You arranged your TV room so you can sit around in comfort. Now, prepare your virtual-reality space so you can thrash around without breaking your damn neck.

Virtual reality goggles make you completely blind to your surroundings. Put plenty of distance (at least 7 feet) between you and items you can break—or that can break you. Push the coffee table to the farthest wall, or better yet, banish it from the room. Remove anything made of glass. Find a new place in your home for anything shin height. Ditch the chandelier, so you can wave your hands in the air as you chop melons in Fruit Ninja.

Watching VR—or experiencing it—isn’t a sit-down, bag-of-popcorn, nestle-in-a-slanket activity. You’re going to want to sit down, but it should be on a swivel chair so you can spin about and actively engage in the digital universe. Make sure you get one with wheels—you’ll need to roll around easily.

After an epic battle against evil robots, you may need to lie down. A soft landing zone like a futon or a beanbag chair will let you readjust to real reality—or combat the spins after a furious firefight. Plus, your friends can nest there as they wait their turn (or, more likely, watch and judge).

Yes, virtual reality sickness is real—it’s just motion sickness induced by a face computer. To combat it, take a break every 15 minutes. Hydration is an excellent nausea repellent: A water bottle with a sippy straw will let you top up your fluids without soaking the front of your shirt or abandoning your mission mid-sortie. In case you can’t get out of the virtual abyss in a timely manner, keep some stomach-soothing ginger chews at the ready.

As you blast between faraway galaxies in your new reality, the lighting in your VR playroom doesn’t matter. But it does matter as you emerge from the headset. Smooth the transition with subdued illumination. The ambience should coo “bienvenue” rather than blare “WELCOME BACK, DUDE!!!”