TOPIC: Building a game room

Also another good thing to take note of is asking yourself two questions, how high tech based are you and how extra do you wish you were?

Which is to say, for your gaming table are you someone who wants a TV in it to serve as a battle mat? Are you getting a fancy table with wireless charging? If so you may want to consider 1 floor outlet to solve a potential tripping hazard or aesthetic issue from hiding cords.

As for extra, that is asking yourself do you want any kind of sound system? Are you like me and gonna program a big red button to have your players push every time there is an encounter that turns the lets red and starts battle music? Cause right now is a good time to plan for those extra cords and fixtures.

Something that could impact space as well.... I've gotten great use out of flat files (the drawers designed for holding blueprints and such laid out flat) in my game room. They're awesome for storing maps in a non-rolledup form as well as storing modular terrain pieces. But they do take up a lot of floor space, especially once you take into account opening the drawer and being able to stand in front of them.

I'm not saying they are a must-have, but they are definitely something you'd want to give thought to ahead of time, just in case you want to add them in the future.

My wife and I just bought a house last December, and one of the selling points to us was a large finished basement with a bedroom. The bedroom is our game "library" where we have shelves with the games and a small couch, coffee table, and short seats for casual games. The bulk of the basement is a long room where we're putting folding tables for open invite game days.

Not to get too Hobbit on this, but let's talk about food and drink

The previous owners had installed a full sized fridge and an upright freezer in the basement. They also had a little cubby perfect size for a microwave. This is wonderful for our needs, as we keep beverages in the fridge and various snack items (pizza rolls, hot pockets, other frozen appetizers") in the freezer. We also have a microwave, countertop convection over, and I want to get one of those countertop pizza ovens you see at snack stands/bars. We also have an area with a buffet set up to house steam tray racks (top) and keep all our disposable plates, cups, plasticware, etc.

So, some questions to answer:
- Where do you keep the group's food? That is, where does the pizza go? The chip bowls? Bowls of dips (guac, salsa, etc.)?
- Where do you keep the beverages?
- How do you heat/reheat food?

If you have a full-sized fridge or various countertop kitchen appliances, you will want to run a dedicated circuit to the outlet for each appliance. For countertop appliances, you probably want a GFCI outlet on those as well.

Also, ventilation may be a concern. Bunch of nerds in a confined space for many hours = some funk.

Finally, I'm a fan of hard surfaces for game rooms, with maybe an area rug under the table. Reason is just cleaning/maintenance. Unless you ban snacks at the game table, you will have crumbs and spills. Do you want that falling on carpet that you need to treat? Or do you want it on tile where you can easily wipe it up?

My game room has a keyless pinpad lock on the door. My older kids are pretty good but when they were younger, the younger of the two was a bugger at the best of times, hence limited access to my collection of games, computer, liquor cabinet, etc. Now that they are a little older I really don't have an issue but I also have a 2.5 year old right now, who is pretty good honestly but toddlers are toddlers. And if the kids have friends over, I can't be having them run amuck in there. That being said, when I'm home and am in and out of there, the door is of course open and kids can come in, etc.

My planned gameroom will be in a walkout basement.
I originally dreamed of having a doorway extra large in which I could install a round door.
Probably too far out there I know.
Thanks for all the ideas! It has already got me thinking of things that I never would have

Ours is 15x13 with a 4x8.5’ table and shelves on two walls. I like the size and leaves room to walk around the table when people are seated.

Thats really nice

curiosity. any updated?

I am (hopefully) in the home stretches of building a home. We put in for the building permit June 2020 - at present, our best guess for a move-in date is June or July of this year - supply chain and labor shortages are brutal for building a home right now. Be patient - you run into a million things you have to navigate through.

My gaming space is the in finished basement. We have a wet bar on the north side or the room and comic collections in comic drawers on the south side (the gaming room is adjacent to a media room so it seemed to be a good location for use of that bar). The dimensions are just over 16' x 19'. I mention the bar and drawers because those eat up 3-4' on each side, leaving a 16' x 15' room.

Smak's notes about recommending plenty of space are dead on (everywhere, not just the gaming room.) We went with ADA standards for all doorways and slightly wider hallways for aging in place. I am in the process of ordering a gaming table now (in separate thread, I am asking for thoughts/suggestions on that.) It sounds strange but any table bigger than 8' x 4' really makes the room feel cramped (we taped out dimensions and walked through the space.) Remember, you want a few feet for walking around the table as well as entering the room. The table shouldn't be against a wall so that makes the zone needed pretty big.

One recommendation I am already using is to have adjustable comfy bar stools with armrests for the chairs for the table. My likely table will convert from a recessed gaming table to flat top and it will be nice to not have two different chairs needed for that.

Smak is also dead on regarding power. If you can swing it, do in-floor power (4 outlets) under the gaming table in case you ever use electronic game table options. In-floor power has to be planned from day one of home build as it is an incredible pain to add it once the foundation is poured and initial flooring starts. Our architect made a mistake on our media room and forgot the in-floor power - fixing that was a pain. You'll also want adjustable angle led lights shining down from above on the table - two sets give you great illumination. I incorporated that into pendent lighting and it was fairly easy and not terribly expensive.

Storage is critical. We all tend to have TONS of games and accessories, figs, etc.. Dedicating a wall to shelving like what Kirk did is definitely worth it. In 16 x 19, I ran out of storage space for my gaming room and decided all my True Dungeon stuff will be in a different area. As is, mini storage is a challenge - forcing me to put everything (mostly) in foam so they are easier to store.

Flooring should be a consideration as well. The problem with normal basement flooring is concrete isn't comfortable to stand on for long periods of time. Wood flooring is a bit better but some carpeting is preferable (even if it is just area rugs on wood floor.)

My back-up plan if the space gets too cluttered is to do a finished barn loft in our produce/equipment barn. The downside is it won't be quite as comfortable (even after being insulated) and won't have all the conveniences of being inside the house. The upside is it could be really big.

It's good to plan it out in advance giving thought to how you'd use it, etc..

Good luck!

Fred

i have been thinking about the gaming table. 4 X 8 sounds good, but i have short arms and a belly. moving pieces on a board sometimes means getting up and down alot. some friends and i have tested a 3 X 8 prototype. a buddy made a 3 X 5 with locking wheels, and 2 2' leaves in the middle.

Size of table depends on what you play too. For 40k, I like 8’ x 4’ or even 8x4.5 since it gives you a little extra room on the sides of the map to put figures, rules books, etc.

Limitless wrote: Ours is 15x13 with a 4x8.5’ table and shelves on two walls. I like the size and leaves room to walk around the table when people are seated.

Wow. Looks great!