Petition Appears For IKEA To Make Affordable Gaming Tables
August 16, 2017 by dracs
A petition has started on Change.org to persuade IKEA to start producing a range of affordable tabletop gaming tables.
IKEA are well known for creating affordable furniture and the idea of getting cheap, readily available gaming tables is one that does definitely appeal.
IKEA is an industry leader in creating multi-functional furniture at affordable prices. The tabletop gaming community is already a heavy user of IKEA's KALLAX product as it is an efficient way to store and display their gaming collections. An affordable multi-function gaming table designed by IKEA would be an incredible addition to not only IKEA's line up of products, but the board gaming community's list of essential gaming accessories.
Custom gaming tables are already provided by a number of companies, such as BoardGameTables.com.
IKEA, with its wide ranging availability, could possibly open up such products to those who might not otherwise have been able to access them.
While this petition would have no actual binding effect should it succeed, it could at the very least show there is a market for such products and, as board games head more into the mainstream, it would be very cool to see the hobby supported by big businesses in such a way.
Winter Comes To IKEA
IKEA have also been making a bit of a splash in the geek community lately, as it was revealed that the fur cloaks on Game of Thrones are in fact made from their rugs, dyed and shaped.
In response to this, IKEA have published brief instructions on how to turn their rugs into cloaks on their Facebook.
It's fun to see them taking this in a spirit of good humour.
Simple hacks like this are great for LARP players and other costume makers as it helps you to come up with cheap, effective costume pieces for your characters.
Will you sign this petition? Do you plan to turn your rug into a cloak? Or visce versa?
"It would be very cool to see the hobby supported by big businesses in such a way."
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I don’t think any company would make these just because of a petition. I see 20,000 have signed which would probably lead to 10 sales. If it was 20,000 presles then a company might think about if. Affordability and IKEA are not words I would associate with each other
I disagree, I kea is listening their customers and if they will produce table like that it would be big step on furniture market.
all my furniture are from ikea Because they Afordable and good design.
Dear Ikea. I can’t afford to pay for a gaming table so could you make some other people pay for it for me? It doesn’t need to be off the backs of slaves if you can’t find them anymore, but i should think you can find some ‘low cost workers’ somewhere. Obliviously yours, the First World.
I can’t help but go *meh* whenever someone starts an on-line petition to get a company to do something. You can’t claim that gamers are a large group with disposable income and at the same time request for something ‘affordable’. It does suck that there is nothing between the high end custom furniture and the DIY variants. However I’d argue that there simply aren’t enough people that would buy the product. Heck, most probably are more than happy with a regular table and a good storage solution from a certain Swedish furniture company. Why ? Because not everyone plays boardgames… Read more »
I would think another issue is that different gamers want different things from their gaming table. I would like a nice big gaming table, but i don’t want this type of gaming table.
Yeah, change the world, start a petition on change.nothing
Done and done!
I’ve seen this being shared around Facebook and it’s just nonsense. 20,000 signatures? How many of them will actually buy a table? I think you should have to put a deposit down to sign that petition, then Ikea might pay attention
I have to ask another question though, is a board gaming table not just, you know, a table?
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The table shown above, the one with the elevated border around the edges, seems like an absolute crap gaming table. I need an evenly FLAT surface to have room for everything. There are gazillions of cheap tables that are perfect for gaming so this is a non issue.
You would think so, yet if you look at the prices for “dedicated gaming tables” there does seem to be a difference :’)
I don’t get the hostility; I’d love the option of buying a cheap 6×4 or 4×4 table (my kitchen table is only 3 ft wide) that could be easily stored.
All the better if Ikea do it; my house is full of their stuff. The wife loves it and is generally of good quality (other stuff of a similar price seems to fall apart when bought from elsewhere).
It’s not so much hostility as bemusement. Out of those 20,000 signatures, how many people will actually buy one? We don’t know, IKEA don’t know so therefore the petition is meaningless. Now, if by signing the petition you had to put down a £100 deposit that went to Ikea in the event that they said yes, that would be very different. It also wouldn’t have 20000 signatures.
There’s things that petitions are good for, there’s things that they’re not good for. Getting Ikea to make a gaming table falls into the latter category.
I’m sure Ikea are savy enough to know if there is a market or not; I doubt they’d start putting gaming tables into production on the basis of a petition. But maybe the solution (as someone else has said) is for games systems to stop asking you to have a 6×4 space (I honestly thought GW were thinking of going down to a 4×4 system due to the new mats). I played a game of Infinity on my kitchen table; it seemed to scale fine with it only being 4 (in length), 3 in width (watching some games, it does… Read more »
It’s the 4′ wide that’s the biggest problem, not the 8′ or 6′ length. Most dining room tables will accommodate a 6′ long surface but fall well short of 4′ in width.
However the petition is for a board games table, not a wargames table, so it would be designed more for playing board games and presumably com with gadgets and gimmicks that make playing board games more convenient
I would love a table like that.
The widest table IKEA make is little more than 3 ft – so a good solid, affordable 6′ x 4′ table seems to be a sensible offering – I’ve a feeling with people preferring space saving, and dining room tables being a bit of luxury these days esp. in the relatively low price market that IKEA operate (compared with trad furniture specialists) – designed with style for folk that need to kit out homes with smaller spaces – all their “big” tables aim at length over width – get more folk round the table as opposed to having space in… Read more »
Would it help to propose a crazy Ikea name? I offer Nrdtåbl.
An online petition of 20k or so probably won’t do much but get whoever makes these decisions at IKEA to take a look at Essen and see the vast market of board gamers and you might have something.
As busy as Essen is, it doesn’t indicate a vast market for boardgame tables. The entire attendance at Essen represents a tiny, virtually insignificant fraction of a market. Let’s say there’s 50,000 people attend, chances are most of them won’t buy a dedicated gaming table. So a minority of a small audience isn’t an incentive to build one. However what might be useful is for Ikea to use events like Essen and UKGE to conduct market research asking potential customers whether it’s something they would consider buying, how much they would pay, what features it might need in order to… Read more »
there is one more thing too to work for Ikea for long time you need a some special people that follow their values. those values fits in gaming and a lots of LONG TERM Ikea staff play games. you have dedicated D&D ikea grups guys. so yes I think is possible.
Given the multi use of my play area, I’d just appreciate a 6×4 that could be folded away. It’d be better than the two ugly 6×2 fold up tables I’ve got tucked into a corner.
Only took me 10 seconds to sign the petition. As you guys says, the petition might not change anything, but I´m willing to give it a go.
The solution to the problem is easier than you think. Check out Gaddis Gaming TableTopper™ on @Kickstarter http://kck.st/2wnVva1
this is something you add on trable and need storage I was thinkink more about propper table that you could fold and extend and add on things.