Since we brought you The Retro Fun and Games House, I’ve found a lot more products that will make serious gamers feel right at home in their own homes. Some are for sale; others are handcrafted, so you may have to plan ahead for a special occasion.
1. Space Invaders Bath Towels
These Space Invaders bath towels come in two colors and three designs to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the game (which was last year). Don’t worry about whether it will match your bathroom’s decor; the colors are black and white. The same outlet also has a Space Invaders Pillow.
2. Gamer Soap
DigitalSoaps makes bars of soap in the shape of game controllers! Xbox, NES, and PlayStation contoller-shaped soaps are available, as well as soaps shaped like cell phones, calculators, and Space Invaders. They even have Mountain Dew shampoo for the diehard geek.
3. Iceblox
Iceblox is an ice cube tray that gives you ice in the shape of game pieces we all know and love. You can amplify the effect of serving drinks by using Koolade to make your ice in bright colors. Designed by Martin Zampach. If you prefer, another ice tray called Ice Invaders gives you the shape of yet more familiar game icons.
4. PacMan Oven Mitt
Every kitchen needs oven mitts and pot holders. Only a special kitchen has one shaped like Pac-Man!
5. Mario Table
This Mario tabletop is a one-of-a-kind, so you can’t go buy one, but you could make your own. Aaron used ceramic tiles to cover a stained table with an 8-bit Mario design.
6. Tic Tac Toast
No need to stop playing games just because you’re eating breakfast! Just $3.99 will get you a stamp that puts a tic-tac-toe grid on your toast. It can also be used on your lunch sandwich.
7. Rubik’s Cube Salt and Pepper Mills
These Rubik’s cube salt and pepper mills are the exact size of a playable Rubik’s cube, except that only one row rotates, and that row will grind salt or pepper. One cube of the set comes with a white turning row, the other with a red turning row. If that’s too hard to keep straight, remember the pepper mill is the one that pepper comes out of. Add a real Rubik’s cube to your table setting to further confuse your guests.
8. Rubik’s Cube Clock
Like the salt and pepper mills, you can only turn the top row on this Rubik’s cube clock. When you do, the display shifts from time to date to alarm, and even temperature! Also like the salt and pepper mills, it is the same size as a standard Rubik’s cube.
9. Red Ring of Death Coasters
With Red Ring of Death coasters, your gamer friends familiar with the Xbox 360 warning will laugh, while your other guests will think they are just nice coasters. I believe these were handmade, though I can see how a manufacturer could be inspired.
10. Mario Quilt
This Mario quilt was handcrafted by Brian’s wife out of two-inch squares (or pixels, if you will) in 16 colors. See more pictures here. See more gamer quilts in a previous post.
11. Crocheted Nintendo Blanket
Craftster member NerdyCrochetGal made this awesome Nintendo blanket out of crocheted squares featuring various Nintendo game icons. Even the border between the pictures is made of Tetris blocks!
See also: 8 Awesome Video Game Quilts and The Retro Fun and Games House.
Comments (21)
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better gifts for the dedicated gamer:
1) girlfriend
2) hooker
3) gun
4) a life
posted by Ian on 7-7-2009 at 8:20 am
Better gift for Ian
1) Wit
posted by Adam on 7-7-2009 at 8:57 am
The coasters are made with fuse-beads, which you can find in the kids craft section of most stores. They are also fantastic for making all kinds of 8-bit art. Last year I made Mario Christmas ornaments with them. You can also make 3D objects with them like this fantastic cube: http://foxyurl.com/nDt
posted by Squirrelgirl on 7-7-2009 at 9:19 am
If I bought my nephew the X-Box soap, do you think he would take a shower?
posted by Witty Nickname on 7-7-2009 at 10:47 am
i’m not a gamer, but i love these! i’ll have to find the Pacman oven mitt.
posted by the creature on 7-7-2009 at 11:08 am
Ha…good one Adam.
ThinkGeek.com has some really cool gifts. I got my buddy the samari sword umbrella for his birthday and he LOVES it.
posted by Mike James on 7-7-2009 at 12:20 pm
I personally lust after these socks: http://shop.ashidashi.com/product/warp
posted by ethical.breakdance on 7-7-2009 at 2:23 pm
I love that crocheted NES blanket. Fantastic work!
posted by Valkyrie on 7-7-2009 at 2:53 pm
This is fabulous. I know someone who would die for that ice cube tray. He would probably constantly be playing tetris with his tea…
There’s a great store at Myrtle Beach’s Broadway on the Beach that has all kinds of old school gamer memorabilia called RetroActive. Check the link!
recaptcha: 2,557,000 pretexts
posted by Hastings on 7-7-2009 at 3:31 pm
I am a gamer (fairly hardcore) and a female, happily married to another gamer, Ian, so comments like yours, so negative, really don’t sit well with me. Wow, sorry about all the commas in that!
Also, I love most of these items and had seen most of them. Anyone interested in gamer crafts, there’s a great community at http://www.spritestitch.com that is where a lot of the stuff you see around the ‘Net originates.
posted by Amauriel on 7-7-2009 at 3:34 pm
Sadly there are still a lot of people who can’t grasp that gaming is mainstream now. Oh well.
posted by Jerad on 7-7-2009 at 4:45 pm
As a gamer myself, who has a life outside of gaming, I found Ian’s comments insulting. As Jerad said, perhaps he can’t get that gaming has gone mainstream.
Personally, I liked that Mario tabletop and quilt. No love for Link and Zelda, though?
posted by Steve on 7-7-2009 at 5:33 pm
So when are these going to be added to mentalfloss.com’s store?
posted by gamer's wife on 7-7-2009 at 6:52 pm
I wonder what the soap smells like. Hand sweat? Cheetos?
posted by holly on 7-7-2009 at 10:23 pm
Can anyone suggest a good website to find other potential pixel art for a table project like that?
posted by Doug on 7-8-2009 at 1:02 am
Doug, there are several places that you can find the sprites broken down to help you to make something for that table. I suggest climbing into the forums of the Sprite Stitch site that I mentioned earlier, but here’s two that I use for my projects:
1. The Shyguy Kingdom http://tsgk.captainn.net/
2. The Spriters Resource http://spriters-resource.com/
Starting with the sprite of the character is the best place I’ve found for many crafts, including the Perler beads (the coaster material) and cross stitch, and many others use the sprites to start stained glass projects as well.
I hope you fine something that makes a great table, and if you do, submit it to one of the geek craft sites out there and spread the crafting love!!
posted by Amauriel on 7-8-2009 at 1:05 pm
I bought my little brother the pac man oven mitt when he bought his first house last month. Even through my parents bought him all new furniture and such, he still thought my gift was the best :)
posted by Laura on 7-8-2009 at 1:32 pm
I wonder who needs the grilfriend/hooker/gun/life, the gamers, or the guy who feels the need to insult gamers?
posted by Steve on 9-24-2010 at 11:50 am
That Mario quilt is just amazing. Hands down, one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
And @Ian, do I need to tell my girlfriend about the hooker?
posted by Rainbow Gamer on 11-9-2010 at 3:06 pm
I’m a gamer married to a gamer and I was not offended by Ian. I laughed. Stop crying folks! I do wonder though… if you need a girlfriend and a hooker– isn’t it time for a new girlfriend!!!
posted by Rita on 6-21-2011 at 11:06 am
I just became so nostalgic that decided to get out the old SNES so I could play Earthbound.
…Then I remembered I don’t have an SNES.
I’m very upset.
posted by Matt Kittoe on 6-29-2011 at 4:30 pm