Building a game room from the ground

I have been collecting video games for the past 25 years, and during that time, I’ve had a few game rooms. As the years have gone by, my collection has grown significantly, both in terms of the number of games and consoles. The biggest challenge that comes with this is running out of space to display my collection the way I want.

A few years ago, my wife and I had twins, which meant our house became too small for our growing family. With three kids and a space-consuming hobby like game collecting, it was time to move into something bigger. After searching for a suitable house for a while, we decided to build a brand-new home. There are plenty of benefits and considerations that come with building a house, but that’s a story for another time.

In this article, I’ll focus on the most important part: the game room. A brand-new space, built from the ground up, designed specifically for gaming and game collecting. I’ll share my thoughts on everything from the planning phase to the details of creating this space.

> Planning for the Future

One of my initial considerations was to ensure the house would remain marketable in case we ever needed to sell it due to unforeseen circumstances (loss of income, divorce, etc.). With that in mind, I designed the game room to be easily convertible into three "normal" rooms in the future.

In practice, this means the room can be divided evenly into three smaller spaces, each with its own window and floor heating. I wanted the room to only have one entrance, but the walls are prepared in the other two sections with door lintels, allowing doors to be added later if needed. These features are hidden and have no impact on the current design of the game room but make the space adaptable for worst-case scenarios. Should we (or a future buyer) need to make changes, it would involve closing the openings that connect the sections, cutting out spaces for two additional doors, and transforming the area into three functional rooms.

> Managing Sunlight and Windows

When planning the house, I knew sunlight would be a major concern. Sunlight can fade the colors on cardboard boxes over time and cause glare on TV screens, which isn’t ideal for gaming. To address this, I placed the game room with its windows facing north to minimize direct sunlight. This placement also worked well for the rest of the house, where natural light is more welcome.

In our area, there are minimum requirements for the size of windows and light incidence. At one point during the design process, the game room was treated as three separate rooms (due to the individual floor heating). However, when calculating light incidence, we considered it as one large room. This approach allowed us to meet the minimum requirements while keeping window surfaces small. Smaller windows not only reduce sunlight but also provide more wall space - essential for storing games.

> Optimizing Wall Space and Layout

Maximizing wall space was a critical part of the planning process. A square room offers less wall space than a rectangular one, but if the room is too long and narrow, it feels more like a hallway and becomes impractical for gaming. I carefully considered factors like my preferred distance from the TV, walking space between sections, and enough floor space to comfortably use PSVR or play Wii light gun games without bumping into my collection.

To maximize usability, I divided the game room into three smaller sections. This approach not only created more wall space but also allowed me to assign each section a specific theme or purpose:

PC and Retro PC Section: A workspace for my desktop, soldering, 3D printing, and other hobby-related activities.
Retro Gaming Section: Dedicated to my retro game collection.
Modern Gaming Section: Focused on newer consoles, VR, and light gun games.

> Window Placement for Functionality

The windows were designed with these sections in mind. The workspace features a large floor-to-ceiling window, which provides natural light and creates extra floorspace beneath it for my desk to fit in.

In the retro and modern gaming sections, smaller windows are positioned high on the wall to minimize sunlight exposure and allow for wall-mounted storage beneath them.

> Electrical and Network Planning

Another crucial aspect was the placement of electrical outlets. I wanted to avoid power cords running across the floor, so I planned outlets where I anticipate needing power. Similarly, I accounted for Ethernet connectivity by having the electrician install 16mm conduit pipes in strategic locations. This setup allows me to easily run cables to connect my PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and other devices directly to the router. Keeping all game room-related networking on the same router ensures better organization and an optimal Wi-Fi connection for my PlayStation Portal.

> Choosing the Right Shelves

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about selecting shelves for a game collection. Many shelves are unnecessarily deep, taking up valuable floor space. I prefer shelves with just enough depth to fit games, as this saves about 15cm of space around the room. Additionally, I favor wall-mounted shelves because they keep the floor visible, making the room feel larger and easier to clean.