After a long wait and many excuses, I finally received the cup holders that I backed on Kickstarter with the rest of the initial table pledge for the Table of Ultimate Gaming (ToUG). The initial commitment was in September 2017 with a delivery of January 2018. Here I am a year after the delivery date and just getting the final part. I am one of the lucky ones. I will make another post with more details, but for the moment, I can say, I have all the parts.

This review will primarily be photos with various drink vessel tests. First, I will do the unboxing.

Unboxing

When I pledged for the table, one of the options was for a set of four cup holders. As I have room for six people at the table, I added two additional holders to my pledge. Because I wanted them to match the table, I opted to get black. Since I had six of them, the shipment arrived in two boxes with three each. I have read other people getting all of theirs in a single box.

Once I opened the boxes, I found the packing slips saying the location of Wood Robot was in IL, which I knew, but my shipment came from TN.

Each box had the same sheet and containers, although one of the boxes had an additional paper to keep the internal packages from shifting while the other did not. As expected, little consistency from this company.

I decided to open one of the cup holder boxes to test rather than all of them.

The holder is made out of the same wood and similar paint/staining as the table and original blanks for the deco. This was what I was expecting from the product: Quality made sturdy wood and laser cut to the necessary specs.

Attached to the Table

After unboxing the holder, I was able to connect to the table.

Above are various angles of the cup holder attached to the table. Note how much space it takes up with the Big Pad there. When extending the table topper as a desk, the table is extremely busy. I like all the options for item placement, but when using everything, there is little room for players. AND, the entire setup does require a massive amount of space, specifically if trying to get the Table Toppers in and out of their storage.

A final point of note for the placement: it cannot be attached to a corner and locked into place. There is a wooden lock that keeps the holder from sliding, although it is tight enough it would only be needed to keep it from moving if hit. On the corner, the angle does not allot for that. There are also different depths on the railing that prevent placement of the holders.

Testing Drinking Vessels – Glassware

I started with some standard sized glasses I had in the house.

The mug fit nicely, but the old fashion did not. It was too large for the cage and too small to have the base keep it from tilting. The standard tumbler worked fine.

I opted to use a goblet to test the size of a wine glass. The base is just a little bit larger than a regular red wine glass. It did not work. It tilted and did not feel sturdy in the holder. One of the comments during the campaign mentioned that they planned to use it for wine. I guess a stemless glass would work, but I would be wary of anything with a stem as seen below. When I did test with a red wine glass, it tilted so much with the cage; I did not feel comfortable taking a picture. Without the cage, the wine glass went right through.

The snifter is precariously resting on the cage. The lambic glass is apparently not stable. I used that one for effect. All of the ones that were not stable tilted the same but the angle was not as noticeable.

Testing Drinking Vessels – Novelty

My regular teacup, which would also work as a coffee mug, did not work at all.

Below is a mug I got at a Ren Faire. I never used it in the past, but after seeing how great it fit, I will probably use it with the ToUG.

I figured I’d also test with a Tervis, which would be the same as a Yeti or fast food cup. It worked fine. This might be the best option next to the Ren mug.

Testing Drinking Vessels – Prefilled Cans and Bottles

Here are a few different sized items that are pretty standard at a gaming session. All of these fit fine.

The standard soda bottle, did not fit so good, as it got stuck in the cage. Using a thinner one would be fine, but if you want a 20oz. drink, you might have to play with the cage to get the bottle out.

Finally, there is an oversized beer bottle. Worked fine.

Final Thoughts

Although the idea is sound, there doesn’t seem to be enough room for all of the accessories. The bigger issue is not all drink containers will fit in the cup holders as they are currently designed. I think these look much better than others I have seen for gaming tables. Although they do not have a place to go when not in use, these are a better look than the others. Because they opted for a cage rather than a solid base, it is more difficult to get specific glasses to stay without tilting. I guess if a round, metal cutout were added at the bottom, that would increase the stability. My goal for getting this table, though, was so I didn’t have to do any tweaking.

These cup holders are also supposed to be used as dice trays. They will work fine for that. Not sure about the dice rolling off any less than on a table, but it keeps them off the ToUG and available to the individual users. The initial pictures showed different-colored pads, but those have to be purchased separately.

I also wanted to mention the matching chairs and cushions. I got them at IKEA, as well as the cushions. They are not the greatest, but they will do. And for $25 (+$5 for the cushion), I can’t complain.

Previous reviews are located here:

Table review – https://wp.me/p9SppK-dZ
Accessories review – https://wp.me/p9SppK-o6