any holes in the walls.
And it's all nice. It really is. But you know what? In all but a very few exceptions, I'd be fine with a mattress on the floor, a cable-spindle table, and an old sofa.

Re:Seen at GenCon

[mholda]

and I know the groups I play with would rather sit on the couches I have in my game room than at the chair and table (which I created for board gaming).

[John]

Maybe you shoulda created more than one chair.;)

Not Games

[celibate for life]

Seriously, I get enough spam in my e-mail account already.

Pool Table

[ironicsky]

Looks like a pool table, without the pockets... Something makes me think that this is a pool table, without the pockets.

For $8000 I'll buy a pool table, with pockets and get a lot more functionality out of it

Re:Pool Table

[Culture20]

You're talking about a straightrail table, or carambole table. I'd rather roll dice on a pocketless table, but to each his own. ;)

Re:Pool Table

[cormander]

You know you can cover the pocket holes, right? Pool table + something to cover holes = worry free dice roll game table.

Re:Pool Table

[AndrewNeo]

They usually make things to fill/block the pockets for certain game modes of pool, I think.

Re:Pool Table

[BobMcD]

This. I bought a nice, big piece of composite board to cover the entire pool table. Board on, gaming surface. Board off, pool table. I even kept the balls racked and pool cues underneath the board.

That is a horrible gaming table

[geekoid]

Look at it again, and this time imagine trying to sit up to it in a chair. You Chair can't go unmder the table, and you body would end up beng 2 feet from th table.

Uncomfortable.

Re:That is a horrible gaming table

[O('_')O_Bush]

From the website:
"Table Height

Standard table height is 29". We find this to be a good fit for most people. People taller than 6' may wish to add an inch or two.

However the height of the table can be any you wish from 12" (if you sit on the floor to eat) to 36" if you want to sit at barstools."

Re:That is a horrible gaming table

[SilverJets]

I think you are supposed to stand around it.

Re:That is a horrible gaming table

[O('_')O_Bush]

Oh, I see, you were referring to the Sultan.

The Emissary can host chairs.

Re:That is a horrible gaming table

[cmiller173]

Fold down "desks" for each player, you chair doesn't have to go under it.

Re:That is a horrible gaming table

[hoboroadie]

The Emissary should do better sales as most people like to sit when they play. I could imagine the Sultan useful in a Mall Gaming Store, perhaps.

Do Not Want

[Culture20]

You can't even sit around that thing. When we game, we don't even need a table unless we're going crazy with a big fight scene or a war. Biggest advancement for gaming that I might invest in? A $400 projector to show maps/media, and maybe I might make it a "surface" table by frosting some plexiglass. Tada, digital and china-marker with minis. At least the "cheaper" table looks like you can sit around it (but not with those drawers pulled out).

Re:Do Not Want

[basotl]

At that price I could cut out a normal table and place a 42" LCD in the center to use as a monitor for a table and still have money left over.
For my groups games we just use individual laptops and a virtual gaming table, it's a very flexible solution.

You are thinking about it wrong

[geekoid]

It's a nice piece of furniture. Nice furnitures costs a lot of money.
A high quality dining table will cost several thousand dollars.

Of course, this think is poorly designed in that you can't pull a chair up and sit at it, but to say it's too much for a table is really to generic of a term.

Nice meaning solid wood, well crafted, sturdy and will last someone a life time with some care. Not some Ikea POS.

Re:You are thinking about it wrong

[Lumpy]

No a high quality dining table wont cost several thousand unless you shop at a furniture store where they rob you. I had solid wood funiture made for me by a master woodworker locally for 1/2 the price of the utter crap they sell at most of the "furniture stores" and mine has real inlays, real wood, and real craftsmanship instead of the machine made MDF core veneered garbage they sell at the fine furniture Botique's

There will be NO SEX on the Emissary!

[Keyslapper]

For those of you not following the PvP webcomic, the Emissary was featured in the last week or so, starting here. This was my favorite story line yet.

But the game never ends

[Anonymous Coward]

when your whole world depends
on the turn of a friendly card.

