Quoted from Richthofen:The fact that we are going to gut and dump a ton of money into this basement means we are gonna be here until I retire, and hopefully longer than that.
I realize that asbestos is generally not considered dangerous unless "disturbed" however if you intend to be in the house for a long time and you intend to use that basement for a gameroom I would spend money on the abatement regardless of what I did with the pipes. I think getting rid of that stuff will increase the value of your house and I know it would give me more comfort in being down there playing pinball all the time.
That being said - I'm curious how much (if any) height you get from moving the pipes. Will it still be 82" at best? Are the pipes making it 82" or are the pipes making certain areas lower than that?