This past year on the Gameroom Junkies blog, has been incredible. We had the opportunity to feature some of the most spectacular, innovative, and interesting gamerooms across the country! To end the year out, we decided to hold a contest, determined by popular vote, to decide the BEST gameroom of 2011. The votes have been tallied, and the decision is in.
Before we get to the winners, however, we at Gameroom Junkies want to hand out some awards to game rooms we felt stood out and were deserving of recognition. Winners of these will be presented with a certificate to show off their honor.
Best Use of Space: The Elbow Room Arcade
Proof that big things can come in small packages, this tidy little space is packed to the brim with awesomeness. With no room in his home, Greg constructed this custom shed in his backyard to house his home arcade. I still have no idea how he was able to fit so many games in such a compact space.
Most Unique Theme: The Lost Highway Arcade
John P. McCann puts a lot of energy into making his home arcade a unique space. While others may just hang some posters on the wall, John mounts actual telephone poles, paints murals, clothes mannequins, and produces a complete radio theatre production and story book to tell the backstory about his arcade theme.
Most Innovative Gameroom Feature: Zombies Ate My Arcade
Ever since I saw Emmanuel Lewis on the TV show “Webster” discover a secret passage behind his clock, I dreamed of having my own “batcave” entrance. Zombies Ate My Arcade creator David Thompson actually achieved the dream by building his own “haunted bookshelf” that not only hides the entrance to his horror-themed room, but also has mechanized books that move to create the illusion of being haunted. Spooky and awesome!
And Now On To The Winners!……
3rd Place: John’s Arcade and The Nut House (tie)
We are all clamoring for John to take us “…IN THE BASEMENT!” again and again to show off his incredible collection of arcade and pinball machines. This host of Video Game Outsiders Podcast and member of the band Kill Screens is a video game and pinball machine fanatic as evident by his killer gameroom. If you haven’t seen his gameroom before, take a tour with the video below. John will win his choice of a new-old-stock Mortal Kombat III art kit or a $25 gift card to This Old Game or Pinball Life.
Todd Carter’s gameroom, The Nut House, is a pinball collector’s dream come true. With over 13 pinball machines, a multicade, and bar, Todd and his guests can turn on the jukebox and spend hours and hours playing games and reliving the days of their youth. Todd will win his choice of a new-old-stock Mortal Kombat III art kit or a $25 gift card to This Old Game or Pinball Life.
2nd Place: “Golden Age” Arcade
Brett Pulliam’s arcade is almost like stepping back in time. While many of us collect to revisit our youth, when you take a look at the dedicated classic games, retro paint color scheme, and hear the classic tunes jamming on the jukebox, you’re whisked away to the golden age of arcades – a time that is long gone, except in Brett’s home that is. Brett wins a set of Asteroids wall art from Think Geek.
1st Place: Tranquility Base Arcade
A gameroom can be as simple as throwing a couple of your favorites in a garage and calling it done. For Alan Radue, building a gameroom is something that takes as much skill, innovation, and precision as putting a man on the moon. His Apollo-themed home arcade incorporates true classic gems including black-and-white forgotten classics and golden age gems alike. Making sure his theme is pervasive, he has a custom sign, custom bar stools, and a unique NASA phone.
In fact, Alan has been busy since our initial showcase adding LED lighted doorways and a lighted bartop counter. You can see Alan’s gameroom features in all their glory by checking out his youtube videos. A portion of his collection can be seen in the embedded video below. Mr. Radue will win a $50 gift certificate to either This Old Game or Pinball Life.
Alan, for all your work in creating a unique space filled with killer games, we salute you. When designing our own gamerooms, you make all of us “Gameroom Junkies” jealous and want to shoot for the moon.
[highlight color=”yellow”]If YOU have a gameroom, we want you to share it with us! Please take some time to submit your gameroom to Gameroom Junkies by sending us an email to gameroomjunkies@gmail.com . Perhaps your gameroom could be crowned winner of 2012′s Gameroom of the Year contest![/highlight]
Wow, some really great game rooms there. They all blow my gameroom away, I can tell you that!
Congratulations to each of the winners! You have created truly unique spaces worthy of this high praise!