Ways to make your game room more fun (besides the games)?

[Jeff AMN]

I'm working on a article about how to make your game room more enjoyable aside from cramming it with more games and toys. List some things that you do, and specifically how it makes the game room more enjoyable. I'll give credit to contributors in the article. You don't need to worry about grammar/formatting, I'll re-word it since I'm not using direct quotes.

I'll start with a simple one:

We have a giant whiteboard on one wall with a listing of the most popular games. Next to each game title, we leave room to record the name of a player and a high score. Basically it's a giant leaderboard. I know MAME can be recompiled with highscore.dat, but this allows people to walk in and see that I just knocked their Donkey Kong high score from the board and they are immediately in the mood to play. It's made for some fun times and for some tense playing. Just the other day my brother knocked my Missle Command score out while visiting with his wife and kids. I spent the next three days feverishly attacking his score...it still stands. 

It looks kinda like this (all numbers are examples):

Game ------- Score ------- Player --- Cab/MAME Donkey Kong:       76,300      Jeff         (Cab) Missle Command: 346,200       Mike        (Mame)

[BrentRadio]

Ummm....Beer!

 

[BobA]

I have a popcorn cart and a canned drink vending machine.  Everyone loves watching the popcorn pop and savouring the smell.  Of course you need a drink after the popcorn and one of the can selections that can be locked or unlocked is Beer.

 

[rlemmon]

I'm a poor s.o.b. but if i had a gameroom I would add a jukebox hooked into surround sound with hidden speakers. And a brass pole with a stripper would be nice to.   

[Apollo]

I large LCD screen with 10-20 most popular games by most often played with high scores would be pretty cool.
A beer fridge is a prerequisite of course
Chill out area with a couch or two and a TV and DVD

[TheAdMan]

Street fighter tournaments - for cash 

[BrentRadio]

I have the popcorn machine, candy machine, coke machine, slot machine, beer tap, big screen, surround sound, and the games, if they need more than that, tell them to bring there own drugs!

http://www.brentradio.com/JackDanielsBARcade.htm

 

Brent

[Guaranos]

My game room only has one arcade machine and one pinball machine in it, but it's a hit at every party.  Guys go home pestering their wives about building game rooms.  Heck, even the wives go home talking about building game rooms.  Why?  Atmosphere.

I picked a theme and decorated to that theme.  It was designed to be a space/alien type room.  It has a funky, alien-ish color scheme (purple and green).  There's curtains with planets on them, and the curtains completely block out the light from outside, making it feel like nighttime no matter when you're in there.  A pillow on the couch is covered in the same fabric, pulling that into the theme.  I also have purple LED lights running along the baseboard for kind of a runway (for aircraft not super models) feel.  There's Space Invaders on one wall, Star Wars toys on a shelf above the arcade cabinet, and a Space Duel marquee in a lightbox on another wall.  Even the air conditioning duct covers and the light fixture (always set on dim) are decorated with space stuff.  There's still some things that need to be pulled into the theme, particularly the couch and chair, but I'm working on that too.

Having a Nintendo Wii and a metal DDR pad in there doesn't hurt either, but you could say it delves into the "more toys and games" category.  However, what they bring to the table is something that arcade and pinball machines can't bring - they let the non-gamers get in on the action.  The fact is, you're always going to have someone at the party that isn't into video games and never was a big fan of pinball.  A surprising number of them will be willing to try out the Wii or DDR, though.  I'm not sure if it's the physical activity that they like, or if it's the relative accessibility of those games, but it works.

[patrickl]

Does a pool table count?

[rovingmind]

sliding door access to a barbecue pit?  (i only wish)

Mine has its own bathroom.

[ChadTower]

I knew a guy back in the day (back when arcades were still a commercial item) who worked in moving games... he would move a whole batch for an op and keep one as payment.  Ended up with a huge gameroom from it, lots of parties.

The reason I bring this up?  He had a small side room with a tanning booth in it.  Given that he was a pasty white guy, I asked, WTF is up with that?  Most credible answer ever:  women love free tanning and hate tan lines.  There was a minifridge with premade mixed drinks in the room too.

[btp2k2]

Street fighter tournaments - for cash 

Yeah, I've done a few of those....we do 10 dollar entry fee, winner takes home the pot.

Lot's of fun and lot's of drinking

[AcidArmitage]

I knew a guy back in the day (back when arcades were still a commercial item) who worked in moving games... he would move a whole batch for an op and keep one as payment.  Ended up with a huge gameroom from it, lots of parties.

The reason I bring this up?  He had a small side room with a tanning booth in it.  Given that he was a pasty white guy, I asked, WTF is up with that?  Most credible answer ever:  women love free tanning and hate tan lines.  There was a minifridge with premade mixed drinks in the room too.

BRILLIANT!

[Thenasty]

a working BAR with one the Cheesecakes (or more) serving the goodies 

[shardian]

The reason I bring this up?  He had a small side room with a tanning booth in it.  Given that he was a pasty white guy, I asked, WTF is up with that?  Most credible answer ever:  women love free tanning and hate tan lines. 

I guess the guy was also a member of byoss (build your own surveilance system) 

[shardian]

I can't really think of anything groundbreaking. Most of the usual suspects have already been mentioned. I do think that the wall colors can be a big difference. Paint your walls a totally crazy color that you would never paint a normal room in your house. When you walk into a room like that, it automatically puts your mind into a "fun" mood.

[ChadTower]

I guess the guy was also a member of byoss (build your own surveilance system) 

Nah, it was all straight up.  No door on the tanning room, either. 

