How do we set up and maintain a game room in our HOA clubhouse?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 25, 2026

How an HOA board sets up a clubhouse game room: pool and ping pong tables, tip-over and recall checks, fair housing limits on age rules, card games and upkeep.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

A clubhouse game room usually goes wrong in one of three ways. Equipment breaks and nobody owns the repair. A rule aimed at teenagers runs into fair housing law. Or a friendly poker night turns into a question about state gambling law. All three are avoidable. Buy equipment built for heavy use, anchor anything that can tip, and give one director or the cleaning vendor a weekly routine. Write rules about conduct that apply to everyone, and draw an age line only where a safety reason supports it. Keep money off the tables unless your attorney has read your state's statute with you. Rules vary by state and by your governing documents, and a community that qualifies as housing for older persons works under different fair housing rules. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

Choose equipment for a shared room

Shared equipment gets more use and less care than anything in a home, so buy for that. - Pool table: a slate-bed table is heavy and needs a professional to move and level it, so settle the spot before delivery. Measure the room for the table plus a full cue length on every side, or keep a short cue on hand for the tight side. - Table tennis: pick a table with a solid frame and locking wheels. In February 2022, CPSC announced a recall of about 5,200 Escalade Sports AVENGER table tennis tables sold at Target because they could collapse when someone leaned on them; the company had 78 reports of collapse. Check any table, new or donated, against CPSC's recall list before it goes in the room. - Foosball, air hockey and shuffleboard: look for leg levelers and a cabinet that does not rock when you push on a corner. Plug electric tables into a wall outlet, not a power strip. - TVs and game cabinets: anchor them. A February 2024 CPSC release counted 217 tip-over deaths from 2013 through July 2023, 47 percent involving a television, and about 17,800 tip-over injuries a year from 2020 to 2022. CPSC's main advice is to anchor TVs and furniture to the wall. Donated equipment is welcome, but treat it like a purchase. Inspect it, check it for recalls and have the donor sign a one-page gift form that transfers ownership to the association.

Age rules and fair housing

Age rules are where boards most often get the game room wrong. The Fair Housing Act bars discrimination because of familial status in the privileges, services and facilities that come with housing, 42 U.S.C. 3604(b). HUD's rule at 24 CFR 100.65(b)(4) names limiting the use of facilities associated with a dwelling as one form of it. A sign reading 'adults only' or 'no one under 16' on the game room door is that kind of limit. HUD answered this question for a game room in a 1992 legal opinion on use of recreational facilities by children. A park manager wanted separate adult and children's game rooms because young people were damaging equipment. HUD said rules that keep children out of game or recreation rooms need a health or safety reason. It then made two points a board can use. Nothing in the Act stops a provider from excluding anyone who damages recreation room property, under a general policy that applies regardless of age. And a rule requiring a responsible adult to supervise children appeared more tailored to safety and less of a problem. In practice: - Write conduct rules for everyone: no food or drinks on the tables, no sitting on tables, return equipment, report damage. - Suspend access for anyone who damages equipment, adult or child, under a written policy, with notice and a hearing if your documents call for one. - If you adopt a supervision rule, tie it to young children and a reason you can state. A narrow rule is closer to what HUD described than one that sweeps in high school students. - Have counsel review any age-based rule before you post it. Housing for older persons is exempt from the familial status rules, but under 42 U.S.C. 3607(b)(2)(C) that takes at least 80 percent of occupied units with a resident 55 or older, published policies showing that intent, and age verification.

Card games and betting in the clubhouse

Sooner or later someone asks to run a poker night or a football pool in the game room. The answer depends on the state. Florida. Section 849.085 allows a penny-ante game of poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes or mah-jongg when no player wins more than $10 in a single round, hand or game. The game has to be in a dwelling, and the statute's definition of dwelling includes the common areas of a residential subdivision where a participant is a unit owner. The host cannot take a cut, no one can be charged to play, the game cannot be advertised, and every player must be 18 or older. The statute also says a game in those common areas creates no civil liability for the association. Watch the advertising rule: a poker night notice in the community newsletter may break it. Texas. Gambling is a Class C misdemeanor under Penal Code section 47.02. Section 47.02(b) gives a defense when the game is in a private place, no one gets any economic benefit other than personal winnings, and the odds are the same for every player apart from skill or luck. Section 47.01(8) defines a private place as one the public cannot reach and excludes, among others, the common areas of apartment houses. Whether a members-only HOA clubhouse counts as private is a question for counsel. Colorado. Section 18-10-102(2)(d) leaves out of the definition of gambling any game incidental to a bona fide social relationship, played only by natural persons, where no one takes part in professional gambling. Professional gambling includes helping others gamble with intent to profit, and the statute defines profit broadly. A rake, a seat fee or a 'donation to the social fund' can take a game outside the exemption. The rule that works in every state: the association does not host, collect, hold or promote anything played for money. Owners can play cards in the room, and games for points or chips with no cash value raise no betting question.

Weekly and seasonal upkeep

Assign the room to a person. The cleaning vendor can dust and empty trash, but a director or volunteer should do the equipment check. Weekly: brush the pool table cloth in long strokes toward one end, wipe the rails, rack and count the balls, and put the cover on. Check the table tennis net and clamps, throw out cracked balls and pull paddles with peeling rubber. Spin each foosball rod to find a bent one or a loose handle. Look at the TV mount and any cabinet straps. Monthly: set a level on each table and adjust the feet, tighten leg bolts, and look underneath for cracked welds or split legs. Vacuum the vents on electric tables and game cabinets. As needed: budget for recovering the pool table when the cloth is torn or worn bald, and for replacing cues, tips, paddles and pucks. If your reserve study lists clubhouse furnishings, ask the reserve preparer to include the large items, such as the pool table and the TV. Keep a damage log by the door, or post a QR code to a report form. A missing cue reported the same day is easy to replace. Discovered at the next monthly check, nobody knows who had it last.

Rules sign and a sample first year

Sign wording the board can copy: 'Game room open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. No food or drinks on the tables. Do not sit or lean on the tables. Return all equipment to the rack. Report damage to [email] the same day. Anyone who damages equipment may lose game room access under the association's damage policy.' If counsel approves a supervision rule, add it as its own line. A first year might run like this. Winter: measure the room, read the clubhouse contents limit on the property policy, and ask the agent whether new equipment changes anything. Spring: buy equipment or accept donations, check recalls, install and anchor. Opening: post the rules and send owners a short notice with the hours and the damage policy. Summer: weekly checks and the damage log. Fall: count equipment and set next year's replacement budget. The mistakes repeat. An 'adults only' sign goes up after one bad weekend. A poker night lands in the newsletter. A donated table goes in without an inspection. A TV sits on a stand a child can pull over. Nobody is named to look after any of it. Our guide on writing an HOA clubhouse rental policy covers private parties in the room, and our guide on setting up an HOA fitness room covers waivers for shared equipment.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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