I've been going through the renovation process of converting my new gameroom to look like the hull of a pirate ship. It's been a ton of work, and taking way longer than anticipated. I'll try and document the process here. Here are the before pics. Basically 40% of the basement was finished, with drop ceiling and nice plush carpeting. Recessed lighting and nice solid doors. All of that is going to have to go.

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so first thing I had to do, was pull out all the carpeting. Some of the renovations I have to backwards. Usually, start with the ceiling and work your way down. I had to get started due to time and work with the materials I had. Which was flooring. I plotted out the entire square footage to scale on graph paper, so I knew exactly how many games I could fit where and maximize game layout. This involved moving some walls, and building some walls to section off spaces. The basement had a section that went into a L pattern. The L was only 12 feet wide. Which doesn't allow for games to be across from each other and allow people to walk in between 2 people playing at the same time. Minimum is 14 feet. So i had to cut out a wall, and slide it to the far back wall. Then there was ceramic tile at the foot of the walk out sliding doors. Whoever put this tile in, knew what they were doing. Hammer couldn't even crack it. Jackhammer tile machine didn't even phase it. chemicals didn't budge it. Finally, Someone brought over a heavy duty jackhammer and that did the trick. Made a huge mess and chipped out some of the flooring in the process, but it got the job done. Since I moved a wall back, I had a big gap that needed a wall filled in to close off the other section. So that section was built as well

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now the flooring is going in. I tried to find wood plank looking printed carpet to cut down on noise levels. couldn't find it anywhere. I can find it printed in almost anything else, except wood plank look. So I had to go with a vinyl plank. waterproof and suppose to be indestructible. No base material needed. Just lock and drop. Going fairly well overall. Also testing out some materials for the walls. Was going to do shiplap. But could not find it reasonable in bulk. Found some plank wallpaper. So decided to do the captains quarters in the wallpaper to test. Wall paper turned out to be a big PIA, due to the pattern didn't match up in all spots. only matches in one specific area, so each piece has to be matched exactly. Flooring is done in the captains quarters. The far back wall, I bought a custom mural to fit the entire wall. Turned out pretty good. only took 2 hours to install.

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Flooring is a huge project. took 4 days to install 1200 sq ft. Even with my little helper. Wallpaper is up for the entire captains quarters. Drop ceiling removed. Also, have to build my spray booth for my workshop for playfield restorations. Which is hidden in a back room from the gameroom. Also, there are 2 rooms side by side. bathroom and a storage room next to it. The bathroom has a cabinet installed in the wall. problem is. The cabinet is 27" thick. So it hangs out into the little 6' X 7' storage room. Which takes up way to much space. And a little bathroom has no need for a 27" thick double stack cabinet. So I pulled the cabinet out. and cut it down to 7" thick. Pulled the back off, and reattached it and put it back in the wall. Now I have more room in the storage area and can easily put a stack of radioshack drawers where the cabinet used to hang out. Top it all off, I used the 20" part of the cabinet I cut off and made them into a free standing shelf which I also use in the storage area.

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With flooring done through the entire place. Now I can start with the walls. I decided to go with a high end textured paneling that looks like wood planks. I really like the look of it. problem is, nobody caries it in stock and takes 3 weeks for it to come in. So I had to order it in 3 different sections. 1 was a test sample. 2nd was my main order, and 3rd was because I needed more than I thought. Also, been collecting these spanish style lanterns for the past 12 years, specifically for this project. Now i'm able to wire those up. Have them set with dimmers, and vintage LED bulbs. Also wired the ball bowler and fortune teller with their own wall switch, because they are a PIA to turn on and off on their own. Also had a drywall beam going between 2 sections of gameroom. So I chopped out the drywall, exposed the beam. Installed a faux beam that hugs around the support beam. Stained to match the faux.

