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If you've finally got the gaming chair you've been dreaming of, you may stress slightly when you realise that all of that fancy lumbar support, beautifully dense cushioning, and clever adjustability doesn't just fall into place when the box arrives on your doorstep. For that reason, you may be wondering how to build a gaming chair in the first place.
I have good news for you, as someone who reviews gaming chairs and has assembled plenty of them solo. Building a gaming chair really isn't massively difficult, and although each brand has its own quirks that'll make each chair slightly different in its step-by-step instructions, they all follow the same basic outline.
The first tip I'd give you is to give yourself plenty of room. While a chair won't take up loads of space when it's assembled, unpacking the box will make you realise that you need a bit more space than you think to lay things out and organise. Some chairs come with all the tools you need, and others don't, so if you have an Allen key, it might be worth digging it out since most chairs fix together using them. Also, make sure you seek out your own chair's instructions, whether they're a printed booklet or a QR code that sends you to an instructional video. After that, it'll be all about following these basic steps.
Step 1: Wheels
Without fail, the first step in any gaming chair assembly will always be sorting the castors and the wheelbase. This is because, for the most part, gaming chairs are built from the bottom up.
This part is pretty easy, and usually, it involves the first bits of gaming chair you find in the top of your box.
You're looking for the part that looks like a five-pointed star. Sometimes it has some cardboard coverings over its legs, but for the most part, it'll be easy to spot. The wheels for your chair will usually come in a smaller box tucked in one of the sides of the larger packaging.
All you need to do here is take the wheels and wheelbase out of the box and lay them down in front of you on the floor. I like to grab a seat on the floor for this job because it'll make stabilizing things a bit easier.
Flip the wheelbase upside down, so the legs are pointing up toward you. Then, grab each wheel and push its metal side into a leg of the wheelbase. You don't need any tools for this; you just need to push and give each wheel a wiggle until it clicks fully into place.
You'll know that each wheel is fully installed when you can no longer see any of the wheels' metal stems, or when you can't easily pull them back out again. Once each leg of the wheelbase has a wheel in it, flip the whole thing back upright.
Step 2: Gas pipe
You'll notice a central hole in the middle of your wheelbase. This is where the gas piston will go.
Again, this part of your chair will likely be in a smaller box within your packaging. Careful when handling it though, because often it comes out of the box with some kind of oil on it.
Sometimes, it's conveniently packed in with your chair's wheels. This step in the process won't take very long, but it will need you to adhere to your instructions to make sure you get it right because you only really get one shot at this.
All you're going to do is make sure your pipe is facing the right way up, then drop it into that central hole in your wheelbase. If successful, you won't be able to pull the pipe back out because it will lock into place.
Again, have a look at your chair to make sure you're getting this right. Usually, the tinner part of the pipe with a small button-looking part of plastic will be facing up the way.
Step 3: Seat base (and maybe armrests)
This is the part of the assembly process where things will start to splinter depending on your seat and its make.
Some chairs come with their armrests pre-attached, and others don't, so if yours doesn't, this step might require you to first find the bolts and armrests and fix them to the bottom of your seatbase. The only pro tip I'd advise here is that you sometimes get multiple fixing holes on the bottom of a seat that will let you set the armrests to a wider or narrower position. These can be handy to know about later if you find your armrests aren't working for you.
After that's taken care of, you'll likely need to attach the rest of the tilt and recline fixing system to the bottom of your chair. This is easy and will almost always be done with four larger screws you find in your packaging. The only thing to be wary of is referring to your instructions to make sure you put the mounting bracket on the right way around. You don't want your chair to tilt forward instead of reclining back. Assembly instructions will almost always have a diagram or two to refer to here.
The other thing you may need to do during this step is attach some of the recline lever systems, but again, refer to your instructions to know for sure.
Once the seatbase is unwrapped and has its fixings in place, you can then lift it up, and you'll have the fun job of dropping it down onto the gas pipe and wheelbase we assembled earlier. Since gaming chairs tend to pivot, you don't generally need to worry about which way round you're putting it in.
Step 4: The backrest
Depending on what type of chair you've bought, this step can differ. For the most part, you'll probably now see two metal brackets sticking out from the backsides of your seat cushion. Sometimes these are covered in a protective cardboard. These are what you'll use to bolt on your backrest, so you'll probably want to fetch that bit from the box and unwrap it now.
You'll probably need two screws on either side which will thread through the metal bracket, into a similarly shaped metal bracket that's already attached to your seat's backrest, and into the actual skeleton of your chair's backrest.
My pro tip here is to use the law of equal pressure. From experience, it can be a bit of a nightmare matching up all of the holes because by this point, the chair is standing upright and gravity is working against you.
To make life easier, put in a screw from one side, tighten it about halfway, then head over to the other side, put a screw in the corresponding hole on that side, and tighten it an equal amount. The backrest should then be set in the right position and will hold itself up while you wrestle the other bolts in and tighten them all the way.
Some chairs then come with plastic covers for these metal brackets. These are simple to install, just make sure you've got the correct side panel (they're often shaped differently for left and right), and then slap them on until they click over the bracket. You'll then need to find some thinner screws that will fix them in place, and they'll usually come with some plastic covers to put over them to keep up the chair's aesthetic.
Step 5: The headrest
Last, but certainly not least, is your headrest. If you've bought an ergonomic mesh chair, you'll probably need to find this in the big box your chair arrived in, and then bolt it to your backrest using some small screws.
If you have a more conventional gaming chair, this might be an easy head cushion deal, which you either strap on around the top of the backrest, or it attaches magnetically and all you need to do is slap it on.
Technically, that should do it for your gaming assembly, but there's one more step I'd recommend before we start gaming.
Step 6: Ergonomics setup
One of the reasons you probably bought a new chair in the first place because you wanted better posture support and ergonomics, and I think an important part of any gaming chair build is getting it set up for your body once it's all assembled together.
For this, you'll want to use the various adjustability settings your chair has. I'd recommend setting the armrests so they match up exactly with the height of your desk surface. Not only will this help you with aiming if you use a mouse, but it'll also ensure your new chair is integrated into your existing setup.
Your arms should be as close to right angles as possible, because this will encourage your spine to be straight. The middle of your monitor should be at a natural eye level.
If you have a chair with adjustable lumbar support, you'll want to play about with this so that while sitting in that position, your lower back feels supported - imagine an almost S-shaped curve in your back while adjusting this. When your spine feels straight, your lower back should almost feel a little further forward.
It's also worth noting that you probably won't be able to adjust your lumbar support while putting weight on it, so to make sure you don't break anything, make sure you take your weight off the backrest while adjusting it all.
You can also play around with recline levels and the tilting mechanism to make sure your chair works for the angle of your screen, and a footrest if you have one.
Your head should feel in line with the rest of your spine, like there's a string coming out the top of it and pulling it ever so slightly upwards toward the ceiling. Feel free to configure your neck pillow or headrest to a point where that feels supported and comfortable.
Refining the other parts of your setup? Take a look at the best gaming PCs, the best PC controller, and the best microphones for streaming and gaming.