In other words you have to be successful on other 'gaming tables' to afford this one

zerg rush week

[Thud457]

Has anyone done a projector multitouch system like that with a camera so that you could place an item on the table, the camera captures it and adds it to the virtual environment? Then you'd only need to painstakingly paint one of each of your unit classes, and easily marshal a army of hundreds, thousands, billllllllyeons! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Re:zerg rush week

[Anonymous Coward]

Congratulations, you just gave Games Workshop their model for digital distribution so in the future they can offer even less and probably charge even more. Lead -> "white (shite) metal" -> plastic -> 0's and 1's...

Re:zerg rush week

[dyingtolive]

You could probably go one better than that and put 2d barcodes on the bottom of your miniatures that classifies what each individual one is (probably a seperate one for grouping designation in the case of 40k and it's ilk) and engineer the multitouch camera to also read and interpret those codes. That way you don't need a separate camera...err... patent pending, of course. :P

Re:zerg rush week

[Guidii]

You could probably ... put 2d barcodes on the bottom of your miniatures

These are called fiducials, and there are many examples of their use.

Nothing New

[Frosty Piss]

Honestly, unless the product is something reviewed on Anandtech or "trusted" computer site it always comes across as if the submitter works for the group in the story.

That's not really different than a lot of the stories - You will find that 60 to 70 percent are submitted by people who work for PC / Info / Tech World or whoever. No real difference here.

No Picture?

[harl]

Where's the picture? They expect people to spend $8500 on spec?

For all we know this is conceptual only. Have they ever made a table?

Give us something other than renders please!

Re:No Picture?

[DragonTHC]

read TFA and see plenty of pics you klodhopper!

Re:No Picture?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.geekchichq.com/Co_Store/files/stacks_image_72_1.png

Sucks that they don't have a larger image, but yes they have made them (and brought them to GenCon a few times)

Re:No Picture?

[harl]

What FA are you talking about? The only links are to their web page which has no pictures.

ffs

[Anonymous Coward]

Slow news day much?

heirloom quality?

[SamuraiHoedown]

More like epic

Nice craftmanship... but

[thijsh]

Sorry, no dice!

For how long?

[JSBiff]

If you're playing a 2-4 hour (or longer) RPG or tactical/wargame session, do you *really* want to stand for 2 to 4 hours?

I guess it's a good way to make sure your gaming sessions end in a timely manner. . .

Re:For how long?

[BobMcD]

You'll want to go from sitting to standing, as needed.

E.g. bar stools near pool tables.

You can buy a lot of pinball games for $8500 or

[Anonymous Coward]

You can buy a lot of pinball games for $8500 or 2-3 new games.

. . . it would have to be Awesome. . .

[JSBiff]

I have in my hands, right now, a blank piece of printer paper. Now, this is no *ordinary* printer paper. It's *Awesome* printer paper. How awesome is it? Well, for only $8500, *it could be yours*! With a price tag of over $8k, it would have to be awesome.

Renderings

[esobofh]

"I also wish they had more pictures and fewer renderings on the site."

Renderings = No customers yet - no one has stepped up to actually buy one so they could take actual pictures of it.

Totally agree with everyone else on the site. Wood working is a fantastic hobby, involving precision planning, math, geometry and all sorts of things you won't account for on your first go. So start small, and build on your experience. In time, you will be able to build a fantastic "heirloom quality" piece you will be proud to say you made.

Re:Renderings

[Anonymous Coward]

They've got real versions, it's a shame they're not available on the internet site, since they really blow the drawings away.

Pool Table?

[Hamsterdan]

Kinda looks like a modified pool table

Okay, have had one of these in action.

[Chas]

Had one of these on loan from the GeekChic guys in our booth at GenCon last year.

VERY
NICE
GAME
TABLE

If I had space and the spare cash to front for one, I'd buy one.

I've seen people ragging about not being able to sit around one. This is what the fold-down desks are for.

I've seen people complaining that the drawers would get in the way. They don't. PERIOD. You don't leave them open during play. The drawers are for storage.

I've seen people ragging on the price. Look at the cost of nice hardwood furniture. And I said NICE. My mother's a friggin' oak fanatic. So I know how pricey this stuff gets.

