Home computer use: Optical mouse: best type of surface

Self-tutoring about computer use: the tutor mentions the surfaces that seem to work best with the mouse he uses.

Plain, non-glossy printer paper seems very good as a mouse surface. However, a glossy table top that looks like (but isn’t) marble doesn’t seem to work at all.

Taking that cue, I typically avoid glossy surfaces as ones for a computer mouse. Interestingly, however, the table I’m sitting at right now has a glossy surface on which the mouse seems to work fine. The table top looks like wood (but it’s not). Perhaps, in this case, the (supposed) grains of the wood give enough contrast for the mouse.