Everyone loves to gather in the living room with friends and family to enjoy a day of fun and games, so why not turn your unused spare room into a game room? A game room is the ideal space to shed the stress of the day after work or spend hours bonding with loved ones either by killing zombies, racing cars, or teaming up for vault hunting.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a spare room; you can carve out an area of your house to dedicate for relaxation or gaming gatherings where you and your guests can come together for video games, pool, or even darts. A gaming room is no longer thought of as a man cave, as gaming is inclusive for all that love the activity and want a dream space dedicated to their favourite hobby or, in some cases, profession. In this guide, we’ll share with you our top tips for creating your perfect game room pr corner into a beautiful area of your home.
Consider The Space Available
Not everyone has a spare room to turn into a gaming haven, but that doesn’t mean you can’t crave one or even create one in a section or your home. It is essential when you start any home project that you take the available square footage into account in order to successfully incorporate a game room or nook. Once you’ve decided on the space, you will need to consider the gaming setup, game room furniture, and entertainment centre as the layout available in the entire room to accommodate your gaming space.
If your space doesn’t fit a large entertainment centre with game consoles, you will need to consider a more minimalist design plan. Most minimalist designs will fit a computer desk with a gaming chair, targeted LED lights, shelving for your video games, and maybe some funky bean bags. On the other hand, if you have a spare room you can fully transform and dedicate to all things gaming, you will be free to have more fun with how you fill the space, including a large entertainment centre with all the consoles and accessories of your dreams.
Ambient Lighting
Gaming can be an ethereal experience, and in order to enjoy the full experience, you will want to create an ambient atmosphere. Whether you’ve carved out a corner of your living room or dedicated a whole room, you will need to consider the lighting options, as natural light is not always the best choice when it comes to a gaming area. The brightness of too much natural light can interfere with the visuals of the games and ruin the overall experience of your gaming session. You should always aim to complement the kind of games you play with your lighting choices; for instance, if your space is going to be used more for video games, then overhead lighting or LED strips may be a better fit than a single light source or natural light.
However, keep in mind that keeping the room too dark can strain the eyes, and while your lights should not ruin the gaming experience, they should also sufficiently illuminate the interiors of the game room to prevent severe optical damage. Additionally, you could also use string lights and lava lamps to improve the room’s decor while providing enough light to keep it well-lit and inviting alongside reflective lighting on your collectables to create shadow effects in your gamer room.
Accessories And Gadgets
No game room would be complete without accessories and gadgets, but which would be best for your room? There are plenty of choices, from special light switches to armrest caddies for easy access snacks.
- Arcade Button Light Switches: Your game room would look incomplete without game-themed light switches to tie the room together, and retro arcade light switches are the perfect finishing touch. Typically, these are simple to install, which means you won’t need a professional to swap them for your old ones.
- Octagon Light Panels: Light up your walls or gaming station with octagon light panels. Light panels tend to be modular, which provides you with complete control of the design to a wildly entertaining light show.
- Arcade Machines: If you have the room, why not include an upright arcade unit or a table machine for in front of your TV? Arcade machines are all the rage right now amongst modern and old school gamers alike, where you can play classic favourites, such as the space invaders arcade game. When it comes to finding the right unit for your gaming space, you should check out Arcade Depot and their range of arcade machines for your home.
- Game Character Art: When it comes to the walls of your gaming space, you should focus solely on the light but also on the artwork. An excellent addition to the artwork in your room is to turn yourself into art with a personalised game character portrait.
- Neuro Controllers: Improve your reaction times with a neuro-controller which are commands activated gloves that will respond up to 80 milliseconds quicker than traditional controllers. This boost in speed will give you an edge over all your opponents, especially if you like to play MMORPGs, which stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing games.
- Game Plushies: Game plushies are a great way to break up your collector’s items and add a little whimsy to your gaming room. Many players even use them as stress dolls during particularly challenging matches.
- Burrito Blanket: Some gaming sessions last for hours, and during a long session, you may want to wrap yourself up into a human burrito for comfort as your game drags into the dead of night.
- Gamertag Water Bottles: It’s essential to stay hydrated during intense gaming sessions, but many gamers struggle with spilling their drinks with their animated movements during play. So, why not create a personalised water bottle with a cartoon picture of yourself above your gamertag? You can take it everywhere with you, or you can fill it to have it next to you each time your team meets for a match.
- Blue Light Blocking Glasses: When you’re in the middle of a marathon gaming session, you may begin to experience vision fatigue. Blue light blocking glasses are a great accessory to have on hand to alleviate visual fatigue instantly. These glasses help your eyes by blocking the harmful blue light emitted from digital screens.
- Armrest Caddy: The last thing you want to do when you’re in the middle of a game is to get up for snacks, drinks or vital accessories, as it can cause disruption to your team. Gamer chair caddies typically fit any armrest and are perfect for storing your crucial items, like controllers, cables, drinks, and your smartphone.
Entertainment Centre And Units
When selecting your entertainment centre for video gaming, you will have several choices and can opt for premade furniture or try to build your own custom-made unit from scratch. It should be designed to hold a wide range of items such as your screens, consoles, sound system, accessories, and games. In order to store these various items, consider choosing an entertainment centre with multiple cabinets and shelving with cabinet doors that is ideal for protecting your invaluable gaming accessories from dust and spatters. However, if you are more of a computer gamer, you may want to invest in a larger desk that comes with multiple pull-out drawers and cabinets. Regardless of your preferences, you don’t want to need to run around your home whenever you need a different console, spare controller, add-ons, or batteries.
