What Makes a Great Retro Gaming Gift? Ideas for Gamers Who Have Everything
Buying a gift for someone who's been gaming for most of their life can be surprisingly difficult.
If they grew up with the NES, SNES, Game Boy, or the generations that followed, chances are they've already accumulated plenty of gaming stuff over the years. Maybe they still have some of their original consoles. Maybe they've rebuilt the collection they had as a kid. Or maybe they just don't need another gaming T-shirt, plushie, or plastic trinket with a logo slapped on it.
We've always thought the best retro gaming gifts do something a little different.
They make you stop for a second and think:
"Wait...what is that?"
The best nostalgic gifts feel instantly familiar
There's something fun about seeing an object you've looked at a thousand times — except this time, something is different.
You recognize the shape. You recognize the layout. Your brain knows exactly what it's reminding you of before you've really had time to process it.
But instead of being the game console, controller, or handheld you remember, maybe it's been turned into something completely different and useful.
That's the sweet spot for us.
A good nostalgic gift doesn't necessarily need a giant logo or a character printed across it. Sometimes just seeing a familiar shape is enough to bring back a whole collection of memories.
And for a lot of us, those memories aren't really about the hardware at all.
They're about sitting on the floor in front of the TV. Opening a new game and having absolutely no idea what you were doing. Passing a controller back and forth with friends or siblings. Or taking a handheld everywhere because there was always a chance you'd get ten minutes to play.
Sometimes it's simply a reminder of a time when life felt a little less complicated.
That's actually how our retro gaming trays started
For me, that connection was with the handheld systems I grew up with.
My Game Boy was basically attached to my hip as a kid. Years later, when we started making wooden catch-all trays, I wanted to create something I'd actually want sitting on my own desk or nightstand.
So I designed a hardwood catch-all inspired by that familiar handheld shape.
It wasn't meant to be another piece of gaming memorabilia that sits on a shelf collecting dust. I wanted it to be something functional — somewhere to throw your keys, wallet, watch, rings, or whatever else normally ends up scattered across the nightstand.
But I also wanted someone from that generation to look at it and immediately understand where the inspiration came from.
Once we listed it and realized other people connected with the idea too, we started experimenting.
That eventually led to controller-inspired trays and other designs influenced by things we remembered growing up with, including arcade machines and cassette tapes.
Not every idea was a winner.
We even made a boombox-inspired tray at one point.
We thought it was pretty cool. The rest of the world apparently didn't agree.
That one didn't stick around...
But that's also part of the fun of designing this stuff.
Why we like wood for nostalgic pieces
There's definitely no shortage of gaming merchandise.
A lot of it, though, falls into the novelty category — plastic decorations, plushies, little collectibles and other things that can be fun but aren't necessarily something everyone wants sitting in their bedroom or office.
We're both the type of people who like making things around our house, and we've always appreciated objects that have some weight and quality to them.
That's one of the reasons we gravitated toward hardwood.
When we make one of our trays, we're working with actual pieces of walnut, maple and other hardwoods. We choose boards specifically for the pieces we're making, and the grain means no two pieces ever come out exactly alike.
It creates an interesting combination:
something that reminds you of an object from childhood, made from a material that feels decidedly more grown-up.
That's the kind of gaming accessory we'd want in our own house.
So what do you buy a retro gamer who already has everything?
You don't necessarily need to find something they've never seen before.
Instead, we'd start with the era they connect with.
Someone who grew up with an NES or SNES may have completely different nostalgia than someone whose formative gaming years happened with the Nintendo 64 or original PlayStation.
Then think about how they enjoy that hobby today.
If they have a gaming desk or dedicated game room, something functional like a controller or headset stand can be more useful than another collectible.
For someone who still displays original consoles and controllers, a nice display stand or organizer could complement the hardware they already own.
We've also kicked around ideas like wooden console accents and skins that add natural materials to modern gaming hardware without turning the whole setup into a novelty piece.
And, of course, we're partial to hardwood catch-all trays inspired by classic gaming hardware. That's largely because they're useful even when you're not gaming.
In fact, controller stands, headset stands and wooden console accessories are all ideas we've wanted to explore ourselves. We just haven't found enough hours in the day to make everything on the list yet.
You don't have to recreate someone's childhood to remind them of it
This is probably the biggest thing we've learned from designing nostalgic products.
You don't need to reproduce something exactly.
Sometimes that's actually less interesting.
The fun part is taking something familiar and changing its purpose.
A handheld becomes a catch-all tray.
A controller becomes somewhere to put your keys and wallet.
Something that used to sit next to a television becomes an object you'd actually put on your desk twenty or thirty years later.
That little moment of recognition is what makes it work.
The occasion doesn't matter as much as the connection
We've seen our retro gaming pieces purchased for Christmas, Father's Day, Valentine's Day and plenty of birthdays.
But the common thread isn't really the holiday.
It's knowing the person well enough to recognize what will take them back.
Maybe it's the console they opened one Christmas morning.
Maybe it's the controller they spent thousands of hours holding.
Maybe it's the handheld they carried around everywhere as a kid.
The best nostalgic gifts aren't necessarily the biggest or most expensive ones.
They're the ones somebody opens, looks at for a second and smiles because they immediately get it.
And if the first thing they say is:
"Wait...is that what I think it is?"
That's usually a pretty good sign you picked the right gift.
Looking for a retro gaming gift that's a little different?
We make our retro-inspired catch-all trays by hand in our California workshop using real hardwoods, with designs influenced by some of the gaming hardware we grew up with ourselves.