The Essential Guide to Game Room Lighting
September 8, 2023 12 min read

The Essential Guide to Game Room Lighting

Proper video game room lighting plays an integral role in enhancing your overall gaming experience. The dynamic color display and color temperature of your lights help set the overall ambiance of the game room to create an immersive gaming space. Game room lighting not only elevates the sensory experience of gaming but also protects your eyes. Decorative lighting around computer screens and monitors reduces the risk of eye fatigue and allows gamers to engage in extended sessions without visual discomfort. Additionally, certain LED lights can be synchronized to flash with on-screen audio to deepen the immersion. In this article, we explore all the best ways to create the ultimate game room experience using lighting.

Best Game Room Lighting Ideas

LED Strip Lights

RGB and tunable white LED strip lights are frequently installed around the ceiling perimeter to create a colorful glow around video gaming rooms. Remote and smartphone app control options allow you to adjust the color, brightness, and mode of the strip lights so you can change your game room lighting on the fly. 

 

You can also use LED strips to install bias lighting around monitors and screens to alleviate eye strain when looking at a bright screen for a long period of time. Since LED strip lights have built-in heat sinks, they do not get as hot as traditional incandescent lighting. This makes strip lights safer to use around electronics. Additionally, LEDs are popular for adding custom illumination to PC cases. When installing lights in your PC, take caution around any wires and circuit boards.

 

Additionally, high CRI strip lights are commonly used to add lighting around shelves or display cases to highlight action figures and collectible objects. This ensures your prized possessions stay in focus and appear in the most accurate colors. For use around mirrors or shiny surfaces, use COB LED strips to eliminate any hotspots that might show. High CRI strips are also important for many streamers who want to provide webcam lighting that shows natural color representation. This ensures the streamer’s appearance and surroundings are depicted accurately to enhance the quality of the stream.

Guy playing video games with colorful strip lights in background Guy playing video games with colorful strip lights in background

Twinkly Squares

Addressable Twinkly Squares are a great option for adding creative and unique wall decor to your game room. Using the Twinkly app, you can program your square LEDs to display customized patterns and sequences. Plus, you can sync up to 16 panels together per master tile for an extended display! Twinkly Squares, along with all Twinkly products, connect with Razer Chroma™ RGB to display colors and effects that mimic the action happening on-screen.

Twinkly Squares hanging on the wall of a game room Twinkly Squares hanging on the wall of a game room

Flexible Neon Light Alternative

Twinkly Flex and Flexible LED Neon Strip Lights are an innovative, safer alternative to traditional neon lights. Their flexibility and durability allow you to bend and shape these strips to create custom shapes and signs for your wall decor. Twinkly Flex strips feature addressable LEDs that can be mapped out into custom light displays.

Flexible LED neon lights Flexible LED neon lights

Sign Lighting

Flexible LED light sheets are versatile lights that can be programmed with customized light displays to enhance your gaming experience. Cut along the cuttable strip segments for a customized installation around objects and 3D signs. Certain LED light sheets are individually addressable, so you can have full control over the placement of colors and effects. These light sheets can be controlled through a DMX decoder and compatible computer software. Or, you can choose a DMX decoder with built-in preset modes or a Bluetooth controller for simplified control.

For a simpler approach to sign light, use LED modules. Most LED modules feature 2, 3, or 4 individual LED SMDs and come in packs with multiple modules that easily link and separate. Use these lights to easily illuminate signage and wall decor.

RGB Downlight

If you want to establish a retro atmosphere around your entire room, consider installing RGB+CCT downlights. These retrofit fixtures allow you to switch between your traditional white ambient lighting for your typical day-to-day lighting and instantly change to fun, colorful RGB colors suited for game time. Certain downlights are also compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, and smartphone apps.

Types of Lighting That Are Best for Gaming Rooms

There are four main types of lighting that can be used to enhance your game room: task, accent, ambient, and decorative lighting. 

 

Task lighting refers to lighting that illuminates areas of your game room where you perform specific tasks or actions. In a game room, task lighting around your desk in the form of desk lamps or strip lights can provide useful illumination for gaming.   

 

Ambient lighting refers to lighting that is responsible for establishing the mood and overall ambiance of the room. This type of lighting typically comes from overhead ceiling lights, recessed downlights, or large lamps that are able to throw light across the entire room.