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So more paneling, which is taking way longer and needing way more sheets than anticipated. Since some of the walls are block. I can't do my wiring like I did in other places. So I built wood covers for outside mounted sockets and covered the wiring in wood trim. Hides well and you wont' really see it once games are lined up in front of it anyway. Also bought special doors for the bathroom and storage room. Which both have speakeasy little latch doors you can open. Now that the walls are done in the bowler room. I could finally start bringing some of my games home. loading games up so I could keep them out of the dust during the moving process. Paneling continuing around the main room.

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So, now we are getting down the final stages. Stained all the woodwork that I left to a much darker color. took out the carpeting on the stairs. Which are natural wood. pulled out about 1000 staples from the carpet pad. Put up a top deck mural at the top of the stairs. Wanted it to appear as you enter topdeck and work your way down into the hull. So put up a mural, that has it's own LED lighting to light up the moon in the mural. Built it in a shadowbox and put a vintage leaded glass window in to make it appear as if you are looking outside. Gave it a 3d type effect as you walk down the stairs. Stained the staircase and put up the paneling in the entire staircase.

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now I have 2 sets of lighting. I have strips of recessed can lights and the spanish lantern mood lighting. Recessed lights are for servicing games as they throw off a lot of light. Since i'm leaving the ceiling open, I had to find a solution to hide them, as they are ugly. So I built hinged screening doors to cover them. hides the cans well, especially when off, yet lets light through. Similar to the screens that are on topdeck to allow water to run through. When service lights are on, it's like topdeck sunlight coming in. Decided to paint all the wiring that is exposed and the bottom section of the beams. This really hides the upper area and things up in the ceiling. Started to move games into the main area and get things organized the way I want. The sliding glass door, and windows I have down there, will have murals setup, so it appears like you are looking out hull cutouts and see nighttime ocean water with a battle sailship. Which is in process.

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Luckily, my water heater, and water softener, is along a wall. So I designed a rolling wall, which allows me to move the wall to get at the water softner and heater when I need to. Also hidden back there is a fridge for drinks when I host tournaments and league. so I can move the wall partially just to expose the fridge or all the way to service the softner. The door slides out into my workshop, but it's in the middle where it doesn't effect anything. Also sampled with wood printed contact paper to cover some of the ventilation duct work. Looks ok overall, and looks even better when gameroom lantern lighting is on.

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On Ac/DC and I'd go with pirate themed games but most of them suck. Only one worth a shit is the jjp one. And I can't justify its cost.

I was thinking on doing the cannon thing . But it would take up valuable pin space.

yes, quite recently actually. Gives you a reason to stop out again.

it's basically like laminate flooring, but it's made out of all PVC material. So it's solid plastic all the way through. You can put a thermal barrier down if you want, but you don't have to. Comes in a variety of thicknesses. Stuff I have is 6mm. Really thick and solid. It does a pretty good job of providing a barrier by itself. But I don't have to worry about it fluffing from water either spilling or leaking.

slash has a pirate wench? I actually have 3 different ones. I have the captain which you see in some of the pics. I have another in a battle stance, which you havn't seen yet. and another climbing a rope. Which i'll show soon.

Here are the pirate wenches I have. Been collecting these for about 9 to 10 years, for when I finally moved and had room to do this project. Similar to the spanish lantern collection. The sliding wall room is done. Games are leveled and this is where they are staying. Bowler room is still in process on the arrangement. As you can play games when straight. it's a little tight. Angling the games gives the player more space to stand. But also makes for a gap where games could be, So i'm doing some angled till they are past the bowler, and then straight, where there is plenty of standing room. I put the virtual pin on the far end, because it's not used for tournaments or league anyway. LOTR is also down there, because it's not allowed during tournaments and league, due to long ball times. Sinbad and joker poker are nice to have at that angle, because the backbox key lock is on the left side of the head, making access easy in this format.

Also my dad found me 100ft of actual ship rope. Very heavy stuff. So i'll have to figure out a fun way to use this rope.

