A sophisticated gaming chair, for a more civilised age: Boulies Master Max Review

No gaming setup is complete without a comfortable, reliable gaming chair to maintain that competitive edge. This sentiment has never been truer than in the latest Boulies Master Series. Boulies has launched a glowing new range of luxury gaming chairs and the experts at What’s the Best have had the opportunity to test one out.

The Master Max Gaming Chair (2024) from Boulies is the latest addition to the conversation of elite-level gaming chairs. We’re all familiar with giants of the industry RTX, Razer, and SecretLab, but the Boulies Master Max has come in hot with some genuine appeal.

This gaming chair looks to be offering something a little more subtle than anything else you can currently find on market. There’s an emphasis on sophistication and luxury while still facilitating all of your gaming chair needs.

This one came finished in Bouilies Ultraflex leather, contoured with a high-quality microfibre suede. This gorgeous upholstery is situated on an extra strong steel frame and an aluminium base, which support the Class 4 Hydraulics system (the best). The Bouiles Master Max is also available in Nappa Leather or Water Repellent Fabric 2.0.

Verdict: The Bouiles Master Max Gaming Chair is a phenomenal piece of kit that should fit nicely in nearly any gaming or office environment. This chair is all about capable sophistication, it’s geared up to the gills with configuration, adjustability and comfort customisation, but a tamer aesthetic means it might look best among more modest surroundings.

The good news?

I’m not short of good news when it comes to describing my time with the Master Max gaming chair. Boulies has expertly engineered this thing, and it shows from almost every angle. I’m going to start with what’s arguably the most important factor, and that’s comfort. This is an extremely comfortable gaming chair. From sitting on it immediately after assembly (no adjusting), I was highly impressed by the sheer quality and padding of the upholstery. It’s not too firm, yet the support is unparalleled.

The Master Max is the larger iteration in the Master Series range. The standard Boulies Master is said to be designed for users between 5ft 1 and 5ft 11, whereas this Master Max recommends users between 5ft 11 and 6ft 6. I’m 6ft, and I found the Master Max to be perfect for me. Despite being close to the size border, I neither found it too big nor too small. Since checking the size chart that Boulies has provided on its website, I found that there are only a few centimetres difference between the two chairs’ dimensions anyway. The most notable difference is in the user weight capacity, with the standard Master recommending users under 110kg, while the Master Max can facilitate users up to 135kg.

Putting this gaming chair together was a total and utter breeze. For a chair that, when constructed, has some impressive heft, I was left impressed at how worry-free and simple the assembly process was. You learn the most about the quality of a gaming chair whilst you’re putting it together, and I got a really good grasp when assembling this Boulies Master Max. From a durability standpoint, the biggest tell is the screws and bolts. I was pleased to find that the Master Max came with aluminium screws, this was a great sign and a testament to the chairs overall build quality. Plastic screws are far less reliable and can make for a shorter lifespan for your gaming chair, so aluminium screws were great to see.

The biggest highlight of the Boulies Master Max has to be the level of adjustability that’s on offer. There’s no aspect of this chair that I could think of that cannot be adjusted and configured to personal comfort preference. Starting with the arm rests - you can raise the height, turn them outwards/inwards, slide them left or right, and push them forwards or backwards. The arm rests offer what seems like near infinite customisation.

Moving on from the arm rests, I found many options when it came to adjusting the angle, height, tilt and the lumbar of the seat. Like most office or gaming chairs, I could manage the seat height. I could do this easily with one of the levers found underneath, which allowed me to alter the height smoothly and easily. The Master Max also has a seamless rocking feature. By pulling another lever under the seat, I could engage a rocking mode, meaning I could lean in the chair. This feature suited me the most when I wanted to prop my feet up on something.

There’s a small lever just underneath the right arm rest, this one controls the general angle of the back piece. The lever will recline the entire chair, impressively far as well, I might add.

Anything to be wary of?

The Boulies Master Max gaming chair is large, but deceptively so. It never felt imposing or space-consuming when I was sat on it, but if I ever wanted to move it around to get to other parts of my room, I noticed its heft. Of course, this potential dilemma will be more noticeable if your office/gaming room is on the cozier side. If you like your gaming chair to easily tuck under a desk, then you’ll have to make sure consult the dimensions of both your desk and the Master Max gaming chair.

Any negatives?

The Master Max is branded as a gaming chair. One of the very few negatives I found in the gaming chair is in how it aesthetically lines up with this description. Notable brands like RTX and SecretLab have distinctive gaming chair designs. They’re finished in a sporty, competitive look, but the Boulies Master Max doesn’t follow suit. Despite being marketed as a gaming chair and feeling like one too, veteran gamers just might not resonate with the Master Max’s design and the available colours. It boasts a tamer approach to the typical gaming chair design, with a more eleagant finish.

More items to consider:

How the product was tested

I tested the Bouilies Master Max over the period of two weeks. This testing period began the moment I took the pieces of the gaming chair out of the box, and I ran through the assembly process up to point it was built and I could use it. Two weeks was ample time to get a real feel of what this gaming chair had to offer. I lived with it and used it daily, using it for short gaming sessions as well as prolonged periods of gaming that would last far more hours than I'd like to admit.

Jack Barrell is a Tech and Fitness Writer and Reviewer for What’s the Best. He is invested in the entertainment space and also keeps well in the loop with the latest sports and exercise trends too. On his off days, Jack can usually be found either in the gym – or watching his favourite Star Wars for the thousandth time.

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