Their prices are only outrageous when viewed in a vacuum. People are talking about being able to buy the materials and tools for less. Sure. If your labor is worthless and you have already figured out all the joinery and other neat tricks that they've incorporated into one of these tables.

Very likely though, you have not. As such, you're paying a skilled craftsman for labor.

Sure, you can buy a pool table or a folding table for a lot less. But the utility for gaming is also a lot less.

Re:Okay, have had one of these in action.

[vlm]

I've seen people ragging on the price. Look at the cost of nice hardwood furniture.

It seems to be aimed more for the "coastal mcmansion" market than "moms basement" market.

Re:Okay, have had one of these in action.

[infinite9]

I've seen people ragging on the price. Look at the cost of nice hardwood furniture. And I said NICE. My mother's a friggin' oak fanatic. So I know how pricey this stuff gets.

Their prices are only outrageous when viewed in a vacuum. People are talking about being able to buy the materials and tools for less. Sure. If your labor is worthless and you have already figured out all the joinery and other neat tricks that they've incorporated into one of these tables.

Very likely though, you have not. As such, you're paying a skilled craftsman for labor.

I'm a computer programmer and play a lot of RPGs. I'm also a woodworking fanatic. I've spent the last 10 years collecting power tools, and I don't mean hand drills and jigsaws. I have a complete woodworking shop in my 3-car garage. I had to put in a separate 100amp subpanel just for the shop. I have probably $30,000 in tools. I've made maybe half a dozen pieces of furniture so far. I would have made more, but my time is limited.

I could probably make a decent attempt at this table and do fairly well. I'm sure mine wouldn't be as good. It takes skill to do this stuff, even with good tools. And the tools can be expensive. The dovetails for example take years of practice to be able to make them look perfect when doing them by hand. I can make perfect dovetails, but I use a $500 jig and two $200 routers. Even the router bits can be $5 to $40 a piece. And the hardwoods their using aren't cheap either. Things like oak, walnut, cherry, and maple can go from $2 to $8 a board-foot (144 cubic inches of wood), more (possibly 10x more) for figured wood. Then there's the finish. Getting it right is hard and takes hours of surface preparation. I still suck at this.

I'm amused by people's attitudes toward good furniture. People walk through furniture stores and ooh and ahh over the furniture. We have antique furniture now because it was made right in the past. The stuff you see today, most of it will fall apart in a few years. When I walk through furniture stores now, all I see are the shortcuts, finishing mistakes, and how that piece will fail.

People think that because you can buy a piece of crap particle board or MDF table at walmart for $50, that this table is outrageously priced. What's really happened is that your incomes have dropped so low that the real quality that we used to be able to afford is now beyond reach. I can't afford $8000 for a table. But I can certainly make nice ones now that my grandchildren will have in their houses.

Re:Okay, have had one of these in action.

[Anonymous Coward]

The hilarious part is that you can buy incredibly awesome stuff at auctions and junk shops for a fraction of what you pay for newly made lead-encrusted melamine and chipboard assembled by slaves.

Seriously, I paid $300 for my tiger oak dining room table with six book-matched leaves that store under the top. It was worth more than that 78 years ago when it was made, and it's only gotten prettier with time. All five legs were turned from single pieces of highly figured oak that were probably 6" squares to start with - just the wood would run you at least $300 today (and you can't even get an all-wooden sliding and storage mechanism like that today).

Re:Okay, have had one of these in action.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's consider two people. One has a family, a house, and a car. The other has the same job but none of those things, and rents a two bedroom apartment.
Guy #2 has considerably more spending money than Guy #1. Guy #2 could even spend "car" money on the table and never really miss it.
The only quesiton would be if the bank would help him get a loan for a gaming table.

I think these guys should partner with someone like Games Workshop to display and sell their tables. GW has gaming tables in each of its zillion stores and at the least it would be great to demo the product.

Something better you can DIY and have tech.

