80’s Gamer Mancave: The Complete Vintage Video Game Experience!

The popularity of Man Caves is growing by leaps and bounds. The feminine touch, once confined to the Kitchen, has spread to the living room, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, hallway and even the lawn! This leaves the average guy wondering what part of the house is HIS part of the house.

By now, most people are familial with the DIY Network show “Man Caves,” hosted by former Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Tony “the Goose” Siragusa. The show follows Goose as he transforms unused garages, attics, basements or spare rooms into the ultimate monument to testosterone. But what about the average blue collar guy that doesn’t have $20,000 to sink into transforming their spare room into a man cave?

Well, if your reading this, you already know that I love vintage video games. I also love almost anything from the 1980’s. So guess what theme my man cave takes on? Now I am far from rich. In fact, I am usually playing catch up on the utility bills. But for next to nothing, I turned my extra room into an oasis of 80’s tech that my roommates often refer to as “That 80’s Room” all without spending more than $200! Here’s how:

FURNITURE: First off you need furniture, and since you will probably be sitting on your butt for several hours playing video games, you need comfy furniture. The great thing about an 80’s themed room is it requires 80’s themed furniture. This is something the world has in abundance. You can find old furniture at thift stores, flea markets, garage sales, estate sales, or even sitting out by the curb on big trash pick-up day. I picked up a very vintage looking dining table with 4 swivel chairs at the local thrift store. It had been sitting around unsold for quite some time so I was able to get it all for $5. I recycled a bookcase I found on the curb down the street from my house, which was free, to hold my systems and games.

ELECTRONICS: No man cave (especially a vintage video game man cave) would be complete without a huge compliment of electronics. Lets start out with the tv. It is a mid-1990’s 27 inch Magnavox that a friend was just going to throw out when he upgraded to flat screen. (NOTE: It is important, not just for nostalga but for functionality, to get an older tube type tv as opposed to plasma or flat screen because for some reason, attachments such as the NES lightgun DO NOT work on flat screens!) So the TV was free.

GAMING STUFF: Connected to this is a Playstation 1, an Atari 2600, an Atari 7800, and my RetroN 3 which plays NES, Super NES and Sega Genesis games. I also have more than 150 games for the systems mentioned above. All of this was mostly aquired through trade. I would venture to say that I spent less than $100 in actual cash on all my video games and systems.

And what 80’s themed room would be complete without a rockin’ Hi Fi system? This actually proved to be the hardest thing to get. Everyone over the age of 30 has a record player sitting in their basement. The downside is that most of them don’t work anymore. I bought 4 record players before I got one that worked. Of the other 3, one had a seized up motor, the other had no sound, the other had to many problems to mention. BUT since most of these Hi Fi all in ones are just sitting around collecting dust, you can get them very cheap. For all 4 I paid a total of about 20 bucks. The one that actually worked cost me $2. It is also my favorite as it includes an AM/FM stereo and a built in 8-track player! I also picked up some records for 25 cents each!

The great thing about putting a man cave together like this is that it is almost a hobby just assembling the room. My room is not finished, as I want to keep adding little touches here and there. At the top of my list right now is a working Apple Macintosh Classic computer, and some more wall hangings.  I’ll keep you up to date!


ON A DIFFERENT NOTE: Don’t forget to vote for your favorite game system on the poll located on the top of the column on the right! A lot of people have voted for the SNES, which is probably my least favorite vintage system and I really don’t think it did much to further the video game industry, but one man’s trash is another’s treasure. Anyway, VOTE! PLEASE VOTE!