For Board-Game Hobbyists, Specialty Tables Are an Important Piece

r Pawn Chess Club, a beginner-friendly group that cycles through wine bars and restaurants in Lower Manhattan. Its founders, Isabel Münter, 32, and Simone Robert, 29, co-workers at a design studio, bustled around the candlelit apartment, where guests crowded around two long tables of chessboards and sipped sake from boxes with straws.

Designers are embracing the playful nature of these juxtaposed materials and finishes, allowing them to shape unique, one-of-a-kind pieces for children’s play spaces.