Gaming Signal: REVIEW - AK Rocker 200

REVIEW - AK Rocker 200

On the same trip to Best Buy where we found the AK Octane chair, my wife also wanted to get the kids their own gaming chairs so they don't have to sit on the floor to game. I thought floor sitting would build character in them, but I was over ruled. Therefore, we decided to purchash the AK Rocker 200. I figured they could have gone all L33T and named it the R0x0r 200, but I guess cooler heads prevailed in the AK marketing department. But I digress.

The Rocker 200 is basically 3 pieces of heavy duty, form-molded plastic that snap together to form a F1 inspired (why not IRL or CART inspired?) rocking chair for you to game on. Luckily, they learned from their mistake of the Rocker 100 which didn't have stops on the back, thus causing sitters who rocked too hard to rock all the way back to the floor. I'm guessing there may have been some liability issues there, and thus the Rocker 200 was born. With stops. To stop you from flipping backwards out of the chair. Which is a good thing. Now, the chair goes back a fair way before stopping and you're in a semi-reclined position and the chair is supporting your back and head. All in all, not a bad way to play. It's actually rather comfortable to sit this way. In fact, it's really the only way I can sit in the chair. Fully upright and I have to extend my legs at an uncomfortable angle to sit, and the sides come up and are too close for me to site cross-legged on it. My kids, however, have no problem sitting that way.

As far as comfort goes, if you buy the chair, all you get is the plastic chair itself. Which, for $80, isn't much. There is no padding. For that, and for extra cool value, you have to purchase a skin for $20 more. This cloth covering has some padding, but not enough to be called soft. However, in the heat of the game, you don't really notice this and the chair is decently comfortable. At least for 30 minute stretches. My kids can sit in them for hours without complaint so YMMV. And we bought the blue and red skins, which is all Best Buy had. If I had known about the camo one, I would have bought that one. That way, you wouldn't be able to see the chair on the floor until you tripped over it.

So, I give the chair 3.5 stars. I'm not sure I could game for much more than an hour at most before really feeling the plastic through the skin, thus causing discomfort. Also, the base chair almost requires a skin purchase. Which isn't listed on the box. But your kids will probably like them. Now they just need to work more on the name for the next series...