Pick the game and its table, then measure your room. You see the room each game-room maker and dealer asks for, whether yours holds it, and for shuffleboard the longest table your room takes.
Your game room
A 12′ shuffleboard needs a room 17′ long2½′ at each end (McClure Tables) · 16′ to 22′ long by the 5 rules read
Quick answer: a shuffleboard needs its own length plus 2 to 3 feet at each end: a 12′ table wants a room 16′ to 18′ long by four of the five rules read, and McClure Tables, a maker, calls 2½′ “often enough”. A foosball table wants about 10′ × 8′ (three dealers; one says 8′ × 7′), and a 7′ air hockey table about 13′ × 8′: 3′ at each end, 2′ at each side.
How to use the game table room size calculator
- Pick the game: shuffleboard, foosball or air hockey.
- Pick the table: a shuffleboard’s length, 9′ to 22′, or a 7′ or 8′ air hockey table. A full-size foosball table is 56″ × 30″.
- Measure your room, wall to wall, less anything in the way. Feet work: type 20 ft or 20′.
- You get the room each maker’s or dealer’s rule asks for, whether yours holds it either way round, and for shuffleboard the longest table it takes, drawn from above.
The rules behind the numbers
Unlike ping pong, these games have no governing body that publishes a playing area for a home, so the numbers come from the businesses that make, sell and fit the tables, and they do not agree. For shuffleboard, McClure Tables, a maker in Michigan, says “a common rule is 2.5ft to 3ft of clearance on each end … for normal home play, 2.5ft of end clearance is often enough”, and that a table “can often sit close to one wall”. Pool Table Portfolio asks “at least 2 feet” behind each end; Scioto Valley and West Penn Billiards about 3 feet; The Game Room Store prints a 22′ × 12′ room for a 12′ table.
Foosball needs its room across the rods, which “extend almost a foot on each side” (Scioto Valley): about 10′ × 8′ by Scioto Valley, West Penn Billiards and Pool Table Portfolio, 8′ × 7′ by The Game Room Store. For air hockey, Game Exchange of Colorado and Scioto Valley both ask 3′ at each end and 2′ at each side; The Game Room Store’s 8′ × 5′ is barely more than its 84″ × 48″ table.
Each rule, for a 12′ shuffleboard
| Who | Their rule | Room asked |
|---|---|---|
| Pool Table Portfolio | 2′ at each end | 16′ long |
| McClure Tables | 2½′ at each end | 17′ long |
| Scioto Valley | 3′ at each end, 1′ at each side | 18′ × 4′ 8″ |
| West Penn Billiards | 3′ at each end | 18′ long |
| The Game Room Store | a room for its 12′ and 14′ tables | 22′ × 12′ |
The tables themselves: Olhausen’s Alcove shuffleboard is 31½″ wide and runs 3″ over its size (its 12′ is 147″ long); Champion’s Reagan is 31″ wide, 36″ with its scoring unit; McClure’s compact Liberty and Burton cabinets are 25½–26″.
Four worked examples
A 20′ × 12′ basement and a 14′ shuffleboard. It fits by 4 of the 5 rules read; The Game Room Store asks 24′ × 14′. By McClure’s 2½′ at each end the longest the room takes is 14′, by Pool Table Portfolio’s 2′ a 16′.
A 28′ room and a regulation 22′ table. 2½′ at each end needs 27′, 3′ needs 28′: it fits by all four rules that print a 22′.
A 9′ × 8′ corner for foosball. Enough for The Game Room Store’s 8′ × 7′, short of the 10′ × 8′ the other three dealers ask.
A 12′ × 8′ room and a 7′ air hockey table. 3′ at each end needs 13′, so it fits only by The Game Room Store’s 8′ × 5′.
Common mistakes
- Measuring the table, not the play. Players stand behind a shuffleboard’s ends and beside a foosball table’s rods; that is where the room goes.
- Forgetting the foosball rods. A 30″ table is about 4′ wide with its rods out.
- Taking the size for the length. Olhausen’s 12′ Alcove is 147″, 3″ longer than 12′.
- Forgetting the way in. McClure Tables says to check “doorways, stairwells, and turns, not just room dimensions”; its cabinets 12′ and longer “typically come in two halves”.
Fit a pool table with the pool table room size calculator, a ping pong table with the ping pong room calculator, a dart board with the dart board calculator, and draw the room to scale in the free 2D planner.
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Game table size questions
What are shuffleboard table dimensions?
They are sold by length, 9′ to 22′; 22′ is regulation. McClure’s, Olhausen’s and Champion’s have a 20″ wide playfield, in a cabinet about 31″ wide: Olhausen’s Alcove 31½″, Champion’s Reagan 31″ (36″ with its scoring unit).
How much room do you need for a shuffleboard table?
Its length plus 2 to 3 feet at each end: 2½′ is “often enough” by McClure Tables, 3′ by Scioto Valley and West Penn Billiards. A 12′ table wants 16′ to 18′, a 22′ table 26′ to 28′.
What are foosball table dimensions?
A full-size table is 56″ long and 30″ wide (West Penn Billiards, The Game Room Store), and its rods “extend almost a foot on each side” (Scioto Valley).
How much room do you need for a foosball table?
About 10′ × 8′ by three dealers’ charts (Scioto Valley, West Penn Billiards, Pool Table Portfolio), at least 7′ × 8′ by The Game Room Store. The room goes across the rods: “3 to 4 feet of space on each long side”.
What size is an air hockey table?
Full size is about 7′ × 4′: “around 84 inches in length, 48 inches in width” (The Game Room Store). Game Exchange of Colorado also names an 8′ × 4′ table.
How much space do you need for an air hockey table?
3′ at each end and 2′ at each side (Game Exchange of Colorado, Scioto Valley): about 13′ × 8′ for a 7′ table, 14′ × 8′ for an 8′ one.