A recreation room is a room used for a variety of purposes, such as parties, games and other everyday or casual use. The term is common in the United States and Canada, but is less common in the United Kingdom where the preferred term is games room. Often children and teenagers will entertain their friends in the rec room, which is often located in the basement

Basement

__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...

, away from the main living areas of the house

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

. Usually it is a larger space than a living room to have the ability to serve multiple purposes and entertain moderately large groups.

Contents

Recreation rooms can vary in themes and styles, Often old fashioned ones, but they generally have a basic setup:

Entertainment

Recreation rooms are normally centered around some form of entertainment, typically an audio/video setup. This can consist of something as elaborate as a projection screen

Projection screen

A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the wall; or semi-permanent or mobile, as in a conference room...

 with surround sound or something as simple as a base model television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

.

Seating

Couches, pub tables/chairs, bar stools, and recliners may all be used in recreation rooms.

Games

Tabletop game

Tabletop game

Tabletop game is a general term used to refer to board games, card games, dice games, miniatures wargames, tile-based games and other games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface...

s are frequent in recreation rooms. In addition to games played on a normal table are those using custom tables such as table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 (ping pong), table football

Table football

Table football, also known as gitoni or foosball, is a table-top game and sport that is loosely based on association football.-Names:...

 (Foosball), Table shuffleboard

Table Shuffleboard

Table shuffleboard is a game in which players push metal-and-plastic weighted pucks down a long and smooth wooden table into a scoring area at the opposite end of the table...

, air hockey

Air hockey

Air hockey is a game for two competing players trying to score points in the opposing player's goal.-Equipment:Air hockey requires an air-hockey table, two player-held mallets, and a puck....

, and billiards (pool). Other games can include dart boards and arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

s.

Food & Drink

Fridges, microwaves, wet bars, Popcorn machines, ice cream machines, soda fountain

Soda fountain

A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores...

s, and classic soda coolers can sometimes be found in recreation rooms.

External links

• Recreation room forum about games and accessories