I love game mats. Having a surface that makes picking up cards easier, gives dice a bit more action, and can match the theme of the game I am playing is awesome. What is not so awesome, is figuring out a way to store them that does not put creases in them and keeps them off the floor. Add in that games nowadays will often have a mat version of the game board and well, lets just say I have more mats than I would like to admit and storing them is becoming a bit of a problem.

Enter Game Toppers with a couple solutions to my problem. They currently have a pair of mat racks that help to make sense of anyone’s mat collection. Today I will be focusing on the JJ Burkton mat rack. The “JJ” is the smaller of the 2 mat racks capable of holding 4 Game Toppers sized mats vertically.

Unpacking and Assembly

When my box arrived I was surprised at the small foot print of the box itself. The box did have a couple of dings but thanks to the padding on the inside all contents were unblemished. The rack itself comes in 6 pieces and assembly is a breeze. The instructions in the box direct you to a youtube video with how to assemble the rack and after putting the anchors and grommets in, the assembly took all of 15 minutes following the video. Certainly one of the simpler pieces of furniture to put together.

Construction Quality

The materials of the JJ mat rack are the same as the surface of the game topper itself. It is a sturdy composite material with a soft to the touch black coating. The rack itself is certainly solid with little give if any and once assembled, it was a bit larger than I though it would be. The rack itself sits on the floor and has 4 holes in the top of it that you slip the mats down through to store them vertically. All in all very solid and durable!

Impressions and Final Verdict

The JJ mat is a solid choice for a mat storage solution. I was not only able to fit 2 game toppers mats in, it but also several smaller mats in the remaining 2 bays. Having the rack vertical up against the wall makes the mats easy to sort through and grab depending on the game or theme mat I am looking for. I also suppose you could mount this to a wall and store the mats horizontally as well (I may have to experiment with that idea). Nice job Game Toppers!

Game Toppers Kickstarter 4.0 Launch

Speaking of game mats, Game Toppers’ new kickstarter is live and in addition to the great selection of toppers, there are new mats and storage solutions to boot! Several new mats around various landscapes, interstellar, and historical themes will be launching as well as a new soft mat storage solution designed specifically for smaller mats. Here are some preview videos of some of the new products that are in the 4.0 campaign!