A game mat or battle mat is a surface, usually vinyl, pre-printed for use with a game. The most common forms are the grid mat, which is made up of a square grid, and the hex map which is covered in regular hexagons. 1" is a common scale. Whereas graph paper is used to map, game mats are used for resolving combat, showing how characters are positioned, and depicting environments visually. Game mats are often employed in conjunction with erasable markers.