Samples (
If you have an actual gaming room, or even if you just spend most of your lounge-based time gaming, it seems likely that you take your hobby seriously enough to want to ensure that external factors don’t utterly ruin your buzz (or Twitch revenue stream) accordingly.
While we can’t do anything about your mum calling you down for tea when you were just about to defeat the boss, we can provide some advice on the best blinds for a gaming room or a games room respectively, and give you a heads up on the sort of factors to consider when buying gaming room blinds too.
What you need to consider when it comes to gaming room blinds
I am kind of trying to kill two birds with one stone here; when I say “gaming” and “game,” I’m trying to encompass both online/screen-based games and real-life options like board games and even things like pool and snooker if you have that type of set-up going on.
These two different meanings of the term “game” sometimes diverge in terms of what they need from blinds; so depending on what you’re up to in your game room, the type of blinds that are the best pick for you might vary.
Based on my own experiences and that of other people I’ve polled, the main challenges or points to address for screen-based gamers are negating screen glare, and the need to control or even potentially block external light entering the room.
For real-world based endeavours like table games and board games, filtering light and taking the edge off harsh lighting that may make you squint and miss something tend to be the highest points on the agenda.
Blackout blinds for gaming rooms
For screen-based gamers, blackout blinds tend to be a popular choice for a couple of reasons. The first of these is that they totally negate the possibility of any screen glare (I used to be fairly deep into Guild Wars back in the day, and used to find it disproportionately annoying if a couple of hours in, the sun had the audacity to have crept around sufficiently to start to mess up my view).
The second is that having a dark room, particularly if you’re using any type of headset/3D kit, or even just have a massive monitor with a banging 3D soundbar, helps to make the experience more immersive, boost concentration, and cut down on potential distractions.
What are your options for blackout blinds for gaming rooms then? You have a lot of potential choices here. Roller blinds, vertical blinds, day and night blinds, and Roman blinds can all be made in blackout materials. Faux-wood blinds, real wood blinds, and Venetian blinds respectively are made of solid materials that have an innate blackout effect.
However, how you hang the blind impacts upon the actual degree to which it keeps the sun out; and for blackout vertical blinds, a light breeze or other air movement can move the louvres enough to let some light in.
Few gamers adamantly need or want a guaranteed pitch black room, but it is worth reading up on the factors that affect or can compromise the efficacy of blackout blinds before you make a final purchasing choice too.
Light-filtering blinds for games rooms
Say your room of choice is more games than gaming; I’m talking largely table games such as dice and card-based multiplayer affairs, but also to an extent, hobbies like pool and snooker if you practice these at home.
The main considerations here tend to be the need to avoid glare that might make you squint and so, ruin your enjoyment of the game, risk headaches, and potentially, fail to spot something important; whilst avoiding blocking all of the natural light the room gets too.
There are lots of light-filtering blinds to choose from here; some are also, or can be made in, blackout format as well.
Faux-wood, real wood, and aluminium Venetian blinds are perhaps the most popular choices of light-filtering blinds, and those that allow you to exercise the most precise degree of control over the light level and angle that the light enters the room at.
Day and night blinds are perhaps the best pick for maximising how much light a room gets whilst also diffusing and softening it.
Vertical blinds are the final option, but again, the louvres may sway in a breeze, and they’re fabric rather than rigid and so not as controllable in terms of precision positioning.
Have I missed something?
If you are facing another gaming/games and light/blinds-related challenge or have a suggestion for something I haven’t thought of or mentioned, please let me know in the comments.
