From Echo Place To Play Space
Jacob McNab
“Wow, this room is big! I can hear an echo! What should we do with this room?”
“Well, Mom has always wanted a yoga room, but I picture a gym”
That was the conversation that my Dad and I had when we first walked into our new basement after we moved. It was a dark, completely empty, L-shaped space that had a mini-fridge, some cabinets, and a bathroom. The walls were rough and white while the floor was smooth, gray, and tiled. I walked down the stairs and turned on the lights. We looked around the empty space and began to debate what we should put in it.
I thought for a moment and then said, “I’d actually like to put some games down here. We could have board games and maybe get a foosball table. I think this place could be a game room.”
I looked around the room again and I could envision how the room would look. There was plenty of space for games.
After deciding to make the basement a game room, we went online to find some common games in game rooms. I saw a ton of games that I was interested in, but a few stood out to me. Once we had finished our research, I mentioned the few games that had caught my eye.
“I liked the idea of a foosball table and the ping pong table. I also really liked the air hockey table we saw. What do you think?”
“That sounds good. We could have them here,” Dad stated, “We could also have a pool table.”
Because we both liked the ideas we came up with, Dad found all the game tables we needed online and ordered them. Foosball had been one of my favorite games to play with my friends whenever me were somewhere that had a foosball table. I was excited to be able to play it more frequently and invite friends over to play it as well. When they finally arrived, we set up the parts in the basement and got ready to put them together.
We decided to assemble the foosball table first. We grabbed the top part of the table and carried it over into a slightly dark small corner of the basement. The foosball table was made of smooth black wood. We put the top part on the floor and went back to grab the legs. We screwed each leg into place and then attached some metal bowl-shaped pieces to the bottom of the legs. Once we made sure it was sturdy enough, we slid the long rods with the players on them through holes into place. When the foosball table was finished, we started to work on the pool table. The pool table top had two sides. One side was a pool table, the other was an air hockey table. Because of this, it was extremely heavy. We set it down in the middle of the room. I was a little nervous. I could definitely not lift the pool table and if we weren’t able to finish building the pool table without extra help, it could take longer to finish the game room.
“How are we going to attach the legs to the bottom of this?” I asked, “It’s really heavy!”
“I know. I can’t lift this on my own.”
I thought for a little while. I looked behind me and saw the boxes of games and toys that we hadn’t unpacked yet.
“Could we use those boxes to prop this up?” I wondered aloud. “It might let us get underneath the tabletop and attach the legs.
“That could work!” Dad exclaimed. “I’ll stay above to make sure it doesn’t fall on you.”
We both grabbed the boxes and brought them over to the table. Dad lifted one end of the table for a few seconds while I shoved th e boxes underneath. After there were boxes under every corner, I went under the table and put each leg into it’s slot and then slid out. Then, I pulled out the boxes and made sure the table could stand on its own. Since the pool table and the foosball table were assembled, we were ready to start putting the final touches on the game room.
Two of the three games were finished. We just had one left to build: the ping pong table. The ping pong table was the simplest looking and the easiest to put together. It was mostly finished already. We unfolded the two halves of it and attached the wheels to the bottom. Then, we got the net from the box and placed both edges over two poles on either side of the table. We adjusted the net until it was stretched tightly over the middle. Now that we had all the tables finished, we could start putting them into the proper place in the room. We put the ping pong table furthest from the stairs and right next to the bathroom. We also moved the foosball table nearby to a spot parallel to the ping pong table. Finally, we moved the pool table a little deeper into the room so that it was almost perpendicular to the foosball table. With everything finished, at last, I was thrilled and incredibly excited to use the new game room as much as possible.
After that day I went into the game room almost every day. It was an incredible experience that changed my everyday routine. It was the first time that my family had a sort of game night and it gave me a place to go with friends and family to have fun. One of my favorite experiences in the game room was when I first invited a friend over. We walked into the basement and played some foosball and then some ping pong and had a really good time. I was smiling the entire time while we hit the ping pong ball back and forth and talked casually. I loved being able to have those great experiences with friends whenever they came over. Even after being used to having it for a few years, I never got tired of going into the game room and seeing all the game tables that I helped build.
