Arcanium partnered with designer Zac Feltoon to imagine how furniture could enhance the experience of community and gameplay for the significant amount of our population that enjoys Long Format Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs) as a means to build and maintain lifelong friendships. This exploration began with a deep anthropological assessment of these communities to discover insights into how a new furniture typology could meaningfully enhance the experience of enthusiasm and camaraderie that we observed happens naturally. It was discovered that for many in the gaming community, independent of how dedicated they are to hosting game nights, gaming still happens in the same space as the rest of their lives. We also observed that for a statistically significant proportion of this community, weekly campaigns and game nights with the same group of friends occur weekly with little interruption, leading us to conclude that these nights are more significant than simply being fantastical escapes from daily life. We concluded that our furniture solution would need to work within this structure leading us to the convertible design of the 260 Hybrid Table. We took this conversion a step further to accentuate the gameplay by designing the gaming area to give players a heightened sense of omniscience over the gaming environment through subtle design details like materiality, angles, and proportions.

Meeting the design criteria we identified required a first-principles approach to the challenge of a convertible table. Independent of our findings, Arcanium was adamant that the solution could not include removable elements which they believe detracts from the overall table experience. With this in mind, the design process began by collating the data gleaned from interviews with gamers from within Arcanium and many more in the wider community of enthusiasts. Once the critical needs for the solution were identified our iterative design process began with an unencumbered ideation phase for how a table could convert from dining to gaming mode to reveal an internal volume. While existing modes of conversion were identified and vetted, no limits were applied to this initial investigation such as cost or engineering constraints. Following this exhaustive investigation, it was determined by the entire team that the choreographed transition between dining mode and gaming which is still present in the final design was without reservation the best solution to meet our design goals.

The 260 Hybrid Table represents an idiosyncratic approach to previous ideas of a drop-leaf table. The design maximizes the theatricality of gameplay while quietly delivering exceptional functionality. With the 260 Hybrid Table, groups of enthusiastic gamers can comfortably sit down for dinner, and then effortlessly transition to gameplay, and back, throughout the night. Campaigns, multi-week gaming scenarios, can be paused just below the surface of the table, a poetic metaphor for the way TTRPGs fit into the lives of so many enthusiasts. The 260 Hybrid Table is designed to elevate every aspect of the gaming experience beginning with the fundamentally important aspect of shared community experience.

Every design detail, material choice, and manufacturing process was selected to support the primary design intent and maximize the longevity of the product.

Dimensions:

The Arcanium 260 Hybrid Table has two distinct modes: Dine and Play.

Dine mode: length 80", width 40", height 29.5"

Play mode: length 80", width 54.75", height 29.5"

Internal volume: length 54", width 25", height 3.25"

Note: These dimensions were rigorously tested and protected throughout the design process to make sure that the internal volume was sufficient for all intended use cases.

Materials:

Solid North American white ash wood, stainless steel, acetal (trade name: Delrin®), and 100% wool felt.

Fabrication techniques:

This project required a wide range of fabrication techniques for numerous custom parts. The majority of the wood components are shaped on a CNC router and finished by hand. All custom hardware is fabricated on high-tolerance CNC mills and lathes.

Manufacturing/building process:

The 260 Hybrid Table is built in Omro, Wisconsin by the skilled woodworkers and craftspeople of Black Wolf Design. Most of the hardware components are sourced from the United States, with the notable exception of the precision friction hinges, which are sourced from Japan, and the leaf-bearing sub-assemblies, which are pre-assembled in Arcanium's workshop in Los Angeles, California. The majority of the manufacturing for the 260 Hybrid Table, from lumber selection to final assembly and packaging, takes place in Omro.