“Work tables” with small drawers or a lifting top, disclosing a well and fitted with receptacles for reels, shuttles and bobbins etc were not introduced before the second half of the 18th Century and were one of the many specialised forms characteristic of that age. In the list of Catherine Of Aragons effects, taken after her divorce there is an entry “2 working stools of Iverye, belonging to the same” which may have been a kind of work table, as this queen was an accomplished needlewoman. In the late Georgian Periods work tables were sometimes constructed with folding flaps, which when turned back disclosed a chess board, others had a chess or backgammon board to draw out. George Smith in “Household furniture” 1808 gives several designs for ladies work tables with chess/backgammon boards
http://www.christiandaviesantiques.co.uk/CurrentStock/tabid/124/agentType/View/PropertyID/734/Default.aspx
A Fine Example of a Victorian Work Table/Games Table