If you build it, they will play...
What will $90 and two hours of work get you?
How about a poker table?
My brother and I (my finance and logistics, his handymandedness) took the afternoon yesterday to gather the materials and slap together a 6' x 3.5' poker table. Here's a rough breakdown of the materials (and pictures will follow at some point):
Folding Table Legs ($14)
Table Top Fiberboard ($19)
Hardware (screws/staples) ($8)
Rail Planks ($8)
Fabric Store Purchases - Fleece (will replace with pool table felt at some point), Batting (for table padding), 2" thick foam (for the rails), Vinyl (for the rail coverage), Spray Adhesive (total: $53)
It turned out pretty damn nicely. We did pad the table a little too heavily, as chips were bouncing all over the place on it. We also cut the table into an octagon (8" from the corners cut a triangle out), and did the rails a little wrong as a result.
Side note to my brother - what we should have done on the rails is measured out and cut the corner pieces first, and measured up the heads and side rails to them. That would have given us more of a "one piece" look to the rail frame.
That being said, it turned out solidly, and was a nice addition to the home game last night. Too bad it's too damn heavy to take around to other games, but I can think of worse things to have in my apartment than a big immobile poker table.