Consoles, controllers and the games he actually played. Get the generation right and this is the easiest dad on the site to buy for.
8 gifts, 4 of them from $16.99 to $51.58, each price read off an Australian retailer’s page and checked since 1 November 2026. 4 are priced at checkout by the retailer. And twelve we tell you to skip.
From 3 Australian retailers · the 4 with a published price checked since 1 November 2026
8 gifts for the gaming dad
Ordered by how quickly they arrive, then by price. Never by what earns us the most.
The dad in his thirties or forties who owns a PlayStation 5 and still knows the controls for a 900. Check the console first: this copy is PS5 only. Sealed games cannot be returned for a change of mind, so be sure he does not already own it.
The gaming dad is the easiest dad on this site to buy for and the easiest to get wrong, for the same reason: the generation matters more than the genre. A man who was fourteen in 1996 has a PlayStation in his head, not an Xbox, and a man who was twenty in 2006 has the opposite. Get the machine right and almost anything from that machine lands. Get it wrong and you have bought a stranger a present.
Most of what is here is the original hardware, refurbished and tested with a warranty, or an aftermarket controller that is honest about being one. That is deliberate. A modern console is a family decision with a family price tag and a game library he will choose himself. A working PS1 with the controller and leads in the box, for less than one new release, is a gift he did not know he could still have.
Two things to check before you buy. Whether he still has a television with the right socket, because most of these consoles output over composite or HDMI and a refurbished unit ships with one lead, not both. And whether the game is region-free, which the retailer says on the listing and this site repeats on the card.
Before the next one sneaks up
A reminder, three weeks out.
Nobody plans a gift in advance because nobody remembers the date until it is too late to post anything. We will email you before Father’s Day and before Christmas, with the shortlist already narrowed and the delivery window still open.
