Set comfort level to maximum with the Mechanism Gaming Pillow for handhelds

You may remember Mechanism from their original Deckmate system of attachments for the Steam Deck, but they have since expanded to cover other handhelds and they also now have the Mechanism Gaming Pillow.

For full disclosure: the Mechanism team sent it over a while ago for review, and it has become something I now use without even thinking about — it just makes sense. If I'm not going to be docking it, and I'm sat where I can sit back and relax a bit, I will absolutely be popping the Steam Deck into it without question.

However, I wasn't even remotely convinced until actually getting it and using it for a while. Why? Just the very idea of a gaming pillow never really appealed much to me. I thought it would be gimmicky, or just a fancy pillow with the word gaming attached to bring up the price. Thankfully, the Gaming Pillow from Mechanism is actually a genuinely good idea.

Image credit: Mechanism

Here's the thing: I play on my Steam Deck near-enough every day. A lot of the time, I prop my arms up with some sort of pillow underneath anyway. At times on my sofa building something resembling a pillow fort just to get properly comfy for a decent gaming session. Why? The dreaded aching arms, and slightly sore neck that can come with holding it up for a while.

Mechanism's Gaming Pillow solves the entire problem and then some.

It's super simple to attach it together. All you need for the Steam Deck is the Deckmate mount that you just slot over the top of the Steam Deck, and then you just click it into the arm mount on the Gaming Pillow. The Gaming Pillow can be purchased with a mount for the Steam Deck, ROG Ally / X, Nintendo Switch, and there's also adaptors for the dbrand and JSAUX cases plus there's a universal grip to stick it to anything else.

From there, you can then position it pretty much whichever way you want with the pillow sat on top of you. This is thanks to the ball socket attached to the end of the arm, allowing you to really get it where you want it. So even if you're tall, or you have short arms, or you're just generally short (hi) it's not an issue getting it into position.

It entirely frees up your arms to game for longer sessions without worry. Maybe you want to quickly check your phone or have a sip of your coffee or whatever without dropping the Deck itself or moving it anywhere. It will just sit there floating in the mount waiting for you. There's even an extra mount directly on the top of it for you to stick down a battery pack, a USB hub, your phone or whatever else you might need while relaxing with your handheld.

While I think it's great, there is one thing that annoys me about it. The material and coating on the top where you rest the Steam Deck (if you have it set down low) is a bit squeaky with any movement of the attachment rubbing on it. Not overly distracting, but still just a tiny bit annoying. Other than that, it's quite wonderful.

I would have liked to have more to say about it, but there's not a lot of extra I can add in here that wouldn't just end up as nonsense text-padding. It does exactly what it advertises, and does so very nicely. I no longer have to build up a little pillow fort under my arms to get comfy and that's wonderful.

You're still going to look a fair bit silly with it though but who really cares when you're the master of comfort.

You can buy it on the Mechanism website. It's being done in batches with the next expected in November.