So, I picked up my custom playmat today... It's 1.2m x 2.0m made of PVC with a nice starfield on it. Wasn't too expensive either: R270 (which is around $25).

Problem is: Folding the mat creases it badly, especially around the corners where multiple folds come together. This means using it like a tablecloth will probably ruin it pretty quick.

My conclusion is that the material was probably not suitable so it's back to the drawing board. The PVC is quite thick with a kind of mesh pattern on the back of it.

Anyone else made a custom mats that doesn't suffer this drawback? Any suggestion of alternative materials?

My friend and I just play on a 3' square of felt that he flecked white paint on.

Here is a review of a "mousepad" mat. I don't own one myself, but I'm considering it.

check out www.gripmat.com

I don't know what material it is exactly, but I have some maps made from outdoor banner material. It is amazing. Enough texture for things to stay in place. And it rolls up easily, and gets flat pretty quickly once unrolled.

I think the best mats are the ones that allow some sliding but provide a reasonable amount of friction so everything doesn't go flying around when you bump it. I've played on a few mats that are just way too "sticky". It's really annoying when you have to peel your templates off the mat because they get stuck when you put them down.

I most enjoy playing on felt surfaces. They have a good feel, they provide reasonable friction and you can get them in great grey, black, or star field colors.

I bought a vinyl mat from bannersonthecheap.com

I just roll it up in a tube I bought from UPS.

I think the best mats are the ones that allow some sliding but provide a reasonable amount of friction so everything doesn't go flying around when you bump it. I've played on a few mats that are just way too "sticky". It's really annoying when you have to peel your templates off the mat because they get stuck when you put them down.

I most enjoy playing on felt surfaces. They have a good feel, they provide reasonable friction and you can get them in great grey, black, or star field colors.

To add to that - I've played on a few mats that are too sticky, and it actually makes it harder to maneuver since the template gets stuck and you can't slide it into the nubs.

I looked around a lot, even considered getting my own sheet of neoprene to make something extra nice. In the end, just got a large, high quality felt and used the foil/spray paint method to throw a nice, subtle star field onto it. The better quality felt doesn't pill up, is heavier so it lays a little flatter than traditional hobby felt, and is still plenty portable. Thus far, it's been great. Cost about $15 plus spray paint (I had white and ivory lying around to mix and match).

My solution was to do the following:

1. 3' x 3' section of black hobby felt
2. 3' x 3' section of black vinyl
3. Attach the felt to the vinyl with some adhesive

4. Sew the edges with some grey border material, just to help define "out of play" borders
5. Attach circle velcro bits to the asteroids

This works well in that it provides a nice, solid vinyl foundation for the felt. When I roll this up or fold it, the vinyl backing helps straighten the felt back out once it's laid down. The velcro bits on the asteroids do wonders for keeping them in place on the felt. I've used this mat in a few tournaments, and the feedback has been very positive. The felt also provides just enough friction to keep the ships from slip-sliding around, but it's still just slick enough so you can slide the maneuver templates when you need to.

I like that idea Jeffe. Sounds solid.