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Hi folks,

Looking for some thoughts here on how best to store my gaming mats.

I've got a bunch of 4ft and 3ft mats, that are currently in some canvas storage bags on top of a cupboard. This isn't ideal, because they're pretty heavy and awkward to take down, but it's better than storing them loose.

I was considering getting a big umbrella stand and storing them vertically but think this might end up being bad for the mats. I don't really have an option to store them on the wall, and plastic storage boxes seem out as to get them big enough is extraordinarily expensive.

Any ideas? What does everyone else do?

Our gaming club stores them in mat bags (link), then hung vertically on hooks (we've used coat stands before). We've not noticed any issues with the mats.

Don't store them vertically (except maybe hung, like beast_gts's). They'll bend under their weight and eventually tear in that spot. Spoken from experience.

Yep, storing them horizontally seems to be the ideal from the standpoint of mat care, but not necessarily ideal from the standpoint of space efficiency. Storing them vertically while hanging might work as well, but I'm not sure its the best way.

I hang my two on wall hooks in the storage cases that came with them, and they look happy. No bending or weird shaping stresses. If walls are not feasible, do you have any bookshelf sides you could put hooks on?

 Flinty wrote:
I hang my two on wall hooks in the storage cases that came with them, and they look happy. No bending or weird shaping stresses. If walls are not feasible, do you have any bookshelf sides you could put hooks on?

Unfortunately not really, it's a bit tight for space where they are. I guess they can continue living on top of the cupboard!

Noted about not storing them vertically.

I do have them in the black carry bags (inside the canvas bag), but that just makes it harder to see which one is which...

Yes I too need to come up with external tags for them.

My wife folded my mats in half and crammed them in moving boxes during our move. I will let you know how that method fares when they unload in a couple of weeks.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Yes I too need to come up with external tags for them.

I bought a stack of cheapo plastic luggage tags off of Amazon, wrote what each mat was, and attached that to their cases.

 Warptide wrote:
My wife folded my mats in half and crammed them in moving boxes during our move. I will let you know how that method fares when they unload in a couple of weeks.

Get an iron ready, youll want to put a cloth between the iron and the mat

just get some 'tube packaging containers' that's suitable for the width, taped up one end tight as the bottom.

Mine are in their bags, hung up on hooks in the coat cupboard. I have 4. 2 Urban, 2 "outside, but not urban" (one is desert scrubland, the other is rocky granitey outcrops). One bag has "City" the other has "not city" on their tags.

After using dye sublimated neoprene in various games for the past 15 years, this is what i have learned:

Dont fold or crumple for long periods of time.
Its ok to throw it haphazardly in a box until you get home, but the longer it sits that way, the more memory it has of that form, and the kess likely it will lay flat and recover from such warping.

Roll it up around a rod whose diameter is no smaller than 1".
This is less of a problem for the larger mats, but keeping the memory bit in mind from above, you could develop rippling across the surface and the ends will want to not lay flat.

When roling it up, make sure the playing surface is on the outside of the roll, not inside.
This matters when you unroll the sheet, as it helps it lay better.

Use pvc tubes cut a bit longer than the width of your sheet. Seal one end with pvc end cap, and sand the other end a bit so that a second cap fits snugly on the open end, but not so much to make it hard to remove. Map cases are expensive. This is your best budget option. Choose a diameter of about 2 inches for a single large mat.
You can store multiples together, but they are a pain to divide up when removed from the tube.

Store tubes flat on their side, and not upright despite temptation to shove them in a corner in the closet. This is more of a long term storage concern, but its best to avoid it at all lest it become a habit. Stored under beds, couches, dressers are good options that are out of the way.

I've had my 3' x 3' X-Wing mat for 4 or 5 years and it's been perfectly happy stored vertically in its original box, rolled up around a poster tube that's about 1.5" in diameter. There's been no wrinkling or other issues.

It might be different for larger mats though. I think the most important thing is to make sure you roll them up properly before putting them away. If you store them for a long time with any creases or folds, or if they're bending under their own weight, it can be a nightmare getting them back to flat again.