After opening the box, you will find the pad and nothing else.  While I do not think that a mouse pad necessarily requires an instruction manual, it would have been nice to see a sheet with care instructions or something to that effect.

The pad has an hexagon base made out of acrylic, with a textured pad glued to the center.  It's symmetrical, so there is not a specific way it has to be oriented.

A look at the bottom reveals a strange blob in the center of the pad.  Either this is a space where no glue was applied, or it is an air bubble.  At any rate, it does not seem to affect the functionality of the pad, but it does look strange.

The acrylic base has clear pads on all corners.  These pads anchor the pad surprisingly well, and the pad does not slide around when placed on a flat surface.

One aspect of the pad that I did not like was the fact that it sits up off the table.  While this might not be a problem for some, I prefer mouse pads that lie flat on the table with little or no rise in elevation.  The circle of texture that has been glued on has a little bit of a lip on it.  While again this did not cause much aggravation, it was slightly annoying.

The circle itself is made of some sort of black plastic with a texture.  My optical mouse picked it up very well, and the mouse glides over it easily with little resistance and no roughness.  The texture should also work well with ball mouses (or is it mice?).