[Ed_McCarron]

women love free tanning and hate tan lines.

This also plays into the logic of seduction.  The guy was obviously a genius.

Theres really only two steps:

Get a woman to your house.
Get her to take her shoes off.

Once a woman is comfortable enough to take her shoes off, odds are she'll not want to put them back on till morning.

[shardian]

Well I think it is officially required of you to include adding a tanning bed to your article.

[ChadTower]

Well, the tanning bed is gone now... once you get past, oh, 28 or so then the results become less worthwhile.  Or you end up that creepy guy trying to get young chicks into his arcade.

[Jeff AMN]

Well I think it is officially required of you to include adding a tanning bed to your article.

We'll see about that one... 

Still, the concept is solid. You should have things in the room to attract those that aren't all that interested in gaming so that it doesn't become a solely a geek's haven at all times.

[shardian]

I've seen a few guys gamerooms that have a "retro gaming corner". They have an old tv with a collection of old consoles and games attached. Noone can resist an atari or nintendo.

[moriartyds]

Dartboard is always a nice, simple addition to a game room.

We've also set up the arcade olympics:  Get a group of players to play 10 predetermined games (or random games).  Points for 1st/2nd/3rd based on points per game (1 quarter) 5/3/1.  Add up the points after all 10 games and declare a winner (usually with some pot of money on the line).

You can do something similar with drinking games.  Pick the 10 or so games and play each one.  Lowest score drinks a shot/beer/etc... highest score gets to pick someone to take a shot/beer/etc..

[Havok]

I have the popcorn machine, candy machine, coke machine, slot machine, beer tap, big screen, surround sound, and the games, if they need more than that, tell them to bring there own drugs!

http://www.brentradio.com/JackDanielsBARcade.htm

 

Brent

Now why would you put men's underpants in your bar? Women's, I can understand...

[ChadTower]

A dartboard is simple but a real space eater.  You need all the clearance of the dart pathway and you can't keep anything near it that you don't want full of holes.

[Green Giant]

I got an idea for one my girlfriend keeps bugging me about.  She wants her own photo booth.  I have a pretty simple plan for building the frame, but the software is the problem.

Anyone know how this could be done?  The only things I have found online involve very expensive software for commercial use.  I told her I would work on it in exchange for acceptance of my arcade.

Hoping this will spark an idea in some of you coders.  I am always happy to be a tester.

[ChadTower]

Buy her a game boy camera and you'll get the same crappy black and white photos.  For $5.

[shardian]

An idea I shared one time that was pretty popular was to get a restored, modified pay phone for the gameroom. They are on ebay all the time.

[ChadTower]

I think I've told this story here before, but here goes.

There is a standup coinop foot massager at Salem Willows Arcade.   It's from the 50s, I assume, and you stand on a heavily vibrating plate holding handles on the "cab" for stability.  It really vibrates the feet, knees, etc, and does refresh.  I've seen them from time to time on ebay or at auction.

My friends and I used to have a spot about 20 feet away by a pitch and bat that got little play.  It never took long for a woman to walk up, drop in a dime, discover what it really did, and come back with a cup full of times and go to town. 

Get one of those.  Just keep your mom off of it.

[rovingmind]

Ok chad we now expect pictures and dimensions. 

[Green Giant]

Bolt a bicycle seat on it and your wife/girlfriend will let you play your arcade all night long.   

[ChadTower]

The pics aren't coming through my proxy, but this sure sounds like the type of machine.  If someone can take one or two of the pics and attach them to this thread I can verify.

[MKChamp]

Center of my gameroom....Poker table. My game night with the friends starts with a cash-game Texas Holdem. When you lose your chips you can buy back in. If they lose their cash or their 'will' to lose more, they then migrate to the pinball machine, mame machine, dart board, foosball table or PS2.
Another reason the poker table is good is because you can play your board games on it when it's a 'couples' night and there are some wives that only play 'board' games...or 'bored' games is what I call them.

[shardian]

A friend of mine has one of those 3-in-1 bumper pool/poker/dining tables. His is very high quality - the dining table top could pass for a quality dining room table for sure. I want one for my gameroom, but can't find one locally.

[ChadTower]

Not too hard a build, yes?

Another suggestion would be a wall mounted video screen with a constant rotation of hair band music videos.  Everyone needs some Winger when they play Tempest.

[Chris G]

I second the dart board idea.  I have one and it's always a hit at parties, especially since I only have one cabinet.  I built a sort of framed backboard to go behind it to protect the wall and still look decent.

[shorthair]

Does a pool table count?

Hell yes it does. A true arcade has a large room or couple of rooms with the four major table-top sports (pool, foosball, air hockey, ping-pong...and if you're really wealthy, a snooker table).

You should have things in the room to attract those that aren't all that interested in gaming so that it doesn't become a solely a geek's haven at all times.

<blinks> geek's haven?

Woman, shoes off: depends on the kind. Although, it's mandatory in my place as shoes get taken off just inside the door.

Dart board: could use magnetic or those plastic-tipped ones.

Everyone needs some Winger when they play Tempest.

Um, as my metal friend in high school would say: "A-DIE-A" followed by some 'chun chun' of the real metal we listened to...perhaps along with some lines.

[ChadTower]

Who said Winger is metal?  I said hair music.

[shorthair]

My point exact-ly.

[amerish]

In addition to my MAME, I have a pool table / air hockey combo. Great for saving space and easy to switch from pool to air hockey (takes about 30 seconds).