The stagetop gaming table build guide
Introduction
Now we have received the files for the StageTop Gaming Table, where do we begin? This guide written by 6 Shooters Games will be the essential guide to building your gaming table piece by piece to fit your needs and purpose depending on size, design and overall functionality.
As an official merchant of the StageTop Gaming Table, we decided to take a different approach to it, rather than selling complete sets, we’ll help you build your own gaming table piece by piece.
For our examples on this blog, we will be using a 24” x 32” table as a guideline. We will provide links at every stage so you can build it along with the guide, but we will also provide a link at the end of the guide.
So let’s get started…
Step 1.1 - The Frame
Selecting your size
The frame pieces for the StageTop are approximately 8” in length and width. This is all playable surface area once the tiles you select are attached. So for a 24” x 32” table you will need three tiles for the width and 4 tiles for the height then simply multiply them together and that is the total number you need for the table (12 in this case)
Frame Quantity Guide
Here is a small graphic with the frame tiles needed for a 24” x 32” gaming table.
Step 1.2 - Frame locks
Frame Locks are what hold the frame tiles altogether.
Each frame tile has eight frame lock attachment points that combine with another frame tile. Luckily they are very cheap as you require six to eight frame locks per tile. These are also used to attach the ‘rails’, but we’ll cover that later in the guide.
You will not require frame locks for the rails if you are building a table with ‘Lite’ rails.
This is a diagram of all the frame locks for a 24” x 32” table needed
As you can see, for a table this size you’d need 34 to connect the frame and an additional 28 for the rails (unless you are using ‘Lite’ rails)
Step 1.3 - Tile Locks
The Tile Locks are designed to fix the play tiles to the frame and get you well on your way to setting up your gaming table.
The amount of tile locks you need again depends on which particular tiles you select, but as they are also quite cheap, we recommend going for eight per frame tile so you will always have enough for whatever modular tiles you select.
Tile Locks on this diagram are fitted into the smaller holes on the Frame Tiles. As stated above, there are eight holes to attach these.
The outer tile lock holes (marked as “2” on the frame tile) are used to mount the Lite rails to the gaming table.
On a 24” x 32” table, you would need 96 in total to attach a tile in each hole.
Step 2 - Legs
This is where our first encounter with Lite, Standard and Elite variations comes in to play.
The legs come in three variants; Elite (left), Lite (middle) and standard (right). All leg types can now have a TPU-printed foot which is a rubber-like material to prevent sliding on the surface.
In terms of legs, we recommend having one leg attached to the outer frame tiles and some support ones in the middle row of tiles if your table has a diameter of 44” x 44” or more.
The legs in this diagram are all placed on the outer frame tiles.
You can reduce the number of legs, but please bear in mind the amount of weight you’d put in certain areas, especially if someone is leaning on it. For full support everywhere, we’d recommend one leg per Frame Tile.
Step 3.1 - The Rails
The rails are designed as an outer wall for the table and are raised up to prevent dice, cards, game pieces etc from flying off as well as holding cards and dice.
The Lite rails will be up on the website soon as they have just been released.
On the left of the image is the Elite rails, you’ll notice they are two parts. The base is printed in PLA and the top piece is printed in the soft and squishy TPU material as mentioned before.
On the right are the Standard rails which are printed in PLA and come in two variations; blank or card. The card option holds game cards of various sizes.
As mentioned before, the frame locks are required to secure these to the frame.
(Please note: I have scaled these down to half-size just for illustration purposes)
The diagram for the Rails shows how many you’d need for a 24” x 32” gaming table.
So you’ll need to calculate how many frame pieces are on the outer perimeter of each side, in this case, it’s 4, 4, 3 & 3, then subtract one from each number and that’s how many rails you need per side and four corner rails in total for your table.
The Elite rails and Standard rails connect with different clips (next step) so you will NOT be able to mix & match them.
Step 3.2 - Rail Clips
The rail clips connect each rail to one another and ensure a secure fitting all around the gaming table
On the left is the Elite rail clip and on the right is the Standard rail clip. Like the rails, they can’t be mixed and matched.
The rails clips you need are easy
All of the outer edges you have calculated (like in step 3.1) are the number you need for each edge. i.e 4, 4, 3, & 3. 14 clips in total.
Step 4.1 - The Play Tiles
Play tiles come in various sizes and patterns and are the key to making your gaming table as personal as possible.
When selecting the play tiles, there are two variables to choose from, the pattern and size.
Patterns: 1x1, 2x2, 4x4, Blank & Custom. the numbers indicate the size of the squares making up the pattern i.e the 2x2 pattern consists of 2” squares, 1x1 1” squares and so on.
Sizes: Full, Half, Quarter & Corner. The sizes refer to the size of the tile and how much of it covers a frame tile. i.e a full tile will cover a whole frame tile, half will only cover half and so on.
(For this example, we have scaled the pieces to 50% and used the 1x1 play tiles.)
In this diagram you can see which size tiles take up space the most.
As you can see, you can place them anywhere on the frame as they all lock in with the tile locks in any configuration.
A handy tip when designing the play tiles is if you place a full tile as shown in the diagram, it will add extra structural support to the gaming table.
Step 4.2 - Components
Plat tile components sit on the table and allow the addition of certain accessories based on your personal preference and needs.
Whether you need a dice tray, dice towers, deck holders and more, the components allow you to fit what you need to your gaming table.
Components are limited at the moment, but we are working on useful components for your gaming table to add at a later date.
In this diagram, the blue & green represent the play tiles and the purple are component pieces.
You can swap and change components as you see fit depending on if you have 1, 2, 3 or more player games. You can have personal or communal dice pools as well.
step 4.3 - accessories
Choosing accessories can be limited at the moment, but more are due to be released by GutShot games in the coming months.
Currently, you can select dice towers, cups, half cups and our own accessories we are designing.
The accessories are designed to fit perfectly into the component sections.
Step 5 - have fun!
We’ve had great fun designing different table layouts for different games. You can go to our shop and add all the components you need, or stay tuned for our premade tables with some personal alterations available very soon.