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once I get the rest of the beams painted. i'll be able to start moving the other 60% of my games over.

nope. I've been planning this project for when I moved for the past 10 years. The idea came after I acquired the pirate captain. Then ended up buying the hanging wench. So then I started collecting the spanish lanterns, and preplanning way ahead of time. I knew I was moving someday.

actually, that's a speaker. Fortune teller is fully animated and gives a paper fortune as well as a verbal one.

the captains quarters room with the painted ceiling is all wallpaper. Everything else is textured wood paneling.

btw, I am low income. I'm just really good with the money I have. no car payments, no credit card payments. If I can't pay cash for it, I don't buy it (except the house) Most of this stuff has been collected over a period of 10+ years.

here's better pictures of the captains quarters, Which can fit 5 games. Also has the couch and all the video game systems, and TV center. Finished painting all the beams in the main room. Closets installed under the stair area for storage.

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the same company makes 100's of these. You can get all kinds of stuff like elvis, marilyn Monroe, blues brothers, you name it. Lots of choices.

well, everything is pretty much done now, so now I get to do the process of organizing the games effectively. Which isn't the easiest, since some games are wider, and some are longer, which means they have specific spots where they are most effective, due to different wall lengths and room sizes.

btw, i'm going to be doing an Annual tournament on July 20th. I'll put out the official sign up soon, it's going to be a duel IFPA tournament. Trophies for the initial tournament (pin bowling format) (pirates booty) and A and B division for the Main tourny (mini pinburgh type scoring) (Queen Anne's Revenge).
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Here is how the gameroom is looking so far. Pretty much done. Now it's about deciding what games are going to be where. I still have 18 more machines to move into it, but that will be little by little here and there.

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LOL, indeed. Yes, it gives off a great ambiance. Perfect amount of light. Night to bright, but enough to give the playfields a little extra to be able to see better. And no glare.

i'm both. Mostly because i'm low income.

might depend on the thickness you go with as well. I got the super thick 6mm ones. So far things are good.

It's Expressa at Menards. Color : Bronzed Acacia. SKU#7256590. 6mm Vinyl plank.

no base needed. Has a rubber grip like backing already applied. Just put in at a 45 degree angle and drop. Pretty easy. Lifetime residential warranty.

Had league this weekend. First time the gameroom had a big crowd. did a couple of add ons, added some barrels for tables. Spaced things out in the meantime, before I bring the rest of the games home.

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actually these were filled with wine. You can still hear some of it inside and smell it.

anything that would shoot old pinballs would probably be able to take out a car.

There are still some spots available for July 20ths tournaments. $40 sign up, you get 2 IFPA tournaments, food and drinks. Trophies and prize money, plus giveaways.

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I love how the trophies turned out. I'm sure I won't win one, since I never seem to win at my own events, but at least 12 people will have awesome trophies.

The ancient Mariner has boarded my ship

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not yet, but at least they have schematics available finally.

someone asked me for a video walk through of the gameroom, so I shot one today. figured i'd do it while I had the time to do it.

I actually thought about putting a subtle sound packaged like that in the room. I still might. Also wanted to have windows with monitors in them, watching the open sea horizon bob up and down.

TY. pretty happy it turned out the way I imagined. or close to it anyway. Wish my ceiling was about 2 ft higher, but it works.

probably mephisto. it makes lots of noise and I don't know how to turn off the attract sounds.

i just watched the video again and I do hear alien poker sometimes in the video as well. I don't know if I can turn attract sounds off on that one either. I'll investigate.

what do you mean?

if I keep attract sounds on all games, it just gets way to noisy. Especially during events.

nope. I have a source to buy those. They work great for trophies.

TY

yes, but this is suppose to be the hull, storage area. Not the barracks section.

i'm working on the sound aspect of it. I have the sound track already. 10hr loop. Working on finding the right bluetooth speakers that allow me to daisy chain them via bluetooth.