?Fun Rooms? Picking Up Steam in Market

Shooting a little foosball, racking up the billiards, playing cards and taking a late-night swim could have led to strained relationships in the past. But today, doing these things may be as easily accessible as walking down the hall at home.

Fun rooms are becoming more popular in Northwest Arkansas, and there seems to be no end to just how much consumers can integrate into their households. Shuffle boards, dart rooms, ping-pong tables, air hockey games, saunas and spas are just a few of the other items people are bringing into their home rather than going elsewhere for the relaxation.

Mike Graham, owner of Graham Crackers Backyard & Patio in Springdale, has been in the “fun room” field for 25 years. But he said only lately has it become more than just a rare novelty around Northwest Arkansas.

“People are working more, and they’re spending more,” Graham said. “Their jobs are so stressful. And after September 11, people were wanting to stay home and enjoy their families more.”

Graham said more people are remodeling their homes to make room for a fun room, and others are having homes built with such rooms in mind.

Pat Harris, owner of Harris McHaney Realtors in Rogers, has noticed many prospective buyers looking for fun room possibilities in their search for a new home.

“One thing that is driving this is that people are coming here from larger areas where they’re used to these rooms,” Harris said. “Before, people around here probably wouldn’t have thought much about [the fun rooms]. Our market was either retired people moving here or people just moving across the street. But with all of the [Wal-Mart] vendors coming to town from usually larger cities, they’ve been exposed to that kind of sophistication.

“I hear my agents talk about it quite a bit. And my son is a builder, and he says you have to jazz it up more. People want more stuff in the house. You have to have more extras to compete for certain markets.”

Jazzing it up doesn’t come cheap.

For starters, Graham said the average fun room people are putting in is about the size of a large master bedroom — 320 SF.

“People are spending anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 on their fun rooms,” Graham said.

Then, the items that make up the fun room can vary from inexpensive dart games to high-dollar spas, a.k.a. hot tubs.

There is even a swim spa that Graham Crackers recently sold to a Rogers couple for about $20,000. The swim spa has the hot tub on one end with a swimming chamber on the other where a person can swim in place against a current.

Both indoor and outdoor saunas are available.

“Cal Spa has an infrared, which is gaining speed fast,” Graham said. “But the more common sauna has radiant heat, and it’s much better. A lot of people don’t understand that a sauna is for health. A hot tub increases the comfort level. It makes you feel better for a short time. But saunas take out a lot of toxins.”

Billiard tables are the most common items in fun rooms, ranging from $1,400-$4,500.

“Billiard season usually comes from the end of November through March when the weather is cool,” Graham said.

Shuffle boards can come in various lengths, too. A 12-foot shuffle board lists for about $2,600.

Other items include card tables from $2,000-$2,700, air hockey games from $450-$800 and foosball games from $400-$1,100.

Another item for the fun rooms is the tanning bed, which starts at about $2,200.