Don’t buy from ‘Table of Ultimate Gaming’

Early in 2019 we decided to finally take the leap and purchase a gaming table. It was one of those things that I’d been really wanting ever since I first saw one around 2013 when Geek Chic was really popular. It’s an investment though, and up until this point in our lives such an investment was out of the question. I’m older now, my kids won’t ruin it, and my financial situation has improved so we finally took the plunge on an Elite Series 3.5×5 table from Table of Ultimate Gaming.

I spent several weeks weighing pros and cons of different table makers from BoardGameTables, Rathskellers, Carolina Game Tables, and a even Wyrmwood. Knocking Rathskellers and Wyrmwood out of the running didn’t take long though as Rathskellers isn’t based in the US and shipping would have been absurd, nor am I a trust fund child or independently wealthy so that took Wyrmwood right off of the list. What I was left with were two very good choices – both Board Gaming Tables and Carolina Gaming Tables have mighty fine folks working for them and I’ve made a point to talk to people at their booths every Gencon and Origins for the past several years. Both companies had tables near my price range and it was just a matter of aesthetics and making sure my wife and I agreed on the color, features, etc.

Succumbing to Tabletop Temptation

While waffling between these two though, a third contender appeared on my radar: Ultimate Game Tables. Despite their cringey name, they had a relatively successful Kickstarter and while the feedback I was reading online ultimately said you’ll save a good chunk of money with them and the tables are still plenty sturdy and made of good materials – there’s assembly to deal with and the fact that they’re production/ordering is backed up and when you’ll actually receive your table is debatable. The price was enough to sell me though, and I’d waited this long, what was a few more months? Plus, I’d save several hundred dollars by not buying one of the more expensive tables from BGT or CGT, right? Boy do I wish I would have went with my gut instead of my wallet.

Immediately after finishing the build, doesn’t look too shabby!

My Table arrived only about 2 weeks after it was originally scheduled to. Which, all things considered, wasn’t bad especially with all the delays I’d read about online. The thing is though, I got an email from someone at TOUG to confirm my shipping address and they let me know it would be probably another month before my table shipped, it was a bummer, but at least I had an ETA and they were communicating. To my surprise, it arrived the very next week. Cool! But also, a pretty big red flag regarding their logistics.

So my table shows up the same weekend a friend is in from out of town. Not the greatest because I planned on entertaining a lot more than I did…building a giant fucking table packed in boxes that littered my entire living room. Anyway, we got the table built with relative ease and immediately christened it with some Frostgrave. Good times were had. I was happy with my purchase, and the table’s construction seemed solid and went smoothly. The instructions weren’t perfect, but nothing harder than something you’d expect from IKEA. At this point, everything is fine.

Well, everything is fine except the missing 4 cup holders I paid for. There was no explanation or communication regarding my cup holders being delayed, mis-ordered, or otherwise. So I reached out to the company a few days later to inquire. I was told that cup holders would arrive at a later date but there was no ETA. I replied and said this was fine and also inquired about the possibility of getting replacement boards for one that was damaged and for one of the toppers which has glue that leaked out between the cracked black veneer that covers whatever type of board is underneath.

It’s not a major thing, but I just paid around $1,000 for this table and I really wanted for it to at least start out as immaculate as possible before I beat it up with dice and spilled drinks over the coming years. I received a speedy follow up saying to show some photos of the damage and boards in question, I did, and again was met with a relatively swift response/apology letting me know they’d get the replacement boards sent out.

That was 3 and a half months ago.

At the time of publishing this article we’re getting close to 4 months now and I’ve checked in (politely) about once every 2 weeks just to try and follow up. Complete radio silence. No response whatsoever on any channel I can find to contact them on. Email. Facebook. Their Twitter is a 1-way street only used to blast out marketing. I finally just 2 weeks ago opened another ticket in case the email communication chain I had going with the initial rep was lost somehow, maybe that person left, or it got buried in whatever ticketing / CRM system they might use or for whatever other reason may have come up. I was less nice this time with my ticket title being “Stop Ignoring My Emails“.

Clarity Through Frustration

Just before I published this I got a response saying there was a hold up because I never gave part numbers. I was never asked for part numbers, nor would I have known what they were either. In my inital thread I was asked for photos, which I provided. I relayed all of the photos (again) and attached all previous email correspondence back to them immediately, along with part numbers this time as well. It’s been 4 days and I’m back to silence again.

So while my table is just fine, aside from a cracked and glue-residue laden topper and a dinged corner piece which I isn’t very noticeable. It’s not fine to ignore paying customers, just swallow your pride and have some transparency. It’s not a huge deal, but blatantly ignoring the people who’ve already given you their money, especially when you haven’t even given them all the items that they’ve paid for, is.

