Every gamer deserves to have their own gaming room in their home to decompress and play games! Recently some relatives that are living with me announced their plans to move out and get their own place. This would leave me with an empty room and then it dawned on me; I could finally have my gaming room once again! But what should a gaming room have?
Well, that may vary from gamer-to-gamer and reflects their needs. Some would require a couch, others a mini-fridge, even possibly a giant desk. I can’t really account for all of that. But I can impart some advice based on my old gaming room I had when I was a teen. Here are my gaming room essentials!
1.Roll out the welcome mat!
A welcome mat outside your gaming room or at the entrance inside said room might be seen as unnecessary. But I think it sets the tone for what the rest will look like. It’ll set expectations and give the impression that you’re all about gaming. I had one that said “autosaving…” outside the room door. But you can’t really go wrong with any kind of gaming themed welcome mat. The ones pictured above serve as great examples I believe.
2. Creative shelving.
Let’s face it, a video game room is only as good as it’s shelving. Even if you are one of these new-age gamers who buys everything digitally, you’re going to need shelves. Want to display your game magazines, statues, Funko Pops (shudders), figures, strategies, etc.? You should definitely get creative here if you have a specific theme in mind.
My first gaming room had pretty standard oak shelves where I displayed my game software collection. The Tetris blocks could be could as a display piece, but I’m leaning towards the Donkey Kong shelves for now. I might just pay my wood-carving friend to carve in some runes from Skyrim or God of War for me.
3. Deconstructed Controllers Are Great Conversation Pieces!
As gaming has matured and more aspects of it have evolved, so does the way we view retro hardware. I remember in college my Art professor said “If you have to ask if it’s art, then it is.” Deconstructed controllers are great art pieces! Seeing a Dualshock controller taken apart and seeing the “guts” on display really instills a sense of appreciation for the construction of it. Similarly deconstructed handhelds like the Gameboy Color and PSP look really intricate and impressive when laid out bare. Having it beautifully framed and on a felt background adds an extra layer of sophistication to it as well.
4. Expressive Lighting.
Now when you think of the kind of lighting in a game room you probably immediately think of the RGB LED strips like those that PC gamers have laying around their room and inside of their PC cases. Well you can do that, but I prefer something a little less generic. There are many light-up decorations you can use instead!
We have the engram from the Destiny games with the fiber-optic looking lights inside as an example on the lower right. You can also find those light-up 8-Bit style lamps at GameStop or on Amazon. Personally I am a fan of the glow stone from Minecraft that is a cleverly designed lamp on the lower left. There are also custom neon signs on Etsy if you look hard enough.
5. Customizable Furniture
You’re going to need some pieces of furniture to take up space and for practical storage reasons. You can go with something basic, but you can also do themes. If you’re doing Minecraft as a theme you can use a “crafting table” as a nightstand or decoration. Maybe some decorative Crash Bandicoot planters or crates.
There are also fake Piranha plants that you can embed into real planters with real plants; add some foliage to your game room. My favorite of the bunch is the Wii remote cabinet, a very clever design. I once saw a trash can painted as a warp pipe from the Mario games and it fit well in a Nintendo themed room. No reason your decorations can’t also be functional!
6. Wall Art
Very similar to the deconstructed controller decoration, wall art is far more broad and encompasses just about everything. If you’re a game with a particular system preference there are plenty of PlayStation and Xbox themed canvases you can buy.
A popular choice is a shadow box. These typically depict scenes from retro 2D games with different parts cut out of paper or cardboard to add some depth by using layers. Usually they are important or iconic scenes from games. Perler bead art (retro pixelated 2D art made from melting beads) is abundant and is often glued onto canvases or framed for decorating. I have dabbled quite a bit with Perler beads myself and have made my own pieces with it too!
7. Cable Management…?
Like a good VFX artist or puppeteer you may find cables and wires hanging everywhere to be a visual nuisance. Likely if your video game room has many consoles hooked up to your tv/monitor then there will be a plethora of cords looking like a tangled eyesore. Well there are two solutions to this. You can embrace the cords and be creative with their layout like pictured above by pinning them in an artistic way like connections on a motherboard. It also has the added bonus of keeping the floor space clear by suspending your consoles on shelving units. No need to fear little kids tripping or pulling wires.
Not everyone can pull that off though. Alternatively, and far more simply, you can just hide the cords cleverly with a wall mount or hidden panel of some type. There are also those silicone cable catching cords that just condense all the cables into one uniform mass like a column. You can even paint it to match your wall to camouflage it.
Closing Thoughts
Now not everything you’ll want in your gaming room was listed here. Some of you may want arcade cabinets (if you have room), a dedicated PC gaming section, or even a minifridge. This list is, in my mind, the bare essentials for a video game room. Do you have other suggestions to share? Perhaps you think something listed is unnecessary? Sound off in the comment section! I would love to read all your thoughts on this! For more gaming articles and opinion pieces (such as my guide on which Final Fantasy to play first) click here! Don’t forget to subscribe to GeekNewsNow.net and stay geeky!
