Folding Scrabble Turntable

Orginally posted on February 24, 2013 (LumberJocks).

Several years ago, I started designing a somewhat elaborate Scrabble storage box that was also going to serve as a game turntable. The top of the box was split into two fold-out wings that would support the board during game play, the bottom would provide storage the the original paper box, and the whole thing would rotate. (I've included some renderings at the end of this post in case anyone is interested.)

I never finished designing, much less building, that box, but I did build this very simple folding Scrabble turntable out of some scrap birch plywood, birch edge banding, a 3" Lazy Susan bearing, two 3/4" brass hinges, and some rubber furniture bumpers. As you can see, I focused exclusively on function, and didn't worry much about appearance. I didn't even apply a finish.

Both the base and the support panels have a shallow (about 1/16") recess for the bearing. The bearing is glued to the base. To play, we just place the base on the kitchen table, place one of the support panels (still folded) over the bearing (it's easier to line things up this way), then unfold the other panel. The turntable spins easily, but not so easily that the tiles fly off.

It has served us well. It keeps the playing surface pretty close to the game table, and it stores easily. The turntable base fits into the game box, and the folded top is roughly the same size as the box.

I haven't seen anything like this out there, so I thought I'd describe it here. I can see prettier versions of this design being good gifts for the Scrabble fans in your life.

Here's what is looks like from the side with the game board sitting on the top-mounted rubber bumpers.

The bumpers on one side are shifted toward the middle by about an inch so the two sides fold as flat as possible.

Original (Unfinished and Unbuilt Concept)

Below are some frames from a demo animation I created at the time (but never completed).

Here's the storage box closed. The base is a sandwich of two thinner pieces, with a Lazy Susan or other bearing in between. I also envisoned some sort of locking pin or something that would keep the box from rotating too easily when it wasn't being used.

Here is is being rotated.

Here, the two top halves are starting to open, showing the original game box stored inside.

When the top halves are fully open, they form a flat surface to hold the game board. The horizontal projection of the base would be sized to support the open top halves at 180 degrees.

The rest of the animation was supposed to show the original game box being lifted out, the board placed on top, and the tile racks moved into position. Creating animations is a lot of work, and I just never got around to completing it.

I don't know if I'll ever try to finish designing this fancier box, or if it will even work the way I thought. (For example, I think the opened clamshell parts would need extra flat surfaces to support the board, there would need to be bumpers or something else to keep the game board from sliding, etc.)