The table might not be the greatest, but Imhotep sure is!

So this bad taste in my mouth has also allowed me to see past the honeymoon a bit and also break down a few other things about this table that aren’t readily apparent and lead to more agitating complications. First off, the table is not as high as they say it is, it’s in fact, several inches taller. This means the chairs that I purchased were far too low to sit at a good height with the table at its “deep” setting. Which, to me, is the entire point of a gaming table. I have no interest in using the shallow setting, you can’t even leave 28mm minis standing up when you put the topper on that way. So now have 4 chairs that are a bit too short, and 2 that are a bit too tall. Admittedly the 2 that are too tall were my own miscalculation. Additionally though:

  • The power cables that run from the built in plugins don’t have any type of coupler, so unless you want to run 2 cords separately, likely completely filling up a wall outlet, you’ll need to purchase some sort of small surge protector / extension cord and mount it underneath the table like I did.
  • Speaking of cable management, I do it very frequently as a Network Admin but if you don’t have experience with it, it’s going to be a real pain in the ass making sure your table doesn’t look like there’s something out of an HR Geiger painting lurking beneath it. The provided cable management loops were extremely cheap and the adhesive didn’t hold for long so you’ll need to buy some of your own. Luckily, they’re cheap.
  • Speaking of cheap, the way they prevent the toppers from being scratched when you slide them in/out of the table slots that hold them is to line them with velcro. That’s right. I paid around $1k for this table and they sent along some of the softer size of a strip of velcro to pad the grooves beneath the table with. Not felt, not microfiber, not even those little foam bumpers – just one long roll of the soft-ish side of velcro.
  • Update 11/10/20 – After finally biting the bullet to move my too-high table down a notch I discovered that the inlays within the wood where the main screws hold the table together are damaged. They are pushed back into the recesses of the wood and the screw threads no longer grip them in some places, meaning the structural integrity of the table is compromised.

Reputation Over Monetary Evasion

All this said, I still mostly like my table and I don’t regret purchasing it per se. Sure the damn thing still creaks and groans when you lean against/over it sometimes while gaming, and maybe it still just needs more tightening or breaking in but I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t make me nervous. I digress though, the point of this entire article was to serve as a warning to any of you who may be about to make a similar purchase. Stick with a company that’s got a good track record if you can spare the few hundred dollar difference. I’d gladly pay several hundred bucks at this point for some customer service people who give a damn.

At this rate I may never get my cup holders or my boards replaced so I’m trying to figure out a clever way to 3D print my own or something. I’m definitely open to suggestions / ideas. I’ll be trying extra hard to make sure my table stays in good shape too, because I have a feeling like Table of Ultimate Gaming might up and vanish sometime real soon as their domain(s) expire in July of 2019, their social channels are dead quiet, and their email correspondence is abysmal at best. If you’re in the market like I was, especially if you’re here in the states, I highly recommend Carolina Game Tables or Board Game Tables as they both have great people standing behind them.

Until next time though, game excellently with one another!

Update: On July 22nd, almost a month after writing this article, I received not one but 2 massive identical packages from TOUG. Each was a “Box #2” of the 3-box set they ship to you when you get your table. This was to replace a single damaged corner piece. 2 massive packages full of duplicate spare parts, hardware, and more to replace just a single corner piece. I’m still waiting for my topper replacement and am told the cup holders still have no ETA. I freaked out a little, and now have several hundred of pounds of lumber sitting around being useless. Throwing it out seems wasteful, but keeping it long term isn’t an option. This company is at Gencon this year, please don’t buy from them.

In addition, their Facebook page has over 25 admins and each of them are dedicated to hiding negative comments. They delete negative comments on all social media platforms that allow it, however if you want an unfiltered taste of somewhere they cannot hide, check out their Kickstarter page. Woof.

Update 11/10/20: As of today, I no longer see the website for Table of Ultimate gaming online and their social channels are dead, not that they were ever more than an echo chamber for their marketing blasts. There are a litany of complaints about this company on the BBB as well as several tabletop gaming subreddits. It looks like they are completely defunct at this point. For the sake of being thorough, I have also updated the bullet points on the main article to represent some new findings I’ve come across after updating my table height in October. Although the company seems to be now completely gone, still keep your eyes peeled for other fly by night companies that might pop up with these people’s names attached to it.

22 Comments

  1. I’ll have to mirror your comments above. I just received my table over the weekend, though no accessories. No notice, no communication. A box of accessories did arrive a few days later, again with no notice, though that box is incomplete, still missing 4 cup holders.

