Two Crude Dudes: Maintaining The Game Room

Hello again! I had promised taking some updated pictures of recent changes I’ve made to the game room and I thought instead of just updating that page, why not turn this into a blog entry. This way I can share all the trials, tribulations, and aggravation of reorganizing all of it but also to discuss the gratification of getting things just so. During this blog I’m going to share some rules and tips that hopefully will be helpful to those of you who are just starting your game room, or those who would like one down the road.

When you first start this adventure, knowing the limitations of your space is going to be important. Lots of people only use one room but some devote entire basements or multiple rooms to their love of gaming. In the planning stages, knowing what you’d like to do and knowing what you’re allowed to do are two entirely separate things.

Hitman Tommy’s Game Room Rule #1- Always ask Permission.

Of course if you live alone this rule doesn’t really apply, but for the rest of us, if you’re living with a significant other, don’t assume that it’ll be okay until you ask. The love of a good woman is hard to find….the love of a woman who’s willing to let you fill up an entire room of the house with video games and other bullshit is extremely hard to find. Thankfully in my situation, when we were house shopping my wife and I had an understanding that I was allowed one room in the house to pretty much do as I please with.

The actual setup of the game room I don’t have any specific rules for. You just need to make sure that it works for you. Looking at other game rooms online is fine and you’ll probably find some ideas that you’d like to copy but creating a setup that is unique and "yours" can be very rewarding. I do realize that there is a limitation on how creative one can be with bookshelves and Sonic posters, but my point is that you need to think about the long term when it comes to setting things up. Once you fill the shelves with games, rearranging shelving units can become a real pain in the ass.

However if you’re a reader of this blog you’ve probably figured all this out already, so let's assume you’ve build your game room and filled it with lots of great games. If you’re an active chaser like Tyson and I who usually get out once a week you’ll probably find that you need to readjust things on a frequent basis. I know when playing/collecting games became my number one hobby adding games into my collection was always cumbersome and I’d end up with a stack of games sitting on the floor waiting to be filed. Three bookshelves and a few media racks later, I still run into this on occasion but now it’s just because I need to go buy more shelves.

Hitman Tommy’s Game Room Rule #2- Don’t pack/stack things to the tits.

There’s nothing worse than coming home from a night of chasing, logging your new games online, walking into the game room and realizing that your awesome Sega CD find at the pawn shop doesn’t have room on the shelf. To make matters worse like an idiot you’ve completely packed the shelf above and below it so there’s no chance of just sliding a couple titles down a row. Three hours later you’ve just finished moving 600 fucking games to make room for the one you just bought and you’re left wishing that you had the $3 it cost you back instead.

All of that time and effort could have been avoided if you only planned for future purchases. There are only three constants in life: Death, Taxes, and the knowledge that you’re going to buy more games, so why not leave some space for next time. Sure, this won’t work every time, but it’ll definitely reduce how often you have to go through the Cirque Du Soleil act of rearrangement.

The "Wrong" Way

The "Right" Way

That is probably the biggest issue with game room upkeep is where to put the new stuff. But this sort of ties in with my last "rule" so to speak

Hitman Tommy's Game Room Rule #3- Don't be afraid to get creative.

Let's face it, game collecting is a very rewarding hobby, but is also very expensive. The vast majority of us that spend our time chasing down cheap games do it because we're on a limited budget. Typically we don't live in 3000 sq. ft mansions with unlimited space to display our collections. For those that do......... Fuck those guys! Of course I'm kidding around, that's nothing more than being jealous over the extra income some of these fellow collectors have. Obviously, they've worked hard to have a good career and as a result, being able to buy the really rare items is their reward, but I digress.

My game room is on the main floor of my house and is about 90 sq. feet. Utilizing every last inch to it's fullest capabilities is an absolute must and thankfully I'm able to be creative when needed to be. It's not like I'm creating one of the 7 Wonders of the World, but whenever I create some more shelf space without making things look bad is always a great feeling.

Please keep in mind that while I've made this sound like it's work and not fun at all, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I love maintaining and tweaking my game room and honestly it will never be exactly how I want it to be, but who knows...maybe someday. But thus far I've been able to provide myself with a comfortable space to enjoy my collection and yes, even play these games from our childhood. You need to be able to make due with what you have and what you can afford. The morning that I wake up and only care about games because they're rare, and don't have fun collecting anymore will be the day I list everything on eBay. Nothing is worth doing unless you enjoy it and have fun doing it.

With that I leave you with some final pictures of the current state of my game sanctuary. Until next time, keep searching for those deals and have fun!