I have to make a new wooden sidewall for my Earthshaker playfield to replace the one highlighted below in green. Got two questions for whoever may have done something like this before - what type of wood would be best to use, I obviously want something very hard that's going to remain straight over time, and hopefully straighten out the playfield (which sagged a little) a little once it's screwed on. And two, it looks like this (along with the wood walls of several of my other games) was covered by some sort of thin black woodgrain laminate or contact paper, anyone have a source for this?

BTW, what's that proper name for this piece?

eswall.jpg