 

Accent lighting is any light that highlights a specific feature or object in the room. Install these lights around your shelves, desk, and display cases to highlight a specific feature or object in the room, such as action figures or collectibles. Accent lights will not only give your room more depth and dimension, but they can also help you see your featured objects when the overhead lights aren’t on. To reduce eye strain and fatigue, install accent lights in the form of bias lighting around monitors, screens, or desks. Bias lighting, also known as backlighting, produces a gentle glow that enhances the contrast between the screen and the surrounding environment. Reducing the difference in brightness alleviates the strain on the eyes during extended viewing or gaming sessions. 

 

Finally, decorative lighting is any light that adds a stylistic element to the room. Popular forms of decorative game room lighting include neon signs and strip lights. Elevate your gaming space by adding decorative lighting in the form of hanging wall lights or colorful lighting around your room’s ceiling. Decorative lights help transform your room into a fun hang-out space and let you customize your space. You can also customize your PC case with LED lights to turn your PC into a decorative lighting source.

 

The best gaming rooms use a combination of these 4 types of lighting to balance the functional needs of the gamer with the desired aesthetic of the space.

Characteristics to Consider

There are several important characteristics of your lighting that are important to think about before choosing your lights. Firstly, consider how bright you want your game room lights to be. Bright lights might be good as ambient or task lighting around your desk or gaming station. Dimmer lights are ideal for bias lighting and decorative light fixtures. If you want the ability to change between different brightnesses, choose lights that have a dimming option in their controller or connect a dimmer to your light.

Best LED Colors for Gaming

Secondly, consider the color or color temperature of your lights. Neon greens, blues, purples, and pinks are all popular RGB colors for game rooms. These colors help create the look of a traditional gaming arcade and can bring a retro aesthetic to your video game space. 

 

The ideal color for bias lighting should align with the color temperature of your computer screen, which is commonly around 6500K. On the other hand, if you're aiming for ambient lighting that is gentle on the eyes, opt for a color temperature closer to 3000K.

Create an Immersive Gaming Experience

For an immersive gaming experience, program your LED strip lights to flash and change colors according to the audio of your video games. Using either a controller with a built-in microphone or a smartphone app with music sync abilities, you can easily sync your lights to video game music or audio. This can help create a dynamic gameplay experience.

 

The Twinkly Music Dongle makes syncing Twinkly lights to music or gaming audio extremely easy. Simply plug the dongle into any USB port and use the Twinkly app to control the light output. Additionally, all Twinkly products connect with Razer Chroma™ RGB to display lighting effects that react to in-game events. If you have multiple Twinkly lights in your space, you can connect them to sync their displays for an enhanced gaming atmosphere. Download the Twinkly Chroma Connector and the Razer Synapse 3 or click here to learn more. Twinkly gaming lights also integrate seamlessly with Omen Light Studio to give you increased control over each individual pixel in your lighting system. Learn more about the OMEN Hub Software here.


Smart LED light strips and smart recessed downlights easily integrate into smart home systems. This new technology allows you to connect your game room lighting to systems like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Smart lighting is useful for creative automated scenes and specific light displays based on commands. For example, with a smart lighting system you could program the lights around your computer monitors and wall decor to turn on and flash neon colors when you say “Google, it’s game time”. Additionally, the MiBoxer ecosystem and the Twinkly + Homey ecosystem allow you to quickly program home automations and connect different lights to create one cohesive lighting system.

Installation Tips

  1. When using LED strip lights, mount your strips in aluminum channels and cover them with a frosted lens to help diffuse the light and eliminate glare. This will also help transform your lights into professional-looking fixtures.
  2. Use remote controls or smartphone apps to control your gaming room lights for easy access and convenient control. Most LED strip lights, LED modules, and Twinkly products have remotes or compatible apps that give you the freedom to change the brightness, color, and mode of your LEDs.
  3. Make sure your lights don’t create a glare on your computer screen or monitor. Carefully position your overhead lights and any decorative/accent lights to not throw light directly onto your screen. Dimming your lights can also solve this problem. You might also consider angling and adjusting your monitors or using an anti-glare screen. 
  4. Plan your lighting layout with cable management in mind to avoid clutter and ensure a clean and organized appearance.

by Elizabeth Schlaker

Lead SEO Specialist


Elizabeth loves writing about all the creative ways you can use strip lights and landscape lights. In her free time, you can catch her trying out new DIY projects, reading books, and traveling.

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