Sounds to me like your need to go shopping for an inspirational piece : )

Will you need a bathroom?

I would look on houzz at basements for inspiration. I would keep it pretty flexible. We never thought we would have an air hockey table but our son loves it and our family plays all the time.

Boy, I wish we had the space for a hang-out room! I wonder whether something in the gold/caramel/camel range could be a nice starting color, with limited use of a metallic in hardware to add some sheen. You could go many directions with accent colors -- soft aqua/greens, creams, black. Walls in a rich cream, light gold or greenish gold.

You can go in so many directions as far as colors. Have you looked on Houzz for inspiration pics?
https://www.houzz.com/photos/attic-phbr0lbl-bl~l_323?fi=8

Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/attic-phbr0lbl-bl~l_323?fi=8)

We recently made a similar, but smaller, room in our basement. We "upgraded" from basic playroom scheme to more of a family room. Our big TV is there with a big comfy leather sofa and two chairs and a few ottomans and floor pillows. All the toys are stored in baskets in built-in shelving. Now that my youngest is 12, the toys mostly stay put!

To help with sound control, consider carpeting or at least some plush area rug(s).

Our color scheme in the room is different from the rest of the house. I went with neutral taupe-ish carpet and walls, and brought in turquoise and orange accents because I love those colors but bringing them into our existing "real" living spaces wouldn't work. So, go for some fun colors.

I will also give you my two cents about a pool table. We have two rooms in our basement. One was an addition from about 6 years ago when we expanded our kitchen on the first floor -- we ended up with a whole new room in the basement that we could have left unfinished, but opted to finish it. That became our supposed "man cave" (it is separate from, but open to, the room I described above). So, that was 6 years ago? Let's see, the pool table has been used about 12 times since then. I'm just saying, think hard about investing in such a huge item unless you really know that everyone's going to use it. I am honestly not sure what else I'd use our space for, but as far as I'm concerned, the pool table was a waste of money for us.

When I did a hang out room for the kids years ago I did it with the thoughts that all tops needed to be nearly bullet proof, the sofa had to be leather so I could clean it, I would revamp used things so I would not worry about things getting destroyed and the room had to be suitable for adults as well. I do not have a picture of the sofa area on the other side because that area is now an office but the sofa was leather and matched the drapes (and hit dirt). Those bar tables on each back corner were rusty and used so I painted the base stalk to match the used bar stool bases and added glass mosaics to the bottom and painted the tops adding several coats of poly. The picture frame came from a thrift store and I added my own mixed media art on top of an old painting I also painted the other picture. The room would only take a small pool table, I bought it used for $150 and had it re-felted. The coffee table near the sofa came from a garage sale and I added a bullet proof granite top. On top of the coffee table was a very cool antique brass chess set (from a garage sale). I also had two ottomans near the sofa and coffee table in reds, raisin , purple and teal tapestry fabric for extra seating and also because it would not hamper the pool playing in limited space. From that area (sofa) you could view a wall mounted TV for sports. So, even though the room was not large I still had areas, areas for game playing and TV watching, areas for snacks, and the center for pool playing.

Keep the ideas coming! I'm scouring Houzz and Pinterest constantly. Just feel STUCK!

The area will be carpeted (yes to help reduce noise!)
Husband & 2 sons will make great use of the pool table, I have no doubt. My son plays at my parents house the entire time we are there! Plus I think it is a great social thing for kids to get away from the video games.

I not excited by browns, golds, reds. My go to colors are palladian blue, aquas, soft greens. My kitchen is white, clean, Christopher Peacock on a budget look. I like barnwood, shabby chic, repurposed vintage, etc.

Also, I should say I have 2 daughters as well so I don't want this to be all boys space. I've wondered if there is a fun way to sneak in some pink? Ahhhggg my husband would die if he heard me say that : )

Thanks for all the advice so far....would love to hear more ideas!

I might take this as an imperative to develop an antique game board collection for the walls.

If you are looking at lots of game room pictures but can't "see" past the color, pick a room you like and make it colorless. Shop for a decorative pillow you love the colors of, you can do that online. Next, shop for things within those colors, add wall decoration picks, paint chips and furnishings as well. Put a board together with all you have collected. When you have a handle on the room you want... start shopping and putting it all together.
This way you can see past a color that you do not like in a room you do like (this is just an example).

Are you guys into sports at all? Sometimes sports teams can lend a color theme....though usually they are very bright, but you might tone them down.

Will the pool table be the traditional green felt? That might be a consideration.

If it's an attic space, will you have a lot of light? If not, you'll probably want to go with a light color to add sunshine to the space.

Candice has done some neat and fun rooms using a wall mural of a nature scene as a jumping off point...that might be fun for an attic room...