Games tables have always been popular. These little beauties stand quiet and demure against a wall, maybe dressed with a lamp or vase of flowers, but given half a chance they transform into the centre of attention, unfolding to reveal a myriad of secret compartments and configured surfaces all about game playing.
There are many types of games table from a simple card table, which normally consists of a folding table top which opens to reveal a baize surface, to very complex creations like this one made for the bohemian Albermarle Club in London.
Thousands of these tables were made in the 18th century as Britain caught gambling fever. Addiction took hold of all strata of society with poor servants losing their wages in ‘downstairs’ gambling evenings to aristocrats such as Georgiana Spencer who struggled to manage her gambling debts throughout her life. 
Gambling took over peoples’ entire lives to the point that they could not even stop to eat. The Earl of Sandwich was so obsessed with his card table that he couldn’t bear to leave it for dinner. He demanded his beef be put between two slices of bread so he could dispense with cutlery and fuss and continue with his game. He was so pleased with his little innovation, which others called, ‘an abomination’, he named it after himself.
Today his creation is one of our most popular foods and if you could do with an occasional table, why not go one which is full of fun and games. 
This lovely little Victorian burr walnut table of around 1860 is a great example with its wonderful inlaid top which opens to reveal a back gammon, cribbage and chess board; beneath which is a sliding drawer fitted to receive playing pieces and or, perhaps more ladylike, sewing tapestry equipment. Worth looking out for!
