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Traditionally, gaming tables for billiards, pingpong, poker, and even mahjong have been practical, utilitarian, and as decoratively attractive as a well-worn V8 engine hung over the dining table.
This is why they are quite often banished to the basement with the washer and dryer and Aunt Agnes’ cat-stained chintz sofa, where even mirrors etched with Budweiser logos and framed prints of dogs playing cards fail to class them up.
Los Angeles–based 11 Ravens aims to bring gaming tables out of the domestic dungeon. Founded by Michael Zaretsky, a former national junior table tennis champion of Belarus, and veteran gaming table designer Bernard Semerdjian, the company has managed to marry the functionality of a great foosball or air hockey setup to elegant, modernist table designs that could easily grace the most OCD Vista Las Palmas remodel.
We are particularly enamored of the Theseus Table Tennis Table made in bamboo veneer with black satin paint. There are a number of available additions and upgrades, such as inlaid lines — though prospective buyers are warned that inlays, while elevating the luxe element of the table, can affect play. The $14,500 tables (don’t gasp, you paid more for your matching Eames recliners) are made to order and come with four paddles and 10 branded balls. Gratis!
For information, visit 11ravens.com.