Review! Custom Playmat – Design by PlaymatMasters, Inked Gaming Playmat

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

I was recently browsing the Dice Masters Reddit when I came across an interesting post. It was someone asking folks what they wanted on a playmat, if they could have anything. I jumped on the opportunity to share my idea of the perfect Dice Masters playmat. The kind soul on the other side of the screen offered to create the design for my playmat – which made me super excited! When he was done, I couldn’t have been happier.

Artwork

Mr. Glen put the images together on the playmat. He did everything he could to find the perfect images and edit things to make them exactly how I wanted them. He went out of his way to adjust his regular layout to match what I wanted, such as moving the life tracker, removing certain custom zones, and shuffling things around to how I wanted them. He has several designs available on his Etsy page (PlaymatMasters) for folks to order. Please be sure to check out his work, because he has this uncanny ability in choosing the most perfect images as well as a great editing sense – making him a unique and amazing talent.

If you want him to make a specific design with a certain character(s), you can message him with your request. He’ll be able to tell you if he’s taking on new design projects, pricing, and how long it’ll take to design if you’re wanting something that’s not currently offered in his Etsy store.

The communication between Mr. Glen and I was great. He was always polite, friendly, and open to discussion. I feel like I made a new friend in my dealings with Mr. Glen.

So if you like a design he currently has available or you want him to add a character design to his store, send him a message.

The pictures below have some closeups of the artwork that Mr. Glen put together. Click on any image to get a better look at it.

Inked Gaming

After Mr. Glen sent me the PDF file, I needed to send that file to a place that prints playmats. I had never used Inked Gaming before, but I have seen their playmats around my FLGS. I felt comfortable enough to send them the file and have them print my playmat.

Ordering and Pricing

There was a little confusion when I first tried to order my playmat. Inked’s website is mostly user friendly, but when you upload the PDF, you don’t get a preview of your playmat. That’s what had me confused, but I messaged Inked on Facebook and they promptly responded and assured me that I was using the site correctly. The pricing is $24.99 for a 14″ x 24″ custom playmat. The thickness is 1/16″ which is about the same as other playmats from companies like UltraPro.

Processing, Shipping, and Packaging

My order processed fairly quickly, I assume. I ordered my playmat on a Wednesday and it arrived that Saturday. I’m fairly certain that they processing didn’t take more than a day. I wasn’t given a notification in regards to when the order finished processing, which is fine with me. They did notify me when it shipped. Shipping for orders over $40 is free (in the US) through Inked. Since I only ordered the one playmat I had to pay shipping. Shipping was only $5.30, which isn’t bad for standard shipping on a package larger than an envelope. The playmat was shipped in a cardboard shipping tube with the ends taped thoroughly to prevent any potential damage or loss of item. I was very happy and impressed with the processing and shipping.

Playmat Quality

The quality of the playmat from Inked is about what you would expect. They’re very much like a playmat from UltrPro, which should hold up for a long time if treated well. I’m not disappointed in their quality for the price. Most playmats with artwork are priced around $19.99 – $29.99, or $6.99 – $9.99 for plain colored mats. For a custom mat, $24.99 seems more than reasonable. If you add in the shipping charge, I paid just over $30 for my playmat from Inked.

As a side note, many folks prefer a mat that can be washed. Inked sent me a response in regards to washing and drying their mats and mousepads.

Thanks to the dye sublimation process, our playmats and mouse pads are machine washable. Use the delicate cycle (or handwash) with a typical laundry soap. (DO NOT Bleach) Lay flat to dry.

Final Thoughts

I will be adding Mr. Glen’s Etsy store to my list of nifty sellers, as well as a link to Inked Gaming.

My Turn One Gaming playmat is officially retiring – or moving over to Mr. DDK’s side of the table. I loved that mat so much, but my new custom MLP mat is definitely the best mat. There are many reasons beyond the obvious that make this mat the best. Mr. Glen added the Pinkie and Rarity cupcakes in the Basic Action areas just to fancy it up. It was a happy accident that they are pink and purple, and that he put them on the same sides that I use my pink and purple Basic Action indicators on. I wanted Pinkie and Rarity’s cutie marks as my life tracker. I love the clouds as the card spaces because they give the illusion that my cards are floating on puffy cloud pillows. I wanted Luna’s cutie mark somewhere on the mat, and he found a great place to put it – right where the cards go! It’s like Luna is protecting each card. Mr. Glen added a cute detail that made me giggle by calling the Field Zone, Equestria. He wanted to fancy the background up, and what works better than confetti and stars!

I chose each pony to go in each area for specific reasons. I chose Sombra to represent the Attack Zone because no matter how hard he fights who he is, he can’t change it. He will always be the evil king that everypony sees, regardless of how he actually feels. His quote in the speech bubble says, “You want to fight monsters, little pony? I’ll give you monsters.” I chose Nightmare Moon for the Used Pile because she was used by the Nightmare Forces to do hateful and evil things. They amplified the resentment buried inside Princess Luna and made her into a monster. She was able to come back from that with the help of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, which is why I chose Luna for the Field Zone. She came back from the corruption and stands by her new friends and family to protect Equestria from any evil or hatred that would try to invade. Her speech bubble says, “Together we will defeat the Nightmare Energy and it will never hurt anypony ever again.” Of the mane six, my two favorites are Rarity and Pinkie Pie. I wanted Rarity in my Prep Area because of how hard she works to prepare gifts for her friends throughout the show. She’s also the representative of the Element of Generosity. I feel like rolling extra dice from my Prep Area is a generous gesture of the game mechanics. If you know anything about MLP, you know that Rarity can be a drama queen at times – which is why Mr. Glen added her drama chaise just above the Prep Area as a little ‘KO’ reminder. I love it so much – it’s so perfect! I saved Pinkie Pie for last. I wanted her in the Reserve Pool because she has an endless reserve of happiness, friendship, and joy. She is a very special pony to me.

Pinkie Pie – She’s the favorite pony of my dear friend, Colt. Colt passed away in August of 2016. He was a young, up and coming teacher, and a very good friend of Mr. DDK and myself. He was highly intelligent and was a quiet fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And his name really was Colt. We even joked about his name being Colt and him being a fan of a cartoon about ponies. He asked me to keep it between the two of us that he was a fan, but he had eventually told others before he passed. I know he wouldn’t mind me telling folks about him now. If not for Colt, I would have never given MLP: FiM a chance. He convinced me to give the show a chance, and I did. I shared many of my memories with Mr. Glen as he was making my playmat and I don’t mind sharing a few.

I was down in the dumps one day, while watching over my FLGS, and Colt had stopped in for a visit. He told me, “One can not be sad while listening to Pinkie singing about smiles.” I hadn’t seen the newest episode yet, so he pulled it up on iTunes and I watched one of my soon to be favorite episodes, “A Friend in Deed”. That episode is basically me – I want to be friends with everyone and it makes me sad when folks don’t like me. One of my favorite MLP songs is also in that episode, Smile Song. That song makes me feel better when I’m having a bad day, so Colt’s logic has held true – even today. Colt and I both had tiny Pinkie Pie figures from the mystery bags and we carried them around in our pockets for the longest time. Whenever we saw each other, we would each pat our own pocket and smile at each other. Folks come and go in our lives. The memories are sometimes all we have left. Colt will be missed very much by all of his friends and family, but I will always have Pinkie to remind me of the best memories of my friend. His love of Pinkie lives on through me. Friendship truly is magic – don’t let anyone tell you different!

Thank you, Mr. Glen, for such a special playmat.

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Roll on, Dice Masters!