Gift guide
The best game tables for small apartments
Four games that fit an apartment, ranked by what they ask of the floor, the walls and the people downstairs.
By Ryder M. · Last updated October 6, 2026 · How we pick
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The short answer: a dartboard, for almost every small apartment. It is the only game here that uses wall rather than floor, it makes no noise that carries through a ceiling, and a soft-tip board does not damage a wall you do not own. If you want a table rather than a board, a folding midsize ping pong table is the next best thing — it needs about 14ft by 8ft during play and parks upright afterwards.
Apartments impose three constraints that houses do not: there is no spare floor, the walls and floors are shared, and in a rental you cannot make permanent changes. Every pick below is judged against those three rather than against how good the game is in a basement.
The numbers
What actually fits
| Option | Space needed in play | Stores away? | Heard downstairs? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dartboard (soft tip) | Wall plus an 8ft lane | Stays on the wall | No |
| Tabletop game set | A dining table | Completely | Barely |
| Midsize ping pong | About 14ft x 8ft | Folds upright | A little |
| 6ft folding pool | 15ft x 11ft, or 13ft x 9ft with short cues | Folds flat | No |
| Full-size ping pong | 19ft x 11ft | Folds upright | A little |
| Air hockey | 11ft x 7ft | No | Yes — the blower |
| Foosball | 13ft x 7ft | No | Yes |
Measure the clear floor to the nearest obstruction rather than the nearest wall. In an apartment the obstruction is usually a sofa, and a sofa can be moved for a game — so measure both ways and decide which you will actually do.
Quick picks
Tap any row to jump to the full write-up.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Best overall for an apartment Viper 800 Electronic Dartboard Uses wall space instead of floor space, and the neighbours cannot hear it. | Any apartment with eight feet of clear throwing lane | $79.99$157.9949% offView on Amazon |
| 2 |  Best table that stores away GoSports 6 ft Mid-Size Table Tennis Table A compact ping pong table that folds flat and slides out of the way. | Apartments with about 14ft by 8ft available during play | $159.99View on Amazon |
| 3 |  Best tabletop game Point Games 3-in-1 Tabletop Game Set Three games on a dining table, back in a cupboard afterwards. | Studios and one-bedrooms with no spare floor at all | $54.99View on Amazon |
| 4 |  Best real table for a tight room Fat Cat Trueshot 6 ft Folding Billiard Table A 6ft folding pool table that goes flat against a wall. | Apartments with a hallway or wall long enough to park it | $546.53$811.9933% offView on Amazon |
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1. Best overall for an apartment
Viper 800 Electronic Dartboard
Viper (GLD Products)
A dartboard is the only game in this category that asks nothing of the floor. It hangs on a wall, it needs a clear throwing lane of about 8ft, and when you are not playing it occupies no space at all. In an apartment that is not a small advantage — it is the whole argument.
A soft-tip electronic board is specifically the right type for a rented apartment. The plastic tips do not penetrate plasterboard, which matters when the wall is not yours, and the board scores automatically so there is no barrier to a casual game with whoever is round.
Mount it on a wall with studs you can find, use the throw line marker rather than guessing, and if the wall is a shared one, a surround ring absorbs the misses. Nothing about darts carries through a floor, which makes it the only game here that is unambiguously neighbour-safe.
What we like
- Zero floor space required
- Effectively silent to anyone downstairs
- Soft tips do not damage plasterboard
- Automatic scoring makes a casual game frictionless
Worth knowing
- Needs a clear 8ft lane and a power source
- Bounce-outs travel, so the lane must stay clear
- Marks the wall if mounted without a surround
Who it’s wrong for
An apartment with no wall long enough for the throwing lane, or a household with toddlers and nowhere to store darts out of reach.
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2. Best table that stores away
GoSports 6 ft Mid-Size Table Tennis Table
GoSports
A full-size ping pong table needs roughly 19ft by 11ft and no small apartment has that. A midsize table needs about 14ft by 8ft during play and folds flat afterwards, which is a very different proposition — the game exists when you want it and the living room exists the rest of the time.
What you lose is reach. The rallies are shorter, the angles tighter and the play more defensive than regulation, which a serious player will notice immediately and a casual one will not notice at all. In an apartment the alternative is no table, which makes this an easy trade.
Check the folded dimensions against where you plan to park it — behind a sofa, under a bed, down the side of a wardrobe. That is the measurement people forget.
What we like
- Folds and stores in a small apartment
- Real game rather than a toy version
- Light enough for one person to move
- Works in a living room that has to stay a living room
Worth knowing
- Not regulation size — shorter rallies
- Thinner top than a full-size table
- Still needs 14ft x 8ft while in use
Who it’s wrong for
An apartment above a neighbour who works nights. Ping pong is not loud, but the ball on a hard floor at 11pm is audible.