    My boxes were busted up a bit but thankfully everything was protected well inside, no damage. Though one part of the table was the wrong piece, it was a finishing topper board and looked like it belonged to a much smaller version of the table. So with a wrong piece i was unable to complete the build and had to rig the wrong piece in place until a replacement can be sent.

    Communication with the company has so far been total failure. Not a single response to inquires or to questions about missing components or replacing pieces. So frustrating.

    Quality of table is nice, experience getting table to your door and getting it to a finished state, a nightmare.

    • It’s really a damn shame too, because if they weren’t awful with communicating with their customers I feel like they could really take the industry by storm. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here partly wishing I just bought a regular table and one of those portable Game Toppers. Their new Kickstarter is awful appealing.

  2. I was directed here this morning as I am having similar issues. I ordered a GameChanger in April, got it this past week, missing all of the extra accessories though. No communication from the company, and I notice that they have recently very quietly disabled their Support Chat tool as well. Also they have some pretty high bonus offers on their website currently, leading me to believe they are in a state of “get as much cash as we can and then vanish” scam-baiting.

    My additional issues:

    – the manual images are mirror-flipped!
    – many of the holes don’t align
    – I had several components wrapped in Chinese newspapers, hmmmm I wonder where this was actually crafted…

    I regret not going with Carolina Tables.

    • I’ve done some further digging myself today, and found that it seems one person is claiming to be responsible for the company’s design, engineering, logistics, payroll, customer service, and employees (Jamie MacBain via LinkedIn). This seems like one massive point of failure to me, their Kickstarter page is riddled with even more comments like these, but I cannot post there as I wasn’t an original backer.

      Another fun-fact is that their Facebook page has 25 admins, which means 25 people are dedicated to hiding negative comments. It’s an entire operation, and they keep spamming out deals and special offers. It feels like they’re trying to just offload inventory and disappear, as you said. I’m debating reaching out to the Co-Founders on LinkedIn, but I’m not sure it will warrant any results.

      • I finally got a response from them, which seems to be their standard copy-paste:

        “Hi Nathanael, thanks for reaching out to customer support. Sorry for the delay in response. Right now we are estimating that your items will be shipping out in late August / early September. I know this is not the date that you were hoping for. Unfortunately we have had crates sitting in port waiting to ship out but they have been held up by the latest round of tariffs. We originally didn’t expect to be affected as significantly hence the lack of notice to customers and current scrambling to get those containers here to the U.S. I apologize for the hold up, we appreciate your patience and as soon as your items are packaged up they will be on their way to you! Please let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime.”

        But wait, that doesn’t sound right… Hmmmm I wonder why…

        OH YEAH. It’s because until JUST this week, they advertised that they were 100% made in the USA. Funny now that bit is entirely missing. As is the bit about how dedicated their service is. THis gets shadier and shadier by the day…

  3. Some friends I play DND with ordered a table from these guys, they took the money and sent my friends nothing….. for months, You paid and got a table, minus the cupholders. They paid and got exactly nothing. When they demanded their money back, they were sent the decorative side covers…. and nothing else.

    This company is run by thieves and lairs.
    My friends showed me what they are trying to get and I ended up building them a better table. I designed it myself and am putting the plans on my etsy page later.

  4. LMAO! So rich people need a $1700 table to use their imagination? And you’re surprised someone is taking your money without delivering? When I was a kid we spent days playing D&D on our parents’ cheap card table, and it worked perfectly well. Pull your orders and save your money.

    • 1. I paid about $800 less than your assumption.
      2. I’m not rich by far, I selectively choose to spend my disposable income on things that bring me joy.
      3. Your comment is the most absolute boomer shit I’ve read on the Internet in several weeks. Congrats.

  5. Has anyone found a phone number for these creeps…I found their address but assume that if I show up there I wont get in contact with anyone!

    • I got some chairs from Ashley Home Store but I’m greatly disappointed with them. I’ll be looking for some solid wooden stools to replace them. The height is odd in that most chairs are far too low, or just too high enough to make them uncomfortable if the table is at its “deep” setting. If anybody finds good ones too, please comment here or hit me up on Twitter @DreadGazeebo

