Gifts
Gifts for Someone Setting Up a New Game Room
They have the table. They do not yet have any of the things that make it work. That gap is the gift.
How these picks were made: from published manufacturer specifications, governing-body standards and the room arithmetic - not from first-hand use. We have not played on these tables. Read the method.
Someone who has just bought a game room table is in an unusual position: the budget went on the big object, and none of the small things that make it work came with it. That is the easiest gifting gap on this site to fill well.
What a new game room is always missing
| Missing | Why | The gift |
|---|---|---|
| A short cue | One rail is always closer to a wall than a 58 in cue can clear | 48 or 52 in cue |
| Decent balls | Bundled sets are the cheapest part of the purchase | Phenolic resin set |
| Proper lighting | The room has whatever fixture was already on the ceiling | Three-shade bar or linear LED |
| A floor | New basements and garages are bare slab | Carpet or rubber tiles |
| Wall protection | A new dart board is screwed straight to drywall | A surround or backboard |
| A cover | Dust ends a brand-new cloth fastest | A fitted cover |
| A maintenance kit | Nobody thinks about cloth care in month one | Brush and rail cloth |
Quick picks
| # | Product | Best for | Key spec | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Players Short Pool Cue (48 in / 52 in) | The first thing they will need | 48 in / 52 in | |
| 2 |  Aramith Premier Billiard Ball Set | Replacing what came in the box | Standard 2.25 in set | |
| 3 |  Hathaway 3-Shade Billiard Table Light | The thing nobody budgets for | 3 shades on a bar | |
| 4 |  Peel-and-Stick Carpet Tile Squares | A bare slab | Replaceable squares | |
| 5 |  Winmau Pro-Line Dartboard Surround | A new dart board | Foam ring | |
| 6 |  Fitted Pool Table Cover | A table in a garage | Fitted, by size |
The picks
#1 · The first thing they will need
Players Short Pool Cue (48 in / 52 in)
A short cue for the side of the table that lost its clearance to a wall. Two of these fix most tight-room tables.
Nearly every home table has one rail closer to a wall than a 58-inch cue can clear. A new owner discovers this on day two and then puts off fixing it for two years. This is that fix.
- What works
- Almost universally needed in a home room
- Fits any standard table
- What does not
- Only relevant once there is a pool table
#2 · Replacing what came in the box
Aramith Premier Billiard Ball Set
Phenolic resin balls. They stay round, they do not chip, and they are the cheapest upgrade that changes how a table plays.
Bundled ball sets are the cheapest component of any table purchase, and the first thing a new owner would upgrade if they knew to. Phenolic resin balls stay round and do not chip.
- What works
- Fits any standard table
- The cheapest upgrade that changes how a table plays
- What does not
- Not for a coin-op bar table, which uses an oversized cue ball
#3 · The thing nobody budgets for
Hathaway 3-Shade Billiard Table Light
A three-shade bar fixture, the default pool-table light. Three shades are what get you even coverage over an 8-foot bed.
New game rooms are almost always lit by whatever fixture was already on the ceiling, and a single central light leaves both ends of a table dim. Three shades on a bar is the standard fix, and it genuinely changes the room.
- What works
- Transforms how the table plays at night
- Nobody buys this at the same time as the table
- What does not
- Needs about 8 ft of ceiling - check first
- A bigger-budget gift
#4 · A bare slab
Peel-and-Stick Carpet Tile Squares
Carpet tiles let you replace one 18-inch square after a chalk spill instead of a whole room. The practical basement floor.
A new basement or garage game room is usually a bare concrete floor: cold, loud and unforgiving of a dropped cue. People do not linger in a room that is unpleasant to stand in, and a room nobody lingers in does not get used.
- What works
- Warm and quiet underfoot
- Replace one square after a spill
- What does not
- Needs a dry subfloor - check for slab condensation first
#5 · A new dart board
Winmau Pro-Line Dartboard Surround
A foam ring that catches the darts that miss the board. Cheaper than filling holes, and it fits over most bristle boards.
If they have hung a board, it is probably screwed straight to the drywall. The holes accumulate quietly for months and then the whole wall needs repainting.
- What works
- Fits over most standard bristle boards
- Prevents damage that has already started
- What does not
- Does not catch genuinely wide throws
#6 · A table in a garage
Fitted Pool Table Cover
Dust is what kills cloth in a garage. A fitted cover is the cheapest item on this site and the one that pays back fastest.
Dust is what ends a cloth's life in a garage, and a brand-new cloth is the thing most worth protecting. You need their table size, which is the one question to ask.
- What works
- Protects the newest and most expensive surface in the room
- What does not
- Size-specific - 7 ft or 8 ft
What to avoid giving a new owner
- A cue, unless you know their room. A 58-inch cue is unusable on a rail with a wall three feet behind it, and weight is personal. A short cue is the exception, because it solves a measurable problem.
- Anything that needs assembly in their room. They have just finished assembling something far larger and they are not in the mood.
- Decoration. A new game room is somebody's project and they have opinions about it you have probably not heard yet.
- A second table. Obvious, and it still happens. Measure before anyone buys anything table-sized.
If the room is still being built
Flooring is the gift with the best timing, because it has to go down before the table does and it is the single thing most likely to be skipped. Lighting is next, for the same reason - it wants sorting before a heavy table is standing where the ladder needs to go.
And the free gift that is genuinely the most useful: send them the room arithmetic before they order the table. More game rooms are ruined by a table that does not fit than by anything money can fix afterwards.
How these were chosen
On what a new owner predictably lacks, how universally each item fits, and whether it can be bought without knowing a technical detail. Every product here appears in a category roundup on this site with its full reasoning. We have not used these products.