[Lumpy]

http://tyrendes.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3B5F578C5068731F!266.entry?ppud=4&wa=wsignin1.0&sa=573220466

Good furniture costs money

[WarlockSquire]

For those complaining about the price tag: good quality furniture made from solid wood costs real money.
I spent over $1000 on black walnut (some highly figured) for a 7 drawer chest on chest I built last summer.
Probably spent close to 100 hours on it too.
Depending on the wood, $10, $20 or even $50 a board foot ( 1 square foot of wood, 1 inch thick) is not unusual.

That said, if it's cheap wood, or plywood with hardwood veneer, you should not be spending the same amount. (unless the veneer is exceedingly rare).

I wouldn't be surprised if there was well over $1000 of wood and hardware in it. (also wouldn't be surprise if it was crap).

The paradox of RPG's

[BobMcD]

I'm leaving the part of my life where I could be considered a young adult. So are just about all of my friends. In terms of Role Playing Games, I have two choices:

1) Move on, remembering them fondly
2) Become "that old guy"

Neither of these are too appealing, for obvious reasons.

In that context, the college student is never going to drop $8000 on a gaming table. They have trouble buying the books as it is, and avail themselves of 'free PDF' content - justified by their cost/expense needs.

The old guy just might. But would any of us, in our younger days, have gone to his house to play at it?

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[HeckRuler]

Well yeah, the old farts usually make the best DM and just fucking know the rules. You can't get them to pick up new additions, so it's less "hip" playing their campaigns, but it's a pleasurable experience and they keep things moving along.

That said, the creepy old guy at the gaming shop should be avoided, but he started out as a creepy young guy.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[BobMcD]

You can't get them to pick up new additions, so it's less "hip" playing their campaigns

Yep, this is my age kicking in... The 4e stuff, for example, is nothing more than an immoral cash-grab from where I sit. Not that 3e was perfect, by any means, but seriously - how many player books are there? Part 1 and Part 2 on first-run material? What the hell for?? (Ehem) Back in my day, we played D&D from ONE book, sometimes two. Today you couldn't hope to have a third of the 'options' with that few copies.

I've been looking at a WhiteWolf campaign online, and their products are the same way.

It just amazes me today, but looking back I probably would have loved it. Of course, back that far, mom paid for all that stuff - not me.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[HeckRuler]

I hear ya. My crew played with the holy trinity of 3.0 books: PHB, MM, and the DMG. Ok, the DM's guide was a waste of money and I was fooled into buying it. So we had a book of rules and a book of baddies.

But in this new town, the people playing 3.5 have small libraries full of obscure splat books with overpowered feats and prestige classes. Apparently "the book of the nine swords" is like a 3.75 book so this guy keeps using encounter powers. So you might have some rose-tinted glasses about the good 'ole days. Heard 2nd ed was similar. So I think you'd have to go all the way back to AD&D before you got away from feature creep and overpowered splat books.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[BobMcD]

"Splat books" reminds me of RIFTS. Dear lord, what a mess. Each book was not only 90% splat, but it exponentially modified the power level of the campaign.

Players loved that stuff though...

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[An ominous Cow art]

In terms of Role Playing Games, I have two choices:

1) Move on, remembering them fondly
2) Become "that old guy"

I play in 2 gaming groups. In one group, the ages are: 60ish, 60ish, 48, 43 (me), 43, early-30s, late-20s. The other group is 5 people all in the 40-44 range. I've been playing with these groups since 1984 and 1982 respectively.

I never had to choose either of your choices, but maybe I'm just lucky...

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[HornWumpus]

Back in my day we had 7 books:

Men and Magic.

Monsters and Treasure.

Underworld and Wilderness Adventures.

Greyhawk.

Blackmoor.

Eldrich Wizardry.

I can't remember the last one and can't be bothered to dig it out of storage.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[BobMcD]

Fortunate, yes, would be my assumption.

Thank them next time you're around the table. Maybe spring for the pizza or something.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[GuardianLurker]

Oh, you mean like the 1e Wilderness Guide, Unearthed Arcana, ....

1e Splat books were the reason 2e came into being.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[An ominous Cow art]

I closed on a house this morning, so I'm not springing for anything any time soon. :-)

  However, I am DMing in one of the groups at the moment, so maybe I'll let them find a +5 Pizza of Wounding or something along those lines...