  6. My experience with this company as reviewed on Google:
    Ordered a table in January of 2019. Spent nearly $5,000 with this company. Accessories and chairs showed up 3 months later. Table took another 2 months. One of the upper rails on the table was cracked and needed to be replaced. Several of the chairs were improperly milled and didn’t fit together correctly. I needed replacement parts for those. One of the Big Pads was missing a mat. Emailed customer service. Didn’t receive the replacement rail until October of 2019. The chair parts after that. I still have not received the mat for the Big Pad. I’ve given up on getting it. Customer service is absolutely atrocious. They have no phone number so you can’t call them. They don’t get back to you on email and don’t keep decent records of prior communiques. To get them to do anything you must continually harass them. (I even think they had one of their children doing customer service at one point!) If you try and complain on Facebook they will block you and delete your comments. Hundreds of people have had this issue. Check the two Kickstarters they did for more comments about their service and products. They’re listed under Wood Robot. Table is just ok. Not the best materials. I don’t believe it will last in the long term. Lots of pressboard, plywood and laminate. Table still creaks when leaning on it. Don’t buy from them. Go to one of the other reputable game table companies. Seriously. Trust me on this.

  7. I ordered the following on 10/31/2019

    Table Top Cover: 299.00
    Table Drop-in Playing Mat: 129.99
    6 Chairs: 1,799.94
    1 Game Table: 999.99

    The table arrived in Dec. Table Top Cover and Play Mat were to arrive by end of year. Chairs in spring.

    We’ve been going back and forth since October. It’s now July 2020, only the table from Dec. They promised a refund in early June. No refund provided. Filed dispute with bank.

    I have no issues with the table, it’s good but they are horrible to work with..

  8. I wish I had read this and went with a more expensive table. I ordered my table and cup holders Dec 4 2019. Got the table, it is really just OK to be honest. I feel like at some point I will need to add support legs the middle of the table on the sides as any arm leaning bow the table a bit. Still don’t have my frickin cup holders! No one will get back to me, ridiculous!!!

  9. I participated in their kickstarter campaign and splurged for a 3.5 x 7 table topper and some chairs, along with a handful of other accessories. The big pieces of my order arrived, but I’m missing 2 Big Pads, 6 Cup Holders, a topper for my 2′ extension, and a table mat. I ordered back in Dec 2018 and have been getting the runaround since.

    Their website and social media has mysteriously vanished as of a few days ago. I doubt anybody is getting the rest of what they ordered at this point.

    • I had a feeling they would up and vanish at some point, their Social Media was just an echo chamber for their sales emails anyway. I don’t think anyone ever checked it or replied or anything. Such a shit show of a company. I see the website is now MIA as well. I bet they took orders right up until the bitter end too.

  10. We ordered the game changer back in April on a deep discount and it showed up quickly. Thankfully. We used to own a construction company so modifications/reinforcements can be easily made. I have a love/hate for this table (I’m short with short arms ). I wholeheartedly regret not purchasing from Board Game Tables, but we were dead set on a 4×6 play area. It’s too bad really, they had a really great idea and let it go to poop.

    Apparently I’m a real sucker for punishment because someone on FB marketplace is unloading the coffee table version and I jumped on buying it last night. I needed the measurements so I could figure out if I could fit it in my car or needed to borrow my dad’s truck. That’s when I learned all pages pointing to them were MIA. Dirty. Dirty.

  11. I backed the table long ago and have had mine for about 2.5 years or so. There communication was always less than adequate. I needed my tops replaced, that did happen but took way longer than it should of. Chairs, cup holders, die trays and padded rails took forever and every excuse was delay being packed, delay in the boat yard, you name it. Everything was always ‘on the way for fulfillment’.
    I have a few things outstanding and I know I will never receive them so I am out about 100.00 or so.
    The table serves it’s purpose and I do like the quality. My chairs are good quality and the add on components are fine. Too bad they went belly up. Covid for sure didn;t help but I think their over-seas suppier was very unorganized and doomed them for sure.

  12. I could echo this post to a T, even to installing my own powerstrip. My table, the monster was great. It did have a damaged component, much like the OP, and just like the op, they sent a massive replacement piece. I storaged that as the damaged part wasn’t an issue cosmetically or structurally. I thought that was a good customer service move, if not extreme. My table was shipped on time but I ordered early after their Kickstarter when they were booming. My mistake was ordering the clear table top cover for $159.99 during COVID. Yes, I paid via the website on 11/9/19.On 3/7/20 they responded to my email after requesting an update. They blamed Covid for the shipping delays which was understandable. Then on 7/9/20 at which point I requested a shipping update and a refund if the order hadn’t shipped by the end of July. My last email from them was 7/29/20. More patience requested on my part, an exchange for in-stock items, or store credit. The problem is the cover never arrived, no refund and the company went caput, and I have no way of recovering my hard earned money. F%$# Ultimate Gaming Table Company. They had what I thought was a great product, but ultimately I believe they quickly out-grew their capabilities, couldn’t fill demand, and poor construction led to the end of the company.

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