Upgrading your gaming table with perspex sheet

From boardgames to miniatures to custom 20-sided dice, gamers collect a lot of things. But there's one accessory that, although it's not made with gamers in mind, can really do a lot for your gaming table: a simple piece of acrylic sheet. Tough, transparent acrylics (like Perspex) come in a range of thicknesses and can be cut to whatever size you choose. This leads to a number of useful applications 

Board games

Modern board games can be pricey items, but life at the gaming table is sometimes unkind to them. Protect your board from scuffs, spills and greasy fingers by placing a thin sheet of transparent acrylic over it. If you're playing a game with a multi-part board, like classic Kill Doctor Lucky, the weight of the Perspex sheet will actually help keep the pieces from sliding apart. 

Wargames

Classic hex-and-counter wargames often came with a playing board that was just a large folded paper map. No matter how gamers tried, they could never quite get these maps to lie perfectly flat. This was a problem, since classic wargames also involved placing large stacks of little cardboard chits. But simply place an acrylic sheet over the map, and the problem is solved. No more trying to remember which hex that stack of cossacks was standing on after you knock them over; just place them on the perfectly visible, perfectly flat map. For miniatures wargames without 3-D terrain, like X-Wing, Full Thrust, or classic Crimson Skies, you can similarly use a plastic sheet to protect your map or play mat and keep it perfectly flat. 

Roleplaying games

Roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder are unpredictable; you never know when you'll have to mark a spell or similar effect on the playing map. Some groups try to solve this problem with a wide range of different counters, a Perspex sheet solves it altogether. Put your map or gridded battlemat down on the table, then lay the plastic sheet over it. You can still use the map and its grid, but you can also write on the sheet with dry- or wet-erase markers (or, if you happen to have some, grease pencils) to make notes or indicate changes to the landscape. Just wipe the notes off at the end of the fight and you'll have a clean sheet for next time. 

Sturdy, light and affordable, clear acrylic sheets come in a range of sizes, but if you can't find the right measurements for your gaming table you can always have yours cut to size.