The standard mat for one player

A single player TCG playmat is the mat you bring for yourself: one board, one deck, your side of the table. Ours measure 24″ × 14″ (61.5 × 35.5 cm), the standard single-player playmat size, and they sit within our TCG Playmats collection next to the game pages and the shared mat for two. Every one is built from a micro-woven cloth play surface on a neoprene top layer, with a non-slip natural rubber base underneath, 3 mm thick altogether. Double stitching runs around the edges, and the art is printed in high resolution, right out to the border, once your order comes in.

Because this is the footprint nearly every player already knows, it is also the one that fits the most places: a folding table at a store, a convention hall, a friend's kitchen, or your own desk between games. This page is about those places and about what fits on the mat once you get there.

What fits on 24 by 14 inches

Think of the mat in card widths. A standard card measures 63 × 88 mm, a little more once it is sleeved, so roughly nine sleeved cards fit edge to edge across the 24″ width. From the back edge to the front, three rows of upright cards fit with space left between them. In practice that means a full row of cards in play, a second row behind it, and room at one end for the deck and the discard pile.

Turned cards take more room. A card turned sideways to show it has been used lies with its long side across the mat, so a board full of turned cards uses up the width faster. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, at 59 × 86 mm, are a touch smaller and leave a little more open cloth around each one. Your hand normally stays in your hand or just off the front edge, so the mat only has to hold what is on the board.

Store league and tournament nights

Store events are where a single-player mat earns its keep. Seating is assigned or first come, tables are shared with strangers, and every player sets up the same way: mat down, deck on it, deck box and dice to one side. Bringing your own mat means your cards land on the same familiar surface every round, whichever table you are sent to.

Most events allow artwork playmats. Even so, each game and each organizer writes its own rules, and organizers can ask a player to put away a mat whose art they find unsuitable, so read the rules for your event beforehand and check with the organizer if a design might be in question. None of the designs on this page is approved for any particular event.

Two mats across a store table

Many stores seat players at folding tables about 30 inches deep, with opponents facing each other across the shorter side. Two 14-inch-deep mats placed front edge to front edge take up 28 inches of that, which leaves a narrow strip down the middle for a shared counter, a coin or a life pad. Along the length, a six-foot table holds three 24-inch mats side by side on each edge, so three games can run on one table without any mat creeping into the next player's space.

A border at a crowded table

At a busy event, the edge of your mat works as a border. Your cards stay on your cloth and your opponent's stay on theirs, and a quick glance tells anyone, a judge walking past included, whose cards are whose. That matters more than it sounds when two boards sit close together and a stray card could end up on the wrong side.

The non-slip rubber base keeps that border where you set it. Store tables are often smooth laminate, and a mat without grip slides whenever a neighbor bumps the table or you push your deck forward to shuffle. On rubber, the mat stays square to the table edge from the first turn of a round to the last.

Zones on a one-player layout

With zones, a single-player mat carries one player's layout: the places your game sets aside for the deck, the discard pile and the cards in play, arranged for you as you sit facing the mat. The zones fit inside the 24″ × 14″ footprint and leave the art showing between them. Because each game arranges its board differently, a zoned design is made for one game, and the product page for every design lists the layouts it is offered in.

At an event, zones save a little time and a little explaining. Your opponent can find your discard pile without asking, and you never have to stop and think about where a card belongs, which is welcome at the end of a long day of rounds.

Your opponent sees it upside down

A single-player mat is seen from two directions. You look at it the right way up, while the person across the table sees it upside down, beyond their own board. Designs viewed from above, such as a pattern, a map or a starry sky, look much the same from either side, while a portrait or a landscape with a horizon is clearly yours, the right way up only for you. Neither is wrong; it just helps to know which one you are choosing when the mat is going to sit across from strangers all night.

Your side of the art also frames your cards for the other player. A calm area under your board makes your cards easier for an opponent to read from across the table, which keeps a game moving at an event where rounds have a time limit.