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[HeckRuler]

I stand corrected! My friends, I fear the splat pox buries itself even deeper then previous predictions.

Re:The paradox of RPG's

[smellotron]

I just ordered the 2E "Players Options: Combat and Tactics" book, out of curiosity. Turns out much of the first few chapters in there was turned into core rules for 3.0! In contrast, the older saving-throw tables were replaced by a much simpler mechanic (though not necessarily better or more fun). So yes, one generation's splat becomes another's core, and older mechanics fall by the wayside. It's the ciiircle of liiiiife!

You could do far more for $8500

[Moraelin]

You know, I'm thinking one could do far more than just a table for $8500. I mean, ffs, get a plexiglas sheet with a matte side (or a white matte foil), a PC and a projector under the table, and you have exactly the setup with which they created the LCARS consoles in ST:TNG. Heck, get a graphics card with 4 outputs (e.g., from Matrox) and 4 projectors, and with a bit of tinkering so that the projected areas exactly touch each other, you can have quadruple resolution and cover a pretty wide table.

Now I'm not saying actually build a Star Trek console (although now I'm tempted to make just that:)) but the principle of the matter. What you have at the end of it is a large horizontal display on which you can project anything you wish, including maps, tables, enemies, whatever. Heck, add a couple of buttons for each player, and you can even have it rolling dice for you or whatever else.

And at any rate, at the end of the day, for that money or less you'll have not just a fancy table with drawers but a high-tech gizmo that's truly worthy of an alpha-nerd.

(Caveat: unlike in most packs in the animal kingdom where the alpha gets first mating rights, the alpha-nerd is the last to mate, if ever;))

Re:You could do far more for $8500

[mugurel]

You know, I'm thinking one could do far more than just a table for $8500. I mean, ffs, get a plexiglas sheet with a matte side (or a white matte foil), a PC and a projector under the table

Right! Actually, for a few more bucks (9700 euro) you get this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyH_RX5Jl0 for musical nerds :-)

Seen these at past two GenCons...

[Anonymous Coward]

...and they are really, really nice looking. My buddy who is a gamer and carpenter by trade was very impressed with craftsmanship.

With that being said...price points are pretty high...but...if you were building a new home and had a room that this could double as the normal piece of furniture for the room, I could see it.

I could also see these in maybe a nice gaming store. Buy it, put in in your store, then raffle it off at a later date...wash rinse repeat.

Show-room on the road...

[_Hiro_]

The company regularly shows in the vendor's room at Origins in June. The tables seem to be of a quality worthy of the price tag, but I agree that it's too steep for most.

The Gaming Table You *REALLY* Want

[Zerak-Tul]

SurfaceScapes http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/surfacescapes/index.html http://vimeo.com/8211657 Then again, it uses Microsoft Surface, and considering the crowd...

NEWSFLASH: Not all gamers live in moms' basement!

[Chas]

Seriously. Not all gamers are pimply teen-to-twentysomethings with a McJob living in their mom's basement.
We're starting to see second and even third generation gamers with lots of disposable income.
If someone who's affluent and wants a nice playing surface that doubles as book/paraphernalia storage, why should they settle for a pool table or a plastic folding table?
Yes, if you're still a pimply 20-something, whose job consists of "Would you like fries with that?", this is probably isn't an economical buy for you.
That's besides the point. This is a luxury item. Nobody ever said it had to be cheap enough for "the masses".
Additionally, stretch the cost of the table out over a decade or more. For a single decade, this table would come down to a cost of about $20 a week. Some people spend more than that on coffee. The way these things are built, it'll last a lot longer than that.

It's Just A very, very niceTable

[TiggertheMad]

While I agree with your DIY mentality, I have seen these tables in person. They are very well done, and you would need a shop full of tools and many years of carpentry experience to produce a product of equal quality. Also, supposing you had the tools, the experience and the space to work on such a project, this would take a considerable amount of time to build.

