Retro gaming involves collecting old games and setting up a gaming room to create a classic vibe in houses. This is usually a favorite for classic gamers who want to relive some old gaming times or new gamers who want to experience old games. Unfortunately, as games keep changing and other generations of consoles are introduced at gaming stores, old games and consoles are usually sold or disposed of.
However, this is a good chance for you to collect these games and create a gaming room in your house. You can own your own cabinet full of classic games, some that are no longer in the market, and reminisce your old gaming days.
How To Set Up A Retro Game Room
Once you collect some of your retro games, you’ll need to set up your room to match an old theme. These themes can match any previous gaming period from your childhood or even way long before you existed. It all depends on your preference and taste.
In this article, you’ll learn how you can set up your gaming room to relive the golden age of video games.
- Create A Versatile Room
When setting up a retro gaming room, the first step is looking for a versatile room that’ll accommodate different games. Other than old games you’ve collected and old computers you’ve kept in condition, you can also add a pool table, music instruments, and screens.
When you place all these in one room, it gives off classic arcade vibes where everyone back then joined together to do one thing—play video games. It’ll also enhance the experience in your gaming room and give your other friends the opportunity to play other games.
- Choose An Old-Game Theme
When decorating your gaming room, choose a theme of one of the classic games and use it as the dominant decor. These themes could be paintings, stickers, and memorabilia from that specific game you collected. You can also try a mix-and-match theme where you combine themes from different retro games and elements from today’s video games.
Other than a classic game theme, you can also choose a theme from old bars or old casinos, say from the ’80s. With these themes, your room will generally spell one thing—let’s play games!
- Choose Vintage Colors
Vintage is the best color to use when creating a retro gaming room. You can use these colors on the furniture, decor, and other paintings in the room. You can also add some lights to help spice up your retro gaming room. Bold vintage colors usually come in neon pink, turquoise, white, and gray—think Miami Vice. You could also go with the traditional route with reds, yellows, greens, and navy blues.
Unlike the modern video game color palette where everything has to be gritty, sleek, minimal or a combination of all—a retro room calls for vibrant, happy-go-lucky colors, exuberating youth.
- Create A Scoreboard
A scoreboard is a typical accessory for a retro game room. For games such as pool, cards, and darts, the best way to keep records is through keeping scores. Other game rooms have digital scoreboards that capture scores. However, getting these digital records for an old gaming room clashes with the theme and purpose of the room. One way to keep tabs on the best of the best is a traditional scoreboard where you and your friends can compare and brag about one another’s scores.
- Hang Framed Pictures
During the old days, one of the significant characteristics of living rooms was the presence of framed pictures of parents or children. This can also be applied to your retro gaming room to bring moments of the old days. If you have photos of your old gaming days, a friend’s, family, or any other person playing games, you can frame them and hang them in your retro gaming room.
- Make A Gaming Closet
Most old games aren’t digital and are stored in cartridges and CDs, which would then be inserted into gaming consoles so you could play them. Because of their physical size, you’ll need a closet where you’ll store your games. Of course, to keep in line with the retro aesthetic, your closet should be made of wood, as an homage to the coming together of the old and the new.
A closet full of old games is the ultimate symbol of retro gaming. Anyone walking into the room can quickly identify whether or not you’re a gamer with your retro games collection.
- Buy An Old School Arcade Machine
If you have some extra space in your gaming room, consider spicing it up with a retro arcade machine. This blast from the past will certainly bring back memories of afterschool adventures to your local arcades. However, getting a retro arcade can be complex as most of them have been digitalized. As a result, if you manage to find one, your gaming room will be the ultimate retro gaming room, but you might have to shell out extra as these can be rare and highly sought after.
Conclusion
Retro gaming is a great way for a gamer to relive their old gaming days. Follow these tips on how to create an old-school gaming room, buy the old games you want, and enjoy it with your friends and family (or by yourself). Even though changes and improvements are being made in the gaming industry and old games are considered remnants of the past, there’s still a place for classic games in this world—in your gaming room.
