Review of The Old Inn - Tabletop Board Game Mat

Blurb from the publisher: 'Get ready to level up your board game sessions with PWork Wargames' The Old Inn play mat. Each mat has a neoprene surface for super grip, and a fabric one for the highest versatility and fun.

The 4' x 4' (122 x 122 cm) size ensures that the mat is large enough to accommodate many players without difficulty.'

What you get: Your EUR 54,90 or equivalent will buy you The Old Inn - Tabletop Board Game Mat, a 4' x 4' (122 x 122 cm) mat made of neoprene rubber. The mat depicts a used wooden table of a dark colour. There are plenty of blacks and red-like browns. The lines of the wood are visible, as are the some purposeful flaws in the grain.

The mat is of mouse pad quality, with a thickness of just under 2 mm. Its corners are squared, not rounded. The mat is sold without a transport bag, even though one can also be purchased by PWork Wargames directly.

The strong points: Why damage your expensive wooden table when you can use a mat that creates a similar effect? The idea behind The Old Inn mat is solid, and solves many practical issues: it almost eliminates the noise of rolling dice, it allows you to be more carefree with your consumables (now you only have to worry about the game being destroyed, not the table as well), and overall creates a richly themed atmosphere.

Admittedly, it does not add anything mechanics-wise to any game. Yet, it changes the atmosphere. Role-playing games become more convivial and thematic, and in particular those where old, elegant tables can be found. This includes any game that evolves around the tavern paradigm like WFRP or Old-School Essentials, as well as games like Call of Cthulhu. If you can afford to alter the way you light your space every time you use this mat, do it. The results can be spectacular. Boardgames on the other hand get an edgier aspect. With such colours on the table the whole affair feels more distinguished, more formal, as if you are in a high-stakes competition. You might have been trying to win before, yet this desire to perform comes out even more strongly when playing on what appears to be solid wood.

The mat serves all the functions that one would expect. Things stay where you put them. Your minis, boards, terrain, papers and what have you remain visible throughout the games. Visibility issues are extremely unlikely, even though I cannot statistically eliminate the possibility of the random weirdly coloured token or die getting partially covered in the background, especially if the observer is plagued by any form of colour-blindness. The mat is rather dark, mind you; keep on reading.

Even though your roll the mat for storage, the mat doesn't lose its flatness when placed on the table. It is flexible, and makes me believe that it will neither become flakey nor start breaking up after repeated use.

The weak points: The rather obvious warning first: if you only find useful the mats that are directly linked to the game you play (be it because they hold useful information or they are the background in which a battle takes place), this mat is not for you. One would only use this mat for theme, not for game-specific content.

There is a certain mystery surrounding darkness, yet the whole mat came out as substantially darker and blurry than it wanted to. Some of the details are lost just because the shades are too dark, and that is rather counterintuitive. I am exaggerating, but the first visual impression I got is that there is as much black on this mat as there is wood. I liked the choice of the wood's colour with its almost red undertones, yet it needed to be cleaner. It literally lacks luster, as if a layer of veneer is missing. No matter the product's title, I am not at all certain that this is what the design truly aimed for.

This mat only comes out on 122 x 122 cm. That is a curious publishing choice, to say the least. The mat is simply not suitable for most rectangular dinner tables, seeing how they are usually less wide than 100 cm, let alone 122. Were I the publisher, I would have first published this in 91 x 91 cm and 182 x 91 cm. In fact, it is never too late, and I hope to see the mat out in additional sizes. The more options there are, the more likely it is for the design to find a loving home.

I don't have a stake in the square corners vs rounded corners debate. I find the rounded ones classier, yet I would never base a buy on that factor alone. The mat's edges are once again unrefined, just like they were in other mats from the same publisher. They look rough, used almost, even though they are brand new. This actively detracts from the refined feeling that the design tries to project.

Just because the mat is waterproof and can take some punishment doesn't mean that you need to actively mistreat it. You would not want to start eating on this, let it become a nesting area for your pets, or expose it to high temperatures. The more you respect your accessories, the longer they are likely to live.

The storage bag that accompanied the mat could have been better. Its vertical handle gave way and practically ripped itself of its seams while I was trying to pull the item out of its shipping box. In effect, this happened not once, but twice with transport bags from the present publisher. This might be a freak occurrence. On the other hand, it makes one weary not only about the accompanying item (the bag) but about the main item he purchased. In the end, will it stand the test of time?

Conclusion: The Old Inn is a great idea of a design and can add a lot to your gaming experience, irrespective of whether you play boardgames or relevantly themed RPGs. If only it was less dark and allowed its intricate details to shine through.

To find out more about The Old Inn - Tabletop Board Game Mat and PWork Wargames overall check out https://www.pworkwargames.com.

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