I have both X-Wing Playmats and both have been used no more than 3 or 4 times. I have stored them within their original boxes stood up on end in my games room.

Recently I wanted to introduce a friend who is new to tabletop games to X-Wing so I decided a 3' x 3' game would be the best bet.

I went to the star field mat first and found that 1 side of the mat had become rippled. Its really odd. It's about 5" wide and looks almost like a very shallow eggbox.

That is an eggsaduration (do you see what I did there?) but it is uniformly rippled 5" along one edge and each ripple is about a 1" wide 'hill' with a 1" gap.

It is unusable so I checked the Deathstar mat which is fine and we played on that.

Questions.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Is there any way to 'iron' out the problem without ruining it even more. That said I can't use it so it would be hard to ruin it more.

Did it get wet or was it near something hot? Definitely sounds strange. I would try laying it flat and piling heavy books over the rippled edge and see if it flattens out.

I have not have that happen to mine. If attempts to flatten it fall....flat....(sorry), I'd recommend contacting FFG via website or email. They are usually excellent at replacing missing, lost, or defective items. They are the gold standard in my mind of customer service (well, besides Disney).

I would try an iron on low setting.

I have found that storing the mats horizontally is better for helping them lie flat when unrolled. Also moving to a slightly larger diameter container is helpful as well.

That said, I have not seen anything at all like the problems described in OP.

Well, they're made out of a vinyl are they not?

If you were wanting to press vinyl the two tricks I used in film were to either use a pressing cloth: A medium-heavy piece of fabric that sits over the vinyl that you iron instead of the vinyl itself, putting a heated iron on vinyl directly will melt it.
Or I would run sometime moderately hot over the vinyl (Hairdryer on low in a quick pass or under a hot light for a short while) and use a hard, straight piece of rubber (like a squeegee) to evenly press out the ripples.

Funny enough, both of my FFG mats have also developed this issue and while I've been dealing with it for many months now, I finally contacted FFG support about it yesterday. I can let you know when I get a response if you like!

From my own research, it does appear that storing the mats vertically causes the issue, as it is the bottom portion of the mats that became wrinkled. Storing them horizontally and rolling them backwards (with the play surface facing outwards and the wrinkled area being at the "top" of the roll) has helped to an extent, but not completely alleviated the issue.

Good luck figuring yours out!

It happened to mine when it was rolled unevenly by my son and stored vertically. I fixed it by rolling it very tightly and now only store it horizontally.

It's a known 'issue' and has been brought up before. Just store them horizontally for a while and it'll be fine again.

I had the exact same problem with mine after storing them vertically. Good to hear that they should be back to normal next time I open them.

Yikes I'll start storing mine horizontally. Is keeping it rolled up ok or should it be stored flat?

Yikes I'll start storing mine horizontally. Is keeping it rolled up ok or should it be stored flat?

I personally had no trouble storing them in the original boxes until I stored them vertically.

Just wanted to pop in to say this is some good, helpful info.

Thanks for the pointers, everyone.

You are not alone, man. Mine have done the same thing and I am trying to unwaffleulate 'em, I will post if anything works but nothing has yet.

Cheers!

The kids and I made our own star field mat and saved $40. We love it and it's unique.

Thanks for all the answers. I have had them stored horizontally for a bit now. I will have a look.

It didn't get wet or hot btw.

still waffled. I put some heavy books along it for a couple of weeks and it has been back in it's box stored flat for a week.

What ever you do try test first on a mouse pad.

Same sort of material

Hey,

i got the same thing!

https://www.reddit.com/r/XWingTMG/comments/3xzi2w/wrinkled_brandnew_ffg_playmat_any_fixes/

+

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1494053/wrinkled-ffg-xwing-playmat

I'm pretty sure that the backing is neoprene rubbuer. Not sure what the fabric top is. Be very careful if using an iron: the rubber will melt or stretch.

Before you do anything that could damage it any more I'd take pictures of the state that it is in right now. Because if you ruin it anymore and then try and contact FFG they could say that it was your fault. I don't think they would do this as I mentioned numerous times that I think they have some of the best costumer service around. I guess all I'm saying is make sure your cover your 6.

Yea I've heard about this issue before. Heat and/or vertical storage were the culprits IIRC.