Good questions. I have a detached garage out back. It is 18x22 room or so. It was dirt floor, open walls, open ceiling. Same weather conditions in NY - 90 - 100 in summer, 30 or below in winter (sometimes 0!).

I ran electricity back there, then had cement floor with dri lock, sheet rock, garage doors to single door conversion, blacklight carpet. Insulation yes - absolutely.

Came out great. For AC, i have a single window, in the summer i put in the AC and run it when i am in there. I run a humidifier at will.

For winter, i have a wall electric heater - heats up the room fast enough. SOMETIMES i leave the room with the thing going - my only gripe. Room gets really hot, no problems yet.

No regrets. I play just about the same. Its a nice retreat and great for parties.

This thread has great potential for some awesome gameroom pics

My guess would be 14 to 16 pins all depending on how your doors open up into the room.

I posted a related question a few weeks back. Have a read; there were some good suggestions.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/garage-gameroom-ideas-for-cold-climates

My big concern would be temperature changes and what that would do to the wood in your games. Before long you might start to notice inserts lifting and cracking due to expansion and contraction of the PF. If I went ahead with this project, I would need to ensure I could install something that would maintain a relatively constant climate year round.

Remember you have to slide glass in an out of your games! My garage is a single car and likely the same size. I don't see how I can get more than 8-10 games in there MAX!

Here is MNpinball's place, I am sure he could provide some insight on building an external building for pins. Someday I may be able to make a mecca such as this. Da Ruf is on fire!!

http://www.pinballmadness.net/collections/main.php?g2_itemId=480

One thing that I would add, or reiterate, is that althugh you can fit X number of machines in a space, remember that you will want some elbow room for when you need to pull one of them apart (ie. shop out, playfield swap or cabinet decals), and that invariably you will probably need room for one or two more on a short term basis (eg. a friends machine on loan, a deal you can't pass up, etc.)

I got lucky with my "external room", and I think that I catch less grief from my wife beacuse of it.

Happy house hunting.

Sorry! 10x18 is the room size. Thinking of something else when i typed.

Still enough. I use google Sketchup to map out the room. They have vid and pin models to add in, so i get exact line up before i add a game. Couldnt live without especially since i have vids too.

Pins - I can fit 8 in, with way to remove glass no problem.

Right now though, i have 4 vids in the back (one of them is a Star Wars cockpit) and fit 4 pins in the front. I can fit 5 pins, but, decided not to because it kills the "open" feel of the room.

Use google sketchup - awesome tool. By the way - dont have two taxis / two Spidermans / two dragons lairs - just a way to fill the spot without having to find the exact Pin i have.

gr.png

Sorry! 10x18 is the room size. Thinking of something else when i typed.

Still enough. I use google Sketchup to map out the room. They have vid and pin models to add in, so i get exact line up before i add a game. Couldnt live without especially since i have vids too.

Pins - I can fit 8 in, with way to remove glass no problem.

Right now though, i have 4 vids in the back (one of them is a Star Wars cockpit) and fit 4 pins in the front. I can fit 5 pins (see pic), but, decided not to because it kills the "open" feel of the room.

Use google sketchup - awesome tool.

gr.png

Shazaam! for the third time today. What a room..errr...castle! Last pic was in 2009 though. We need an update! I hereby make a formal request for at least one updated pic from mnpinball, and btw, I love the door shot .

Bigpin, where did you get the pinball components for Sketchup?

I built a 12x20 shop out back. Fully insulated, carpeted, both heat and a/c. Combo lock on the door. Holds 9 pins comfortably. Cost about $9000

If your buying a home (like i just did, my x wife wanted my 1st home) just buy one that fits you to the T. I looked at about 100 homes b4 I found my house. I new what I wanted bc I have owned b4. So when I fill up my main game room (pic below) my house has a 2,000 sq ft basement with 9ft ceilings. I will have window treatments soon so dont make fun.

gameroom.jpg

I will hopefully use part of my parent's garage as my pin room before they kick me out.

That's your problem. You have 4 too many vids.

Hey JAR- you might remember you picked up a sheet of glass for our RFM a couple years back from a colorado show for us, we live up weber canyon from you. Thank you again, by the way. Anyway, we built a 16x24 appx. room tacked on back of our garage. It has cement floor, insulated, heated by 2 electric wall heaters...... There are 16 pins in there. It is not fancy, I'll try to put a picture here......

0104121220.jpg

It always amazes me how many pictures of nice machines I see online, just left to fry in the sunlight.
I get really sad/angry for some reason, kinda like seeing a dog stuck in a sweltering car with the windows slightly cracked.

All of the NIB's I ever purchased haven't ever seen the light of day! (to my knowledge, that is! )

As for the external gameroom...
That will be next summer's project for sure! My plan is to convert my covered patio into a modest pin-cade.
I never use it as it sits now, so why the hell not make it more inviting when guests come to visit?!?
Hopefully (doing the math) I can squeeze 8 machines comfortably into the proposed space.
Fingers crossed it will all pan out for the cost of one routed T3, since I will be doing all of the work myself.

Sounds awesome NP. I'll come over when it's done. Just don't play any ska at the party, as I am a good skanker.