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I just bought a brand new $40 Chessex Battlemat. Instead of reading the included paper I just assumed that Crayola "WASHable markers" would easily wash off. Now I have a brand new mat covered in black, red, blue and green Crayola marker stains! I was able to get the darkest parts off but it's still unusable!

Does anyone know a way to clean other types of marker off? I can NOT be the only one with this issue, so I'm sure there are others who would appreciate some tips.

I have tried:

  1. Soap & Water
  2. Dish soap & Water
  3. Windex (I'm getting desperate now)

I've been thinking of letting the entire mat soak in a bathtub of soap water over night or using rubbing alcohol but before I do something that drastic and risk completely ruining my mat, I was hoping someone here might have a better solution. The marks were left on the map for about two weeks.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Chessex claims that there is no solution to your problem. However, depending on the marker there are a half-dozen or so things to try. If you can give us more details, we can try to compile a list of potential options. \$\endgroup\$
    – BESW
    Sep 16, 2013 at 4:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @BESW I may have compounded my problem then. As this game is for my kid I left the map drawn for about 2 weeks as we made our way through the 1st half of the dungeon. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben-Jamin
    Sep 16, 2013 at 4:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ Two weeks. Oh dear. I'm so sorry. You've learned the lesson that all of us with battlemats learn... it's important to clean your map after the game, or be very attached to the environment you've drawn. \$\endgroup\$
    – Brian Ballsun-Stanton
    Sep 16, 2013 at 5:11
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    \$\begingroup\$ Just for the record, Crayola says that "washable" means they "easily wash from skin and most children's clothing", not that these are meant for temporary application. \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Aug 29, 2014 at 16:25

6 Answers 6

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I've never used Crayola Washable markers on a battlemat so I haven't had to deal with this personally, but I have a kid so I'm familiar with a particular resource you might find useful – Crayola has a FAQ of tips for cleaning their products off of materials they weren't meant to be used on. The closest I could find for this situation is for Crayola Washable Markers on vinyl flooring (no wax):

Blot stain with a damp sponge, changing the sponge as it picks up stain. If any stain remains, apply alcohol to a cotton ball and blot. If stain persists, apply alcohol to a cotton ball and place on the stain with a weight on the cotton ball. Cover with a glass jar or equivalent to keep the cotton ball moist overnight. If stain is still noticeable, apply Spot Shot as recommended on the container.Special NoteDo not leave Spot Shot on for more than 8 hours. Check after 4 hours.

It's worth reading the whole page instead of just that excerpt, since it has a bunch of caveats like

Before attempting the stain removal method, test each procedure on an inconspicuous area of the material or surface to be cleaned.

… that are worth reading before attempting to use rubbing alcohol on your battle mat.

As you've discovered, battle mats aren't really made for extended marking. Mats are typically wiped after every session, and most gamers use only non-permanent overhead projector markers on them. Even then, some colours (like red) can leave a faint stain even when promptly wiped up at the end of the session.

Leaving a map set up for long periods of time is useful though. For extended marking, you're better off using something different like a large-format sheet of paper or one of the various "gaming paper" brands that are trendy lately. There is an excellent review of your battle-map material options on Wired that lays out each of their strengths and weaknesses: RPG Battle Maps Square Off: Paper or Gaming Paper?. And as a completely different solution, map tiles are a nice trade-off between flexibility and permanence, allowing you to rearrange them into various forms, at the expense of repetition and needing to collect/print/create a variety of them for different shapes and places.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Re: extended marking: I get it but it kinda defeats my purpose. I find it very convenient to have 1 map drawn for several sessions, guess I'll just have to draw smaller portions at a time. I use the paper before, it's good but prefer to use it for my more permanent campaign maps. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben-Jamin
    Sep 17, 2013 at 3:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ basically, the only thing this suggests that I wasn't trying is the alcohol & obviously I can't leave it set overnight without ruining the map. BUT, I did break down and use small amnts of alcohol on small sections at a time. This worked GREAT and I only messed up a small section of squares out of the entire map. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben-Jamin
    Sep 17, 2013 at 3:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ This seems like a good answer, but I'm not about to test it myself. Just wanted to note that I have a Chessex battlemat that I use overhead projector markers on, and I regularly leave the map drawn for 2-3 weeks. Windex takes the marker off every time no problem. If I was at home I would share the marker brand. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Mar 12, 2015 at 2:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ The markers I have are Color Workshop Kaps-Off. They're supposed to not dry out even if you leave the cap off. I haven't tested that. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Mar 12, 2015 at 21:11
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You can draw on stained areas with a non-permanent marker then try to remove it.

