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How to Turn Your Crib Into a Gaming Sanctuary

Tired: home office. Wired: THE GAME ZONE, complete with high-tech monitors, cushy seating, and proper mood lighting.
The Best Gaming Accessories, Chairs, and Monitors
Photo: Getty Images

Oh hey, didn’t see you there—we just left our gaming sanctuary after throwing a controller through the screen and had a totally relaxing Animal Crossing session. There’s just something about Tom Nook waltzing around in his cabana shirt and shaking fruit trees that makes us smile. Of course, by gaming sanctuary, we mean our own personal gaming cave filled with products and ~vibes~ to help elevate the experience. What, you use your “home office” for something else? Work?? No thanks. 

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We want all our multiplayer buds to have such an optimized abode, which means it’s high time to retire the obsolete, dust-covered gaming setup you’ve had since the days of your parents’ basement. Put down the Takis and Mountain Dew—it’s time for some serious upgrades, and we’ve done the cold, hard research on the most worthwhile gaming screens, chairs, and more. How are you supposed to devote your life to Elden Ring and become one with your Sims family if you’re not even in an ultra-comfortable swivel chair? Hmm?

In fact ,we took a ride on Kirby’s star and shot up into the sky to scope the best finds for turning your pad into the gaming sanctuary of your dreams. We’re talking about the best high-tech monitors, cushy seating, and proper mood lighting to help you escape from our cursed reality even more. Take my virtual hand, folks—it’s time to plug in, power up, and get this game started. 

The best HD TVs and gaming monitors

Gaming studios pour their blood, sweat, and tears into game development, so it’s our duty to honor all that hard work with a TV that showcases it in its highest resolution, and offers impeccable color, a great picture, and other handy features such as built-in Alexa and Cinema HDR with integrated access to streaming services. The LG OLED C1 Series TV checks off all our boxes with its size selection (up to 83” if you have the space), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology for a bolder picture, and game optimizer mode, which allows easy access to gaming settings while providing serious speed with zero lag. 


$5999.99$4496.99 at Amazon

$5999.99$4496.99 at Amazon
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Another king in the picture game? QLED technology, which uses LED backlight that projects onto a quantum dot layer. This results in a brighter and bolder picture, blowing traditional LCD screens out of the water. Samsung’s Neo QLED 8K Smart TV is our trusty steed with its perfect five-star rating on the tech giant’s website


$4999.99$4799.99 at Samsung

$4999.99$4799.99 at Samsung

Besides being the epitome of dapper desk tech, gaming monitors are designed to have less lag and faster response times when it comes to tackling your next street fight. (Yakuza 0 fans, where you at?) The Odyssey G9 Gaming Monitor is calling our names, and makes us want to toss our prehistoric Gateway computer in the trash. It has a curved screen with a radius of 1,000 millimeters, matching the curvature of your eyes to help relieve eye strain. (Hallelujah to that.) It’s quite large, but we love being extra. Plus, if you work from home, you could also take a gaming (lunch) break for an afternoon pick-me-up right from your desk.


$1599.99$1199.99 at Samsung

$1599.99$1199.99 at Samsung

For an option that takes up less space, the UltraGear QHD Nano is the way to go. With a 4.6-star average rating, LG describes it as having “speeds and ultra-fast refresh rates, while mesmerizing with a rich, vivid picture.” 

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$599.99 at LG

$599.99 at LG

The best gaming chairs

We love kicking back in a bean bag chair when we game, but our collective tush is sore as a door, and we’ve had enough. We’re already stressed when we’re screaming at the television over a loss; the last thing we need is to aggravate our butt nerves. The Vertagear PL1000 is a hot-ticket option with a surface layer of ultra-premium, high-resilience foam that contours and hugs your cheeks as you sit, meaning you can stay gaming into the wee hours of the morning without your ass falling asleep.


$329.99$279.99 at Vertagear

$329.99$279.99 at Vertagear

For a truly luxe experience, massage your body during your next Mario Kart session with this massage gaming chair from Wayfair. Two motors are featured in the waist pillow for a masseuse-like experience, which you’ll find comes in handy after failing the campaign mode on “easy” for the fifth time in a row. 


$261.30$181.02 at Wayfair

$261.30$181.02 at Wayfair

The best gaming lights

Lighting has the ability to curate all the ~vibes~ and we love it. Crank on the Sony Playstation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch and take in all the lovely hues of LED lights. The most top-tier mood lighting is Philips Hue LED Light Bulbs, by far. They’re pricey, but they deliver ultra-quality lighting with the ability to customize your own shades through an app on your phone. They also have a two-year warranty, and are making us swoon. 


$58.87 at Amazon

$58.87 at Amazon
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For some snazzy, geometric decor to place above your TV or monitor, these hexagon lights are also a great choice. Depending on your mood, you can opt for colorful slow-change mode, fast-change mode, or flash mode. 


$49.98$38.98 at Amazon

$49.98$38.98 at Amazon

Now, crack open an energy drink, and let’s get gaming. 


The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.