Physical comfort is an important part of gaming. Let’s face it, sometimes a game just pulls you in for hours. Chances are, many of you want to lose yourself for a day in the likes of The Witcher III or Batman: Arkham Knight. Is your sofa/bed the most comfortable place still for lengthy sessions? With Fallout 4 thundering towards us, you’re going to want to find the right seat.

Let me present the i-eX Bean Bag Gaming Chair. This faux-leather beast is much more gamer-friendly than your usual bean-bags (that attempt to swallow you whole) thanks to the addition of back support. There isn’t a rigid component, it’s more of a change to the shape of the bag that provides something similar to a racing car’s bucket seat (but with the comfort of a bean bag).

The bag itself is roughly three quarters full of polystyrene ‘beans’ and they’re poured into a separate internal zipped layer with another zip hidden underneath the seat, so you’re not accidentally going to spill the beans any time soon.

When you sit down, air pushes up into the empty part of the bag, inflating the backrest area for a sturdy upright position which works much better for a viewing angle as I find leaning too far back (like in a regular bean bag) isn’t as comfortable for my hands and nobody likes looking down their nose (or over their knees on those really deep bags) trying to play a game. The beans move into position to provide excellent support around your legs and lower back and there’s plenty of room for your elbows to rest too.

The beans aren’t constantly shifting either, so you’ll rarely have to adjust the bean bag to get full support again and the shape doesn’t completely disintegrate when you get up. It’s hard to maintain any sort of dignity when climbing out of most bean bags as they swallow your hand and smoosh your face into them (can you imagine them on Downton Abbey), but the i-eX seems much more robust upon exit.

The back support element and sitting position can be adjusted to your own choosing simply by shaking the bean bag a bit and tilting the beans up or down. Shake them into the lower part for an upright gaming session, or the other way for a more reclined viewpoint which works very well for watching TV or reading. There’s plenty of room to tuck your knees and feet up onto it too if you want to get extra cosy.

The tough faux-leather material and solid stitching mean you’re not in danger of bursting any seams when flopping down onto it or tearing the material at all. It’s much more durable than regular bean-bag materials of old too. The surface is wipe-clean if you’re prone to spilling drinks or covering your gaming radius in Pringle crumbs.

If your home is already fully-furnished, bean bags are admittedly a large item to bring in. Mine’s had to go in front of the main sofa in place of the coffee table while I’ve been reviewing it (and they say games journos just sit on their arse all day). Sure, “it’s only temporary” I was thinking, but now I’m eyeing up one of the old single-seater sofas for the rubbish tip and giving the i-eX a permanent space.

Any bedroom with a double bed is going to struggle. But man caves, playrooms, children’s/teenager’s rooms could be an ideal fit and at £74.99, the i-eX Bean Bag Gaming chair is considerably cheaper than any sofa.

Pros

• Very comfortable for gaming or watching TV
• Great back support
• Reasonably priced

Cons

• Do you have room for one?
• Family members keep trying to steal it

The Short Version: An excellent way to enjoy the comfort of a bean bag, with the benefits of back and head support for extended gaming sessions. The i-eX Bean Bag Gaming Chair can be adapted for multiple viewing angles too, making it ideal for relaxing with a movie too. The robust build with quality materials provide a durable product that will see gamers abandoning their sofas for a new throne of champions.

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You can order your own i-eX Bean Bag Gaming Chair or browse other selections at the Bean Bag Bazaar website.