It's not a gaming table "I want"

[flibuste]

The gaming table I want has a touch surface on it so my stacks of 15 infantry, 2 squad leaders and 5 armor don't fall off when I try to move them while playing Squad Leader since everything will be drawn on the surface. Plus my opponent won't wipe the whole board trying to show me there is no LOS between my stack and his punny 3-stories building where his units cowardly hide waiting to shoot at me during "defensive fire phase". Yet, the table frame in the FA is great :D

Build You Own - Plans Included

[Plekto]

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=747
Here is one I found online for $15. Follow the plans and a few hundred dollars worth of materials and tools(less of course if you own a router and a table saw)

http://www.ultimategamingtable.org/instructions.html
This one is $11. I like the slide out tray concept a bit more than drawers, personally.

This sort of thing isn't hard to build, really. I do suggest using real wood, though, as MDF is very heavy and not nearly as easy to screw and bolt together for the first-time project builder.

Seriously Obsolete...

[Anonymous Coward]

at least, once Wizards and other companies drop their ridiculous policy of not selling E-books. I haven't need a gaming table for years - you can roll dice, build characters / encounters, and run combat / noncombat sessions all using a pretty basic laptop.

Sure, you could spend $8500 on a nice gaming table.. or just spend less than an 8th of that on a decent laptop that you can use for things non-nerd related.

They're swamped with orders

[gigertron]

It really doesnt matter if you bitch about these tables - they're booked solid for at -least- 6 months, if not a year. I bought a dice tower from them, went to their workshop to pick it up. They can't even update their website because everytime they do, they get swamped with -more- advance orders that they may not be able to fill for a year. Their target market is the 90k+ crowd. If you're not a member, don't bother complaining.

A Hundred Thousand Dollar Car...

[Anonymous Coward]

and drive a hundred thousand dollar car

... whooptie doo, in Europe 100K USD buys you a BMW 3 series.

FFS, MOD PARENT UP

[Anonymous Coward]

well said

Re:As our way of thanking you for your positive...

[potat0man]

There's this great feature called judgment. You read the headline, maybe scan the summary, and in about 2 and half seconds you can tell what type of post it is. Then, instead of following links and making a whiny post, you scroll down and read the next post.

Re:As our way of thanking you for your positive...

[Anonymous Coward]

Please. Don't be such a baby.

Depth of perception.

[nuckfuts]

My comments were not specific to the $8500 gaming table. They were mainly directed at your shallowness of understanding. I consider it unfortunate when people barely skim the surface of a topic and yet believe they are well informed. Perhaps this is an effect of modern society, where our perception of the world is increasingly influenced by 60 second news clips rather than the in-depth reporting of old-fashioned print media.

For example, when you hear a headline about the latest Earthquake or some retaliatory strike in the Middle East, do you ever stop and try to imagine the reality behind it? Can you picture what it would be like to have a rocket hit your neighbour's house? Can you picture what happens on the ground when your troops are deployed in a foreign land? It's important to be aware that the world is complex. Don't glance at the surface and mistake that for understanding.

oh my god, what losers

[Anonymous Coward]

anyone still playing D&D or any other game that actually has as an optional piece of furniture a purpose built table in this day and age should really be neutered

death to all 30+ year olds living at home in mums basement playing D&D with other ridiculous atari shirt wearing beardies

the CIA/FBI shouldnt be hunting Osama, they should be ridding the world of basement trolls

now grow up you losers

im off to design a special my little pony ranch table

fuck me...retards

I am by no means a carpenter

[Anonymous Coward]

But I've thought many times about turning my 32" Samsung LCD into a gaming table by building a table with an inset where the LCD can lay down on its back. This frame will have a hole in the bottom of it so I can run the video feed from a computer into the LCD from a laptop. The top of the table will have a pane of reinforced glass, or plexiglas to put your miniatures on top of it.

Bam, instant DnD map, or scenario scenery during an intermission, or a slide show to show the grandparents the pictures from the latest vacation while we have dinner.

Bad Design?

[MBraynard]

It has a runner going along the perimter of the legs. This means you can't slide a chair partially under the table as you can at most tables and you will end up hunched over the table.