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From the White House to your house, the United States has perfected the art of spending leisure time on recreational diversions at home. And with our talent for conspicuous consumption, we've created some of the most elaborate private dens of play imaginable. Here's a sampling of the country's best known and most palatial gamerooms — and a home room in Kansas that you won't believe.

The White House - Washington, D.C. urvey dings S l ui an B c meri c A istori ivision, H hs D p

Here's the White House's billiard room as it stood in 1992, during the "H.W." administration, with a Brunswick table. Over the years, different rooms have housed the presidential pool table, includ- ing the Map Room during the Coolidge years. This third-floor room was a bedroom at least

through the Kennedy administra- Library of Congress, Prints and Photogra tion. (The current administration declined to provide a photo of its billiard room.)

50 BD • APRIL 2007 The Mark Twain Home - Hartford, Conn. useum ouse & M wain H wain

ark T The room's original table from the mid-1870s was likely a pocketless he M billiard table. The table here is a 1904 Brunswick Warwick, relocated from another Twain residence. Courtesy T Courtesy

Twain wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" & "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in this room (see writing table by the window). Hence, the scattered manuscript pages on the table.

A passionate carom player, Mark Twain of course included a billiard room in the 19-room Victorian mansion he commis- sioned in 1873 and lived in until 1891. He called it "the very most satisfactory study that ever was."

Hearst Castle - San Simeon, Calif.

The painted-wood ceiling from the tate Parks tate 15th century was imported from This tapestry dating to the 16th the town of Barbastro, Spain. century is a Flemish mille fleurs design woven in wool and silk. ifornia S l e®/Ca l earst Cast

Courtesy H Courtesy The carom and pocket tables are "Conqueror" models manufactured by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. in 1928-31.

Built by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst between 1919 and 1947, the 165-room Hearst Castle compound (on 127 acres) practically defined "opulence" for post-war Amer- ica. And Hearst spared no expense on the billiard room.

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The Laurie Home - Manhattan, Kan.

300 hand-painted football helmets with decals from pro and college teams.

Five-foot-tall "Big Boy" statue purchased on eBay and bolted to floor. A 1947 Manley popcorn machine.

A coin-operated United Billiards pool table, and a Fischer bumper pool.

The total floor space of the whole gameroom complex comes to 1,300 square feet.

Diner table and chairs purchased from Pizza Hut.

hen you were young, what did your dream home used to ride my bicycle to them and play games. I just always include? A Slurpee machine and a water slide? A thought it was really neat with all the cool sounds and lights,” full-court gym and a go-kart track? Laurie said. WWell, Mark Laurie is one of the few who actually made his Those arcades came and went in Manhattan, Kan., but vision a reality, building an amazing full-size gameroom to Laurie still resides there, a high school teacher. Laurie found call his own, complete with two pool tables, a shuffleboard an old Odd Fellows dancehall, and was able to transform game, nine pinball machines, 10 arcade games, a soda foun- it into the house he always dreamed of, including an 800- tain, popcorn machine, roller-skating waitress, and sports square-foot gameroom. Realizing that the space couldn’t memorabilia covering every wall, not to mention, a castle contain his growing collection of arcade games and memo- and a moat. rabilia, he added a 500-square-foot addition. Now the gam- “As a kid in the 1980s, I loved going to the different arcades eroom occupies 1,300 square feet. in my hometown. There were five or six of them in town and I “I wanted something really unique to connect the two 52 BD • APRIL 2007 The arcade room houses 10 classic video arcade machines (circa. 1980 to 1988) and nine pinball machines (1969 to 1989).

Laurie’s favorite arcade game is Galaga. His high score is 1,282,760, through level 118.

The Kansas State Helicopter ride was purchased at an arcade auction in Kansas City. Laurie painted it in Kansas State colors and attached the old football helmet to the top.

rooms together, so I built a castle with a moat and drawbridge 10 video games and two slot machines all switched to “free as the entryway to the new gameroom,” he said. Talk about play” mode. being lord of the manor. The best part about it is, Laurie did “People always ask about the electric bill, but it is no differ- it all himself, and after 13 years, and approximately $25,000, ent than anyone else’s. I don’t leave the stuff on all the time, it’s still a work in progress. and they really don’t use that much electricity.” The gameroom features a coin-operated United Billiards The most unique facets of Laurie’s gameroom cost the pool table, and a Fischer bumper-pool table. “I probably play least, but took a hefty investment of time. Covering the on average about once a week,” he said, noting that those ses- ceiling are 300 hand-painted football helmets that Laurie sions typically take place during “Monday Night Football” rescued from being thrown away at the high school where with friends. he's employed. “I painted them and wrote to all the teams Of course, the pool tables have quite a bit of competition, to get their decals. To clean a helmet, primer, paint, and put with a full-size shuffleboard table, nine pinball machines, decals on takes about two hours per helmet, which means

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I have about 600 hours just in the hel- mets,” he said. Another one-of-a-kind characteristic of the gameroom is a 14-foot-long 1940s soda fountain. “I put black and white checkered tile on the floor and was able to get reproduction 1950s boomerang laminate for the countertop. I made the awning from scratch and covered it in tile and put up the molding and mirrors The castle is called to make the fountain area look more “Cats’ Castle” because authentic.” it's filled with memo- It also serves as a showcase for rabilia from Kansas Laurie’s favorite piece, a 1947 Manley State "Wildcat" teams. popcorn machine. “I picked it up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I like it because it looks really cool, and it makes the best popcorn I have ever tasted in my life,” he said. Laurie has been asked if he will rent out the room for parties, but he has never accepted. “We have people over a lot, and it is a great place to just have fun. I wouldn’t want it to ever be a busi- ness,” he said. Laurie’s best advice for someone start- ing a gameroom is to hunt for collect- The 300 helmets on display ibles like his popcorn machine, rather took 600 hours to paint than buy expensive new items. and decorate. “You could easily spend $6,000 to $8,000 on a new jukebox from a store that won’t keep its value over time, or you could buy a jukebox from the ’70s for $400 to $500 that will work and sound great. And when you want to sell it, you will get your money back for it,” he said. Plus, the fun is in the hunt. “Everything I have bought has a story,” he said, not- The replica '50s diner looks ing a mannequin dressed like a 1950s great, but the only thing “roller-waitress.” “The waitress came that works right now on the soda fountain is the hot from an antique store in Holton, Kansas. and cold running water. The outfit she is wearing came off of eBay, the fake food I found at a car Mark and Shanna did it swap meet in Lawrence, Kansas, and all themselves over 13 the roller skates are what my wife used years, at a cost of around when she was in junior high school,” $25,000. he said. Yes, that’s right, Laurie does have a love beyond his gameroom. Fortunately, his wife, Shanna, supports his hobby. “I jokingly threatened to make her sign a pre-nup before we got married that said she couldn’t change the gameroom in any way,” Laurel said, using quotes around the word “jokingly.” “Luckily she also thinks the gameroom is very cool and doesn’t want to get rid of it.”

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