Wake up, Chief

Halo: Combat Evolved launched alongside the original Xbox in November 2001, made by Bungie, and it did more than any other game to prove that a first-person shooter could work on a console. Its hero was a silent supersoldier in green armor and a gold visor, its setting a ring-shaped world floating in space, and its music, with its Gregorian-style chant, became one of gaming's most famous themes. Halo 2 brought Xbox Live multiplayer to millions in 2004, and Halo 3 in 2007 was one of the biggest entertainment launches of its time.

For a generation of players, Halo was the game of sleepovers and LAN parties: four friends on a split screen, then sixteen on linked consoles, arguing about who took the sniper rifle. A Halo rug brings that history into the room. Ours are printed into short velvet, so the sheen of Spartan armor, alien landscapes and the fine lines of UNSC insignia come out crisp, and they go in the washing machine.

Master Chief

John-117, the Master Chief, is one of the most recognizable characters in gaming, mostly without ever showing his face. His olive-green Mjolnir armor and reflective gold visor are design classics: heroic, mechanical and instantly readable. A Master Chief rug is the obvious Halo choice. A helmet alone, straight on with the visor catching the light, makes a superb round rug; a full-body Chief, rifle in hand, suits a rectangle in front of the screen.

Cortana

Cortana, the AI who lives in Chief's armor, is the heart of the story and one of its most debated characters, from the early games' quick-witted companion to Halo 4's farewell and beyond. Her glowing blue, holographic look, made of light and code, is very different from the rest of Halo's art, and it makes for an elegant rug in cool blues and violets for a calmer room.

The Halo ring

The Halo itself, an enormous ring world with land, sea and sky on its inner surface, is the series' greatest image. Installation 04, seen curving up into the sky from the first game's beaches, still stops players in their tracks. A ring rug, the band of green and blue arcing across a starfield, is the most beautiful Halo design for a shared room: it looks like science-fiction art to anyone, and like home to a Spartan.

The Covenant and the Flood

Halo's enemies are as memorable as its hero. The Covenant, a religious alliance of alien races, gave the series its colorful villains:

• Elites, the tall, split-jawed warriors with energy swords, and the Arbiter, the Elite who became a hero in Halo 2.
• Grunts, small, panicky and much loved, especially when the Grunt Birthday Party skull turned their headshots into confetti.
• Jackals with their shields, the towering Hunters and the brutal Brutes.
• The Flood, the parasitic horror that turned the first game on its head.

Covenant designs bring purples, magentas and glowing blues to a room, a great contrast to the UNSC's greens and greys. A Grunt is the funniest Halo rug; an Elite with an energy sword is the most dramatic.

Vehicles and weapons

Few games have vehicles as loved as Halo's. The Warthog, the bouncy, four-wheel-drive jeep with a gun on the back, is a legend of physics-defying jumps. The Pelican dropship, the Scorpion tank, the Covenant Banshee and Ghost all have their own fans. Weapons are just as iconic: the assault rifle with its ammo counter, the energy sword, the Needler's pink crystals, the plasma pistol, the Spartan Laser. Vehicle and weapon designs work best on rectangles, where their silhouettes can be seen whole.

The maps of LAN-party legend

Ask a Halo veteran about their favorite multiplayer map and they'll have an answer straight away: Blood Gulch, the canyon of a hundred Capture the Flag games; Lockout's grey towers; Zanzibar's windmill; Valhalla's two bases and waterfall; Guardian, The Pit, Sanctuary. A map-themed rug, an overhead layout or a landscape of a favorite arena, is the perfect design for a room where friends still play together, and a guaranteed conversation starter.

Spartan colors

Part of Halo multiplayer was choosing your own Spartan's colors, and many players still remember theirs. Red and blue teams became so iconic that the machinima series Red vs. Blue, filmed inside Halo's Blood Gulch, became one of the internet's earliest hits. A Spartan helmet in your own colors, or a red-versus-blue split design, makes a playful Halo rug for the friend group that grew up together.

Halo through the years

Era	Games	Design ideas
The Bungie trilogy	Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3	Classic Chief, the ring, the Arbiter, the Warthog
Prequel and side stories	ODST, Reach	Noble Team, the fall of Reach, ODST drop pods
The 343 era	Halo 4, Halo 5, Halo Infinite	Forerunner architecture, the Weapon, Zeta Halo
Collections and screens	The Master Chief Collection, the TV series	The full story in one design

Halo Reach in particular has a passionate following of its own; Noble Team's story of a doomed planet is many fans' favorite in the whole series.

The music

Few game themes are as recognizable as Halo's: the monks' chant, the rising strings, the guitar of the later trilogy, composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. Fans hum it in queues and play it at weddings. A Halo rug in a music corner, beside a record player or under a keyboard stand, is a fitting tribute, and the ring design in particular carries the same sense of awe the theme does.

Skulls, secrets and Easter eggs

Halo hid treasures for players who looked carefully: the skulls that changed the rules of a campaign, Grunts with birthday-party confetti, the Scarab Gun tucked away in Halo 2, and countless Bungie in-jokes like the number seven hidden throughout the games, on signs, in dialogue and in level design. A skull-themed design, or a pattern scattered with those small symbols, is a fun Halo rug for players who spent as long hunting secrets as finishing the fight.

Bedrooms and calmer rooms

Halo isn't only for game rooms. Its space scenes, a ring against a starfield, the Pillar of Autumn drifting above Installation 04, a lonely Spartan on a beach at dawn, are calm and beautiful. In a bedroom, choose Premium for its softer velvet, keep the lighting low and blue, and the rug feels more like science-fiction art than merchandise.

The Forerunners

Behind everything in Halo sit the Forerunners, the ancient builders of the rings, whose silver, angular architecture fills the later games. Their glowing blue lines and geometric shapes make a striking, almost abstract rug, cool and futuristic, and a perfect choice for a minimalist setup.

An Xbox game room

A Halo rug is the natural centerpiece of an Xbox room. Pair it with green accent lighting, a Master Chief helmet replica or figure on a shelf, and a couple of framed prints of the ring. Keep the rug in front of the screen where it reads as part of the setup. If your Xbox shelf also holds Call of Duty, Destiny 2 or Mass Effect, Halