Would you prefer open or closed room arcades?

parabolic

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
2,171
Reaction score
32
Location
Greer, South Carolina
So...
still in the midst of my move to SC. Been here almost a week now, and the games (among 98% of all my other earthly possessions) are in storage, and im living in a furnished apartment. Weve been killing the empty days waiting to start our jobs on Monday scouring the area looking for a house. Finding one down here with a basement is tough. The ones I like that are an "open" basement are just out of my price range, and the ones I can afford (in fact I put a bid in on 1) have enough room, but they are sectioned off into rooms. Now the kicker to that is these homes that have basements (even unfinished) have 2x6 studded out walls that cannot be moved as they support the house. The traditional Ibeam and poles arent there (for at least this type of builder).
So back to the issue.......
Im trying to envision what to do for the arcade. I have the whole basement area for it (about 1200 sq ft), and am fishing for some ideas and maybe some pics of what guys have done with multiple rooms for an arcade (as well as prefrences) vs one large room (which I was really wanting)
cmon guys - help me out with my writers block. Too much bs this week with the move to let me think straight.
 
draw it out, grab one of the Free programs online and start there. map it out and see what your possibilities are..you might be surprised that you like it or find out what will/wont work for you..
Good luck
 
Down South the other option is to look for a home that has a large shop on the property. Don't just limit yourself to basements..at least with a detached garage or shop you don't have to lug games down stairs. ;) Those are usually designed to be big open spaces.
 
Down South the other option is to look for a home that has a large shop on the property. Don't just limit yourself to basements..at least with a detached garage or shop you don't have to lug games down stairs. ;) Those are usually designed to be big open spaces.
Yah,
Ive been going that route too - just cant find anything like that in our range :(
lugging down stairs isnt a problem since they just dont or wont build a basement down here unless its exposed and the property slopes.

So like I said - anyone have a similar problem they have overcome with a chopped up basement and made multiple arcade rooms?
 
So like I said - anyone have a similar problem they have overcome with a chopped up basement and made multiple arcade rooms?

I am going to be doing that, but I prefer the open floor plan. My main gameroom isn't big enuff anymore, so I am taking over the guest bedroom downstairs as well. That should fit 7-8 games comfortably, in addition to the 12-15 in the main gameroom. Removing doors and storing them is key to flow when you expand to an adjoining room.
 
Watch my Youtube video; my basement is basically split into 2 rooms. They do flow nicely into one another even though its just a standard size door walkthru. Things you can't see in the video is a small storage area(maybe 2 and a half feet by 8 feet) and the unfinished bathroom which is currently a storage for all our xmas and halloween stuff, and misc. junk. But the basement was definitely not laid out by my Dad years ago(he built the place) with building an arcade in mind. But I made it work years later. If you can't knock out a wall, decorate each room in a different way maybe. Make each one a different theme. Just my opinion.
 
Now the kicker to that is these homes that have basements (even unfinished) have 2x6 studded out walls that cannot be moved as they support the house. The traditional Ibeam and poles arent there (for at least this type of builder).

You have the answer right there. The walls can be removed and replaced with a load bearing beam and jack posts.

If you're planning to live in this house for a while, an unfinished basement is the most customizable :) .. also not all dividing walls are load bearing, it depends on the direction they're running. But hey, maybe they build houses completely different in the states :)

But even if you had two finished rooms or such, and it was divided by a load bearing wall .. you can always install a double door opening with a header to support the load
 
Back
Top Bottom