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3. Best tabletop game
Point Games 3-in-1 Tabletop Game Set
Point Games
When there is genuinely no floor area to give up — a studio, a one-bedroom with a sofa and a dining table and nothing else — a tabletop set is the honest answer. It sits on the dining table, gives you three short games, and goes in a cupboard when dinner happens.
The games are abbreviated rather than full. Rallies are quick, the pool is very short, and nothing here teaches skill that transfers to a full table. What it does is make games possible in a flat where nothing else is, and for a lot of people that is the entire requirement.
It needs a solid flat table under it. On a wobbly folding table or a glass top, every game plays badly.
What we like
- Requires no dedicated floor space at all
- Stores completely between sessions
- Three games for very little money
- Easiest game gift to give to someone in a small flat
Worth knowing
- Every game is abbreviated
- Needs a solid flat table underneath
- Nothing here transfers to a full-size game
Who it’s wrong for
An apartment with a spare 14ft by 8ft. A folding midsize table is a far better game for not much more.
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4. Best real table for a tight room
Fat Cat Trueshot 6 ft Folding Billiard Table
Fat Cat (GLD Products)
A folding 6ft pool table is the only version of pool that works in an apartment, and it works better than people expect. Six feet is enough to teach real angles, the legs fold flat, and the table parks against a wall or slides behind a sofa when it is not in use.
The limits are honest. The bed is engineered rather than slate, so slow rolls drift slightly. And a 6ft table still needs about 15ft by 11ft of clear floor to play with full-length cues — a pair of 48in short cues brings that down considerably and is the standard apartment fix.
Check the floor loading if you are above the ground floor. A folding 6ft table is not heavy by pool table standards, but it concentrates its weight on four feet, and a protective mat under them is sensible on a wood floor you do not own.
What we like
- Real pool angles in an apartment-sized table
- Folds flat and parks against a wall
- Short cues cut the clearance requirement substantially
- Light enough to move alone
Worth knowing
- Engineered bed — slow rolls drift
- Still needs 15ft x 11ft with full-length cues
- Folding mechanism is the long-term wear point
Who it’s wrong for
A room under about 13ft in its longest direction, even with short cues. Measure before you commit.
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The apartment problem
Noise, and the people below you
This is the constraint most buying guides ignore entirely. Air hockey is the loudest table in a game room because the blower runs continuously while you play, and in an apartment that is not a minor irritation — it is a conversation with a neighbour. Foosball is the second loudest: the ball, the men and the cabinet all transmit impact into the floor.
Darts makes essentially no noise that travels. Pool is quiet apart from the break. Ping pong is somewhere in between — the ball itself is quiet, but the bounce on a hard floor carries, and a rug under the playing area deals with most of it. If you are above someone, the ranking by neighbour-friendliness is darts, then pool, then ping pong, and then a gap before anything else.
Practicalities
Renting: what you can and cannot do
- Soft tip, not steel, on any wall you do not own. Plastic tips do not penetrate plasterboard. Steel tips leave a permanent pattern of holes around the board.
- Use a surround or a cabinet. A cabinet is the most landlord-friendly way to mount a board, because it closes and covers the wall behind it — see dartboard cabinets.
- Find the studs. A board is not heavy, but a cabinet plus a board on a single drywall anchor will come off the wall eventually.
- Protect the floor under table feet. Four concentrated points on a wood floor leave marks. Felt pads or a mat cost almost nothing.
- Check whether the table comes apart. Anything that cannot be disassembled has to fit through the door and up the stairs in one piece, and apartment staircases are the tightest you will meet.
- Measure the lift. If there is one, measure it. A full-size ping pong table box does not fit in most apartment lifts.
Not worth it
What to avoid in an apartment
- Air hockey, in almost every case. The blower noise is constant and it travels through floors. It is the one game that genuinely does not belong in a flat with neighbours below.
- Any table that does not fold, in a room that has another job. It will be resented within a month and sold within a year.
- Steel-tip darts on a rented wall. The board is fine; the holes around it are not.
- Full-size tables bought optimistically. A 9ft table in a 15ft room is unplayable at one end, and that end is where you will always be standing.
- Slate pool tables above the ground floor without checking the floor loading. Several hundred pounds concentrated on four feet is a real question in an older building.
If space is the binding constraint rather than noise, our small-space ping pong roundup and best small pool tables go deeper on the folding and compact options in each category.
Questions
Common questions
What game table fits in a small apartment?
Can you have a pool table in an apartment?
Is air hockey too loud for an apartment?
What is the best game for a rented apartment?
Do folding ping pong tables actually fit in apartments?
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