Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
The Need
If there’s one thing all boardgamers can agree on, it’s this: boardgames and their accoutrement take up a lot of room. Space is at a premium. And, if you’re like me and you live in tight quarters to begin with, the idea of ever owning a nice boardgame table such as the Bandpass Firefly Board Game Table is nothing more than fantasy. In my home, we have three surfaces on which we can game: the dining room table which measures roughly 40 inches in width and 80 inches in length, a folding 4′ x 4′ card table, or a folding 6′ x 4′ picnic table which takes up the entire living room once it’s been deployed. None of these are designed with modern boardgaming in mind. The largest of the three, the picnic table, struggles to contain large, sprawling megaliths such as Frosthaven or any Vital Lacerda game.
This is why I got excited when I saw the Relic Gaming Tabletop Table pop up in my social media feeds one day not too long ago. On paper, it seemed to be the answer to all my prayers, utilizing the airspace above the game table to relieve the pressure on the game table. But, how functional is it in practice? How much does it cost? And, is it worth the price tag? I was eager to find out.
Now that I own one, I’m glad I can answer those questions.
I’m going to break down my review into a few different sections, similar to how we approach other product reviews, like board game bags.
The Offering
Weighing in at a hefty 21 pounds, the Relic Gaming Tabletop Table is a testament to luxury. Crafted from sturdy walnut, it’s the kind of centerpiece that draws a crowd once it’s been set up. And that setup takes a matter of seconds. The table folds in half on two hinges to create a self-contained box that resembles a large cigar case. Nestled within this box are two compartments for the supports and a couple of rails that hold the optional add-ons in place. Once assembled, the supports mesh together into a cross beam which attaches to the underside of the table surface by means of some very powerful magnets. You can literally lift the table up into the air upside down by the supports like some kind of wooden Dairy Queen Blizzard!
Once assembled, the table’s surface is immovable, and its weight helps to keep it from sliding around on the surface on which it’s been placed. The optional add-ons (in my case, I was provided with two card holders and two bits trays) attach to the outer rail by means of magnets. These magnets, as I have discovered, are not as strong as the ones locking the supports into place, and it is not uncommon for a player to accidentally bump into one of the add-ons in just the right way so as to dislodge it.
Once disassembled, the Relic Gaming Tabletop Table folds up for easy storage in the bespoke case which is included with the product. The case has two straps for carrying: a wide circular shoulder strap that wraps along the bottom of the case and extends up either side of it and a smaller set of handles that are affixed at the tops of either side. On either side of the case are two zippered pouches which are suitable for holding very small card type games, rulebooks, and other such things. The entire case is covered in a textured wool-like fabric which my cats are absolutely obsessed with trying to sharpen their claws on.
Functionality
The Relic Gaming Tabletop Table serves its purpose well and it achieves exactly what it sets out to do: transforming a small cluttered gaming space into a much less confined space. However, this particular model is limited in what it can accommodate. If the game you’re playing has a main board that’s larger than a 23.5″ square, it’s not going to fit. And, you can pretty much forget using it for a game that features a rectangular game board unless you purchase an extender which adds an additional 20″ of length. However, I’m not sure an extender would fit into the carrying case.
That being said, compare this:
…to this:
…and you can clearly see the difference.
In the first photo, sans the Relic Gaming Tabletop Table, our game of Wingspan is a thing of pure chaos, just stacking cards into random locations wherever they’d fit. We had to keep the rulebooks on a different surface off to the side and any time one of us needed to look up anything, it would require us to have to get out of our seat to retrieve the correct rulebook with the entire process being performed in reverse once we were done looking up whatever it was we needed to look up. With the Relic Gaming Tabletop Table, everything is organized neatly, and we’re able to utilize the area beneath the table to store all the token trays and rulebooks. My wife and I also agree that, if you turn the Tabletop Table diagonally and arrange it in the center of our table, you could actually fit four players into a space that, up until now, could only feasibly accommodate two.
It’s also worth noting here that I was able to set up this table on top of a standard TV dinner tray, thus transforming a surface definitely not fit for gaming into one that could comfortably host a 4-player game of Ticket To Ride. I don’t know about you, but if I found myself sitting in a hospital bed faced with playing solitaire with a deck of cards on my dinner tray or breaking out my Relic Gaming Tabletop Table and enjoying a game of Catan with my family and friends, I know which one I’d choose. The fact that this product makes that decision a reality is pretty impressive.
The Pain Point
The Relic Gaming Tabletop Table is VERY impressive right up to the point where you look at the price tag. The Relic table I have now is going to cost you (at the time of this writing) $879. That’s a pretty steep price tag for something of this size, especially when there are full-sized board game tables out there you can purchase for just a few hundred dollars more. However, if you’ve got the very specific niche problem of having more games than you have space to play them on, then the price tag might be worth it to you. Speaking from my financial situation, I can guarantee you that, were this review copy not given to me, I would never own one of these tables.
Now, it is worth noting here that there is a Hexlite version of the Relic table available that costs a little under half as much as the Relic table does. But, even then, I’d hesitate to pull the trigger on it. While $430 is a sight less than $879, it’s still a lot, and I’d have to seriously question whether or not the solution to my problem was worth it or if I would be better off just suffering through it.
That being said, I recently spent several hundred dollars on a pair of orthopedic sneakers because my feet were killing me. And, as much as it hurt my wallet, the investment has been worth it. Sometimes, the solution is worth the price if the problem is big enough.
Need Satisfied?
All in all, I’m pretty happy with the Relic Gaming Tabletop Table. Before I saw it, I wasn’t even aware that I had a need for it. Now that I have it, I’m glad it’s here. I can’t overstate how amazing it is to be able to play a game without having the game components clutter up the game space. What the Tabletop Table folks have done here is nothing short of genius.
