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Game room gifts

For the person buying for someone else, who does not play, and does not want to get it wrong.

See the top picksStart with the game room guide
A family opening gifts together at home

By Ryder M. · Last updated September 27, 2026 · How we pick

Almost every buying guide on the internet is written for someone who already plays. They compare rubber thickness and barrel profiles and rod bearings, and they are excellent — if you are the player. They are close to useless if you are the person standing in November trying to buy something good for a brother-in-law who is into darts.

This section is for that person. It assumes you do not play, do not want a tutorial, and mainly need to know three things: what is a safe choice, what is a nice choice, and roughly what you are supposed to spend. Everything here is organized by who you are buying for and what you want to spend, rather than by product category.

A few things worth knowing before you pick anything. First, the safest gifts in this whole space are the accessories, not the tables — a good set of darts, a decent pair of ping pong paddles, or a proper cue are items the recipient will notice and use immediately, and they cannot be the wrong size for the room. Second, anything that needs floor space is a gift you should talk to them about first; a surprise pool table is a logistics problem wearing a bow. Third, if you are buying the big shared gift for a whole household, the calculus is different again and we cover it in big family Christmas gifts.

If the recipient does not have a game room yet and this is the gift that starts one, the first game room starter guide is the place to begin — it works through what to buy first, what a realistic room holds, and the order that makes sense to build it in.

Start here

The picks in this category

Every guide below is written for someone buying rather than someone who already plays.

Cue & Paddle is reader-funded. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which products we pick or how we rank them — read the full disclosure.

How to choose

What actually decides this purchase

A short decision tree that covers most gift-buying situations.

  1. Do they already have the table? If yes, buy the upgrade: better darts, better cues, better paddles, a cabinet, a cover. These are the highest-hit-rate gifts in the category because the bundled equipment that came with their table is almost certainly the cheapest the manufacturer could source.
  2. Do they have the space but not the table? Then you are in table territory, and it is worth a conversation rather than a surprise — or gift the accessory now and the table together later. Start at the relevant category: pool, ping pong, darts.
  3. Is this for a household rather than a person? Look at the shared games: a dartboard is the cheapest thing that turns a wall into a game room, and a multi-game table is the classic big family present.
  4. What is the budget? Under $100 gets genuinely good accessories and an entry dartboard — see game room gifts under $100. Above that you are into good boards, quality paddles and cues, and at the top, the tables themselves.

One last thing, said plainly because it saves people money: you do not need to spend more to get a better gift here. The most-appreciated present in this category is usually a $40 set of proper darts to replace the ones that came free with the board. Thoughtful beats expensive, and in this niche it is also cheaper.

Before you buy

Guides and comparisons

Questions

Common questions

What do you get someone who likes pool?
If they have a table, buy a cue. The house cues that come with a table are almost always the cheapest the manufacturer could include, and a proper two-piece cue is the upgrade a player notices in the first shot. After that: a good ball set, a cue rack, or a fitted cover. Full list in gifts for pool players.
What is a good gift for someone who plays darts?
A set of quality steel-tip darts, almost every time. Darts are personal and inexpensive, and the ones bundled with a board are universally poor. A cabinet or a surround is the next best thing if their board is currently damaging a wall. See gifts for dart players.
What game table is best for a family?
For most families, ping pong — it is cheap, folds away, and genuinely everyone from about six upwards can play. A dartboard is the best value if space is tight. A multi-game table is the right answer for younger children who want variety. Our starter guide works through the choice properly.
What are good big family Christmas gifts?
The shared game table is the classic, because it is the rare present that gets used by everyone rather than by one person. Ping pong and multi-game tables are the usual picks on cost and floor space; a dartboard is the low-budget version of the same idea. We go through the options and the practical warnings in big family Christmas gifts.
How much should you spend on a game room gift?
Less than you would think. Accessories in the $25 to $100 range — darts, paddles, cues, balls, a cover — are the highest-satisfaction gifts here because they replace bundled equipment that was chosen on price. Tables are a different conversation and usually worth planning together rather than surprising someone with.

Elsewhere on Cue & Paddle

Other rooms, other games