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New Games/Media room suggestions


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So the missus and I are building a new house in 2019 (freakin woohoo) & I’ve managed to have the minister of finance and events agree to the media room including space for four pinball machines :)

 

Currently the room (on paper) is just shy of 4m x 5m. I’m looking for some suggested spacing of standard pinball machines, to make sure I allocate the correct room width/depth.

 

We were thinking of allocating ~2m to fit the four pinball machines at the back of the room & the front ~3m for media.

 

Will four pinball machines fit comfortably in a 2m x 4m area? (Assuming extra standing room in front of them)

How much space do you usually leave between tables to play comfortably?

Any tips on electrical? Will two double outlets suffice? Same circuit? Or different?

Anything else I’ve not thought of?

 

I’ll upload a pic tomorrow to show the proposed layout

 

Thanks champs

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I currently have 4 pinball machines in a similar sized room against the ~5m wall.

I will be able to fit a 5th one in, but am concerned about what space that will leave for maintenance. Nothing else in the room except a 30cm wide drinks bar on the opposite wall.

 

For your room, 4 pinballs will fit, albeit not very comfortably in the allocated space, and leave little to no space for maintenance. I have seen machines down to about 10cm apart. For power, ideally I would have a double outlet per machine on a separate cirtcuit, but you could get away with 2 doubles on same circuit.

 

What seating for how many and screen size do you have planned for the media side? Seems pretty tight also, even with seating for 2.

 

Have you considered forgetting the media side and using the room as dedicated pinball / games? Not sure it’s worth trying to squeeze both into the same space.

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Floorplanner.com is free and is great to sort things out to get the best space.

 

Also you could look at a short throw projector and retractable screen. That way it's just pins and chairs, but media when you want it.

 

Sent from my HTC 2PZF1 using Tapatalk

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I have four machines against a wall, the machines are literally backbox to backbox, with around 1.5cm between each one. I have no more space, so they have to be crammed together by necessity. You can play them comfortably, no worries there, but working on them is a bitch. To get to the back of a playfield or the backbox, I often have to pull a machine out of the lineup, as there isn't enough space between the machines to work on them. I recommend trying to leave a large enough gap between each machine so you can comfortably squeeze down the side of each machine to remove backglasses and work on stuff.

 

Also, take into account different pinball playstyles. I like to lean forward on the lockdown bar and put my legs out a bit. I find it difficult to play when there is not enough room to put my legs back and am crammed right up against a machine.

 

As for electrical, 4 pins will run no worries on one circuit. You would not believe the amount of shit I have running on one circuit in my room. I really need to get a second circuit installed.

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Currently I have only two machines, so space won't be an issue for the next 12 months or so, but I've been approved for four :D Just gaining ideas/thoughts/recommendations - you've all been great so far.

 

On the maintenance front, good thought about glass removal and getting down the side of a machine - I'll be able to move the couch for glass removal I guess, but that'll be an annoying endeavour for a single stuck ball or broken rubber.. Any major maintenance can be done in the shed if required.

 

I hadn't considered facing the machines at each other, two on either wall, rather than lining them up.... hrmm… That might allow better maintenance access..

 

As per the pic above, doors are cavity sliders to avoid space issues. We're unsure on seating (the couch is just a placeholder), currently we have a 42" plasma, but this will get upgraded to something more appropriate after we move in - perhaps a 55" or even a 65", depending on depth/space etc. There's soooo many different guides on the internet about screen size/distance...

 

I'll see if we can get two different power circuits into the room if possible.

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Do you have any pinballs now? do you have a media room now? or are these both new things for you and your wife? just wondering if you already have usage patterns for these things or not.

 

I have a games room with 4 pins and a few arcades and a bar, in my experience people who come over to play the pins generally don't want to play the arcades and they never want to sit and watch a movie, if they are not playing pins they are standing at the bar chatting. Mostly my games room gets used by me on my own playing both the pins and the arcade games in the same session, I enjoy playing on my own and reliving my childhood dream of having games like this at home.

 

Some of my mates have a large screen on the wall in their games room for music video clips etc, but once again no-one ever watches a movie. So turning part of my games room into a media room would not be a consideration for me, we watch TV upstairs in the lounge room. But each to their own, you might find that the media room part is good value for you and your lifestyle.

 

Having a toilet near the games room is handy so that pinball guests don't need to traipse through the house and disturb your Mrs who is trying to catch up on watching Vikings on the TV in the lounge room while you and your loud mates thump pinballs and talk shit :)

 

Where is the fridge going? I just have a little bar fridge which doesn't take up much room, for parties we bring in Eskies.

 

Space is important, IMO the focus should be on is it comfortable rather than will it fit, squeezing past people who are playing is never fun and pins so close that you hit each others hands when trying to play is not ideal either.

 

Noise is another consideration, unfortunately my games room runs right under the master bedroom and our sons room, generally that doesn't matter as when I play on my own I finish early. It is double brick and I have covered the windows with 3 different layers of insulation to block out the noise and we can crank up the sound without disturbing the neighbors which is great for parties. But ideally it would have been better if the games room was under the lounge room instead of the bedrooms.

 

Lighting is important also and worthy of some good research, you want to light the pinballs without causing glare and have controllable ambient light for the rest of the room.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

To clarify, my wife did a quick mock-up in CAD:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]140048[/ATTACH]

 

 

The dotted line was a potential curtain divider idea, and is probably far too far forward, but you get the general idea. Thoughts?

 

Why the L shaped couch? only 3 seats are usable for viewing the screen. Two recliners with a table between for you and your wife and a couple of bean bag chairs for guests that can be put away when not in use would be my suggestion if you must clutter up your games room with a media center :)

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