Rolling it up for the trip

Start rolling from one of the 14″ ends and the finished roll is 14″ long, short enough to stand in the side pocket of a backpack or lie across the bottom of a card bag. Roll it with the cloth facing out, so the edges curve down toward the table when you unroll it later. A tube keeps the roll round and protects the stitched edges from being crushed, and a playmat bag with a strap does the same while leaving a hand free for your deck box.

Never fold the mat to make it fit. A fold leaves a crease across the play surface, while a rolled mat settles flat again once you lay it out.

Conventions, trips and long days

For a weekend away or a large event, the mat goes wherever your deck goes. A rolled 24″ × 14″ mat fits easily into carry-on luggage, so your gaming kit doesn't depend on a checked bag arriving. In a hotel room or at an open-play table in a convention hall, unrolling it turns any surface into somewhere you can play, whatever state the table is in.

On a long day the mat is a small comfort as well. Hours of shuffling and playing on a hard table wear on wrists and fingertips, and the cushioned cloth is kinder to both.

One mat for more than one game

If you play several card games, a single-player mat without zones is the most adaptable item in your bag. The full-art layout doesn't mark out any game's board, so the same mat works for a Pokémon league on Tuesday and a Magic draft on Friday. Players who stick to one game often like zones; players who rotate between games tend to keep at least one clean mat for the nights they aren't sure what they will be playing.

Events where you build a deck on the spot, such as a prerelease or a draft, ask even more of the mat. You open packs at the table, spread the new cards out, sort them into piles and build a deck from them before the first round starts. A clean cloth surface is a good place to do that, because freshly opened, unsleeved cards slide into rows without scuffing, and the whole pool stays inside the borders of your own mat instead of mixing with your neighbor's.

Practice at home and the desk

A single-player mat is also where solo practice happens. Testing how a deck draws, playing out opening hands, or running a game against no one to see how quickly the deck can win (Magic players call this goldfishing) all take place on one side of the table. With the mat at home set up exactly as it will be at the store, practice and event play look and feel the same.

When it isn't in use for a game, a 24″ × 14″ mat has an obvious second job. In front of a keyboard or beside a laptop it becomes a roomy mouse surface: the cloth top gives an optical mouse an even texture to track, and the rubber base holds it in place. It is also a soft spot to sort cards, sleeve a new deck or spread out a stack of trades without scratching them on the desk, so the mat earns its place between events as well as during them.

Sizes and layouts for one player

Layout or size	Good for
24″ × 14″ (61.5 × 35.5 cm) with zones	Learning a game, and event rounds where an opponent needs to read your board quickly
24″ × 14″ (61.5 × 35.5 cm) without zones	Full art, more than one game, and use on a desk
24″ × 28″ (60 × 70 cm) shared mat	Two players at home rather than store play

A gift that goes to every event

For someone who plays at a store, a mat of their own is a gift they will unroll every week, in front of their friends and every opponent they meet. Pick the game they play and a picture that suits them, and decide whether zones would help: a newer player usually appreciates them, while someone who has played for years may prefer the art left clear. Each mat takes 1–3 business days to make before it ships from Turkey, and US orders then usually arrive 2–5 business days later, so order with that in mind if a birthday or tournament is coming up.

Looking after a mat that travels

A mat that goes out every week picks up more dirt than one that stays home. When it needs it, wash it by hand with a little mild detergent, or machine wash it on a gentle cycle in cold water. Lay it flat to air dry, and make sure it is fully dry before you roll it back into its tube. Bleach and irons stay away from it. Between trips, keep it rolled rather than folded, and if it comes out of the tube with a curl, lay it flat for a little while and the curl relaxes.

A note on names

Padrift is an independent studio. Game names on this page describe the card games our mats are designed to be played with; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Wizards of the Coast, Konami, Bandai, Riot Games, Legend Story Studios or any other card game publisher.