Game Room Rises from the Ashes

After giving up the dream (for now, anyway) of our retro arcade machine (it broke, I couldn't fix it, and programming the controls was like neuroscience so now it's in the garage), the question of what to do with that now-empty basement room arose. The main basement game room, mind you, is a dedicated designer board gaming room. This is the OTHER basement game room we're talking about.

Our focus changed to consoles. After all, we've owned consoles, they're less intimidating than a 500-pound arcade machine, and easier to obtain, for sure. How about a retro 80s console room? In a nutshell, a sort of dream room for us as kids. We've acquired the SEGA Genesis and Master System, but that's more my husband's realm than mine. I was a Magnavox/Atari/NES girl. So the most exciting part for me has been the last couple of weeks, where we focused on Atari 2600.

The first of the spoils of our Atari Ebay efforts arrived in the mail today, just a small collection of a dozen cartridges and a couple controllers, but it was exciting and brought back SO many memories.

Decorating the room is going to be loads of fun. I've got a collection of Ms. Pac-Man bubblegum cards (from a good friend - HI ROBERT! - but I used to spend ALL my allowance on these babies) that will be going up in sleeves on one part of the wall. The rest of them will go into a Trapper Keeper. Probably covered with Trend scratch n' sniff stickers. We're going to take it slow, and make sure we make good choices for the accessories to include, but our Choose Your Own Adventure collection will definitely be on display, and I'm sorely tempted to get some old He-Man action figures...

I've been pondering movie posters, which may be a very hard thing to decide. I think there's room for 5 11 x 17 posters. Will it be Airplane, Breakfast Club, Goonies, Labyrinth and Aliens? Ferris Bueller, Rocky, Red Dawn, Cloak and Dagger, and Wrath of Khan? Much harder than choosing game cartridges.

I already had a neon "Nintendo" logo sign, and an original marketing mobile for Atari 2600 E.T. We used these on one wall so far:



I'll start putting up pictures of the actual room and our console collection soon. One of the best parts? Our 3 and 4 year-olds LOVE it! They're already playing the Genesis games. They dragged the babysitter downstairs to show her the Mario decals on the wall at their first opportunity. So cute.