Once I had written on my friend's gaming mat with a permanent marker by mistake. We couldn't remove it no matter what. After a week, while drawing with a non-permanent marker on the stain that left from permanent one, I discovered that permanent marks can be dissolved once it contacts with non-permanent material and you can clean it pretty good. Now, I use that to remove most of the stain like you mentioned on my own gaming mat. I think that does the same trick with applying alcohol but non-permanent markers have some kind of other ingredients that helps to remove it.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to the site! Please take a look at the tour and the help; they're a useful introduction to the site. I've had good luck with this strategy myself, but I've never tried it on Chessex, only on laminate when I accidentally used whiteboard markers. What kind of gaming mat did your friend have? And since you have 20+ rep, feel free to join the chat! \$\endgroup\$
    – BESW
    Sep 16, 2013 at 7:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ I have seen this strategy work on removing Sharpie from whiteboards, as well. It is because the solvents in the erasable markers dissolve the pigment in the permanent marks. I have also seen one Sharpie used to erase another, older Sharpie mark from a whiteboard, but that's a very non-porous surface and requires quick action on the erasing side! \$\endgroup\$
    – gomad
    Sep 16, 2013 at 10:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ I've used this technique on work whiteboards after an "oops" as well; it's saved embarrassment. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rob
    Sep 16, 2013 at 11:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ Tried this with other non-permanent markers, it helped on the darker marks, but not too well on the rest of the map. Has worked on my plastic maps, sadly just not this one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben-Jamin
    Sep 17, 2013 at 3:04
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I have a friends battle mat that he has given up on so i am trying everything i can just to see if anything works. The permanent marker is dried in and set and has been for several weeks. Here is what i found:

  1. 99% Isopropal Alchohol: Does nothing. No stain removal, but also doesn't appear to damage anything as well.

  2. White Vinegar: Same as the alchohol, No stain removal, but does make the mat smell funky.

  3. Dry Erase Pen over the original marks: Depending on the color used (red being the worst) it leaves a slight colored hue around the old stain, but does not remove any of it.

  4. Magic Eraser: Helps fade the color slightly (turning from a dark blue to a faded dark blue). If used forcefully enough it removes the background color and any grid lines on the map, along with slightly removing a little of the stain (turning it more into a cracked version of the old stain) Might do the job but would irreparably damage the map before reaching that point.

  5. White Eraser: Temporarily cover the stain with white flecks, but once they are removed the stain remains underneath.

  6. Nail Polish Remover: Completely removes the background color and grid lines from the map almost immediately leaving behind a very colorless and now damaged area that cannot be used as the dry erase markers used there will stain and be difficult to remove. Does nothing to remove the original stain.

  7. Goof Off: Pretty much the same result as the nail polish remover.

  8. Soap and Water: With a bit of scrubbing many of the fades dry erase marks came off .. but no effect on the permanent marker stain.

Okay, so that's what i tried. I'm not really such what else i can do, but my conclusions as of this time are that unfortunately the mat is beyond repair and its time for a new one

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I had a similar issue, I accidentally used dry erase markers and the stains remained on my mat for a month or so because nothing worked to get them out. I had a desperate idea so I dabbed the lines with a bit of nail polish remover and then used a regular rubber eraser on the line. It worked, there are a few marks here and there that just wont come out but they're faint and the mat is still usable and the printed grid wasn't damaged at all.

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I have a very old battlemat that I just took out of storage. It sat for years with marker on the mat and some baby-wipes cleaned up almost all of the marker residue. I can't say for sure what types of markers were used but the mat was last used about TEN years ago.

The ink was almost instantly removed. First it smeared but then the smears cleaned right up. The was a bit of blue marker that did not totally clean up but black, brown, and green cleaned right up!

Baby-wipes are magic. Even if you don't have a child everyone should have baby-wipes. They are great for removing almost any stain and work very well on upholstery, carpet, and even vinyl mats, who knew?!

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I just used the little steel wool scrubbing pads from scotch brite and it worked quite well, removed a little background color but the lines stayed on.

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