Play mats explained
Every Pangea comes with a play mat sized for its vault. You don't need to buy one to use your table — it's included, in the right size, whichever table you bought.
That's the part people get confused about, because mats also appear as products you can buy on their own.
Two different things
The mat that ships with your table is included, matched to your vault, and arrives in the box.
The standalone mat listings are for replacements and spares — a second mat, or one to replace a mat that's been through a few hundred sessions. Those are sold separately:
| Mat | Price |
|---|---|
| Zola Tristar Grid Play Mat (3×3) | $59.99 |
| Zola Tristar Grid Play Mat (3×5) | $69.99 |
If you don't see a standalone listing matching your table size, that doesn't mean your table shipped without one. It means we don't currently stock that size as a separate item. Ask us through our contact page and we'll sort out a replacement.
What the mat is
5 mm neoprene with a rubber backing, in Space Gray, printed with the Tristar grid. It's made to sit down in the recessed vault rather than lie on top of a flat surface — that's why the edges meet the rails cleanly instead of curling.
Neoprene does the two things a gaming surface needs: dice don't bounce off it, and cards can be picked up from it.
It's meant to wear
The mat is the part that takes the abrasion — dice landing, miniatures sliding, boxes dragged across. That's its job, and it's why it's inexpensive to replace relative to the table underneath.
Treat a worn mat as a consumable rather than a fault. A worn vault floor would be a different matter, which is the point of having the mat there.
Letting a new one settle
Mats ship rolled. Lay it flat in the vault, grid side up, for a few hours at room temperature before judging the fit — neoprene holds a curl, and a curled edge reads as a mat that's too big.
If it still doesn't sit flat after that, the usual cause is the table rather than the mat — see Why my play mat doesn't fit.