Looking for something for that special someone or maybe your kids? I’ve put together a list of 11 Awesome Game Room Gifts for 2017 to help you with your holiday shopping this year. As a full disclosure, I own quite a few of these items myself and am an Amazon affiliate, which means that I get a small percentage if you buy anything based upon my recommendations (and it doesn’t cost you anything extra, it just goes to help pay for the hosting and expenses of this website). I would only recommend things I truly believe in and know about, I only want to help people.
These aren’t in any particular order, just 11 things I’d recommend.
#1 Nintendo Switch
Nintendo came out with a great system with the Switch, in the first 9 months it’s had a ton of good games including ARMS, Mario Odyssey, and Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild. The main thing it features is portability, it’s the first console that you’re able to pick up and take it with you. The drawback is that it’s not as powerful as the Xbox One or PS4 and 3rd party game support is somewhat weak. You can buy it here:
Nintendo Switch with Red/Blue Joycons
#2 Xbox One S
The Xbox One S is the best value proposition among the current consoles. Featuring a 4k Blu ray player, it can save you $100 having to buy that alongside your gaming console. Xbox Live is the best online network for game consoles in my opinion, and the console has great 3rd party support. It does not have as many games as the PS4 though, especially games from Japan like Persona 5. Racing games and first person shooters are generally two of the Xbox’s strengths.
#3 Playstation 4
The Playstation 4 is the best selling console of this generation. It also has the most games, though almost all major 3rd party releases are on both the Xbox and PS4. I don’t think you could go wrong with either the Xbox One S or Playstation 4, probably the biggest deciding factor is what your friends are playing with. If they’re all on Playstation 4 it would probably be better to go that way, and if they’re all on Xbox then it’s probably better to go that way. Or do like me and get both.
#3 Xbox One X
The Xbox One X just released this December and is the first console to bring true 4k gaming to the TV. The PS4 pro kind of did this last year but wasn’t quite powerful enough to do it. Probably the biggest advantage to the Xbox One X is the increase you get from existing games, games that ran poorly before may get a huge boost in performance. I’ve noticed a decrease in game loading times and framerates that are a lot more stable than before. The biggest drawback is the $499 price tag, so I wouldn’t advise buying one unless you have a fairly sizable 4k TV.
#4 Super Chexx Pro
The brand new release from ICE, after 40 years of numeric displays Super CHEXX was updated to have an LCD screen, new sound, and new lighting, all for only $200 more than it was before. Since they rarely change their games, you can be reasonably sure that if you buy one now it will probably be the same 10 years from now.
#5 Tornado Classic Foosball
The Tornado Classic Foosball is one of the best foosball tables you can buy right now. While maybe not the best bang for your buck table, Tornado is the standard by which all other foosball tables are judged. There’s also a sport model here but I’d recommend going with the classic because of the counterbalanced men, without them the guys will constantly fall back over and be in your way in 1 v 1 battles. I owned a Tornado Whirlwind which didn’t have the counterbalanced men and I regretted it, the one I have now has the counterbalanced men and it’s much better.
#6 Anki Overdrive
My kids got this for Christmas last year, it’s essentially the slot car track everyone loved as a kid updated to run with ipads, iphones, and other tablet devices for controls. It works pretty well but you have to keep it very clean. They always mention cleaning the track and the tires, but I found that cleaning the sensor underneath the car made more of a difference than anything else. When that sensor is dirty, the cars would not work very well at all.
#7 Epson 5040ub projector
I got this early last year as an upgrade over my Viewsonic 8100. At first I wasn’t sure if the upgrade was worth it, but as time has gone on I’ve become more and more a fan of the projector. The best thing it does in my opinion is have really good contrast in comparison to my Viewsonic. On my Viewsonic, in the dark scenes everything was kind of grey and lighted. Not so on the Epson, a significant improvement. It’s one drawback is that its HDR and 4k output are limited righted now, but considering this is half the price of the only projector that currently does that (a $5k Sony one) this projector is a great bang for the buck.
#8 Viper 800 Dart Board
If you have little kids, this is something you should probably pass on unless you want a lot of holes in your wall. If that isn’t an issue, then this could be a very economical addition to your game room, one of the cheapest things on this list plus will last for years. It’s one of those things that never goes out of style.
#9 Crosley Jukebox
Big, expensive, and super cool are words I would use to describe the Crosley Jukebox. Our course, in today’s world of $700 Sonos speakers, maybe spending over $1k for a Jukebox isn’t such a bad deal. I would recommend getting the stand underneath as well, otherwise it will probably be too short.
#10 Paragon Popcorn popper
No home theater would be complete with a popcorn popper, and Paragon makes some of the best ones. I have a 4 oz model that I bought 5 years and it’s been great. Probably the only downside is that it does take a little effort if you want to keep it super clean, but I never really bothered to keep it sparkling. Some people might recommend the 6oz, but with a family of 4, 4 oz was perfect. If I ever needed more, it was easy to just cook another batch.
#11 TCL 55″ TV
What? A TCL TV? Yes, it sounds weird, but somehow TCL has came out of nowhere and produced a TV that has an outstanding picture and great features. Featuring a roku built in and some of the best response time for a TV (important for gaming), it’s a great value. The 55″ has been a #1 pick by video gamers this year. I know a lot of people won’t buy anything that doesn’t have a big brand name, but 1000 4.5 star reviews on Amazon can’t be that far off.
Hope this 11 awesome game room gifts for 2017 guide has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, please email me as I own or have used almost all of these items.
