Let’s address the giant elephant shaped animeeple in the room… Board games as a hobby can be somewhat a costly hobby at times. All those awesome shiny new games, classics from back catalogues to catch up, and conventions with trial games that get you sooo excited you can’t help but waft that little piece of plastic in your pocket. What is undeniable though is the joy our hobby brings, hours of fun with family and friends, and great collections that we can look at and hold, admiring the amazing work our favourite designers and artists bring to our tables.
Speaking of tables!
As collections grow, and the hobby enthusiast inside you craves to enhance your favourite pastime, it is not uncommon to get yourself a set up that’s primed for either those rainy days in, or game nights with your buddies.
At the heart of any good game night is the table you play on. The central piece of furniture that becomes the focus point of your entertainment and social interaction. Most will use their dining table, this works well, you eat, clean up, and lay out your favourite games. But sometimes, the hobbyist wants a table that reflects their favourite pastime.
Anyone who has looked a specialist gaming tables knows one thing… THEY DO NOT COME CHEAP! Gaming tables are an investment, with some of the biggest brands climbing as high as five figures. This creates a barrier that for most is insurmountable.
That said…
Enter Tinkerbot Tables
Let’s be clear, gaming tables will need to come a long way before your favourite high street catalogue retailer has a flat packed option that makes gaming tables as common as any other household furniture, but where price is concerned, Tinkerbot Tables really do offer a budget (comparatively to a lot of the other major well known producers) option, without sacrificing quality.
Tinkerbot Tables offer you a personal, small, independent producer experience, where you feel as the customer, what you want matters. There are no hard selling practices here! In fact, quite the opposite. Their goal is to help you make a table that meets your needs, that you will feel proud to have in your home, but is not adorned with fancy extras you are not going to use.
Based in the UK, Tinkerbot Tables offer hand-crafted tables made with sustainably sourced materials, conscious of wastage and supporting eco-conscious practices. This means you can be assured your table is not only a nice addition but also built by people who care.
From start to finish, the team at Tinkerbot make you feel like what you want (not what they want to sell you) is what matters. Yes, like any good designers, they can recommend and advise, but you never get the sense they are advising beyond what you need, and even when contemplating the extras (more on them shortly) – they check whether you really need them or if they are something you might want to consider later down the line.
The table dining surface (essentially slats of wood laid over to cover the vault), is included as standard, unlike competitors who often charge for these. You can even choose the surface inside the vault, we went with neoprene, in green.
Extras
Gaming tables are often sold adorned with glorious extras. Cup holders, card holders, tablet holders’ etcetera etcetera. However, these are extras and should be treated as such. Tinkerbot make sure no extra’s are hard sold to you, but they do offer a range of extras you might want to invest in. First things first, LED lights… not ever something you need to have, but a funky extra. A lot of companies will offer this, but Tinkerbot include them as standard. That’s right… no extra cost. Another extra at no extra, is the integrated card rail. This again is a feature they offer at no extra cost, so you already feel like you’re getting more bang for your bucks on what is essentially an entry level price comparatively.
Other extras you might want to buy include, cup holders, gaming screens, card holders, token trays, tablet holders and table dividers. They even offer and engraving service if you want that extra little personal touch. Again, at a price that feels more accessible…
You pay for what you get… and what you get is premium
The adage of “You get what you pay for”, often implies if you pay for budget, you get budget. This is not true of Tinkerbot Tables. In fact, quite the opposite. Compared to competitors, you are paying a budget price (comparatively), but what you get is a premium service coupled with a premium feeling product. The tables are well made, feel hand crafted and personal. There is no compromise on quality here. But let’s be fair here, these tables are quality hand made products with quality materials – not MDF. So, we still have to be clear that this is still a product you will want to think about before buying… a table will still probably cost around £1000 and you still will need to consider delivery charges also. But if a gaming table is something you really want, and you are willing to save to invest in one, or forego something else like a holiday one year to afford one, you won’t go wrong. Tinkerbot prove you do not need to spend extortionate amounts of money on a table to still feel like you have something special and quality made.
About the Author:
We are Peaches and Meeples, busy professionals who love to chill out to fun table top games. We love board games, card games, miniatures games, competitive or co-operative. Put some dice in our hands and we are in our happy place.
We are also proud guinea pig parents to two lovely fluffballs of joy.
