DIY Game Table

Do you have an old coffee table at home that needs some new life breathed into it? Do you like to play games while you chat with friends and family? Then this solution is for you! Update that old coffee table into a pretty gaming table with some stones and a few different paint colours!

  1. Sand down the coffee table (or whatever you have decided to use). Wipe all the dust off.
  2. Paint the table. In this example, the tabletop was painted black and the edging was painted an off-white and distressed, but you can paint your base colour whatever your heart desires. Allow the paint to dry.
  3. Paint the gameboards. My example has both a checkerboard and a tic-tac-toe board, for which I have included the directions below. You can customize yours to accommodate your favourite games.
    For the checkerboard:
    Leaving at least an inch around all sides, draw out a square with pencil or chalk. For my
    example, I made my square 16″ on each side to make the math easier. (Don’t paint these
    purple lines – I have only included them to show the length and width)

Measure the square and divide it by 8. This will be the size of each playing square
(example: my square is 16″ so each square will be 2 inches by 2 inches). Mark this
measurement on every side and connect the opposites. I made mine purple so it is
easier for you to see. You would do this step in the same pencil or chalk as step one.

Using a small paintbrush, paint in every other square, making sure that you offset
each row to achieve the checkerboard pattern. Traditional checkerboards have the
bottom left corner for each player white and colour alternates from there. Again, I
have used purple on my diagram to make it easier to see. Yours will be a thin pencil
or chalk line which you can either paint over or erase.

For the tic-tac-toe board:
Measure out the space you want for the board, again making sure to leave at least
an inch around all sides. I made my board 15″ on all sides. Lightly mark out your
square in pencil or chalk. Be careful not to go too dark, as this square will not be
painted! (Don’t paint the purple lines. I have only included them to show the length
and width. Same with the light gray. That is here just to show you what your pencil
line will look like.)

Measure the square and divide it by 3. This will be the size of each playing square
(example: my square is 15″ so each square will be 5 inches by 5 inches). Mark this
measurement on every side and connect the opposites. Carefully paint over your lines.
You can use painters tape if you want a really crisp edge, but I find if I go slowly, it’s
still pretty good. And little errors are part of what makes it handcrafted! Don’t forget
to erase your penciled outer square!

  1. Seal the table with your favourite clear coat or wax finish.
  2. To make the playing pieces, you will need 34 stones total. You can either buy a bag of stones from the dollar store or see what nature can provide you with. Just make sure they will fit in your squares! Paint half the stones in one colour or design and the other half in a different colour/design. This example has ladybugs and bees, which I think is adorable, especially if you place the table on your patio or deck. The checkerboard will need 12 of each design and the tic-tac-toe board will need 5 of each.
  3. Once all the paint/clearcoat/etc. is completely dry, place the table in your living room, family room, deck, or wherever you want to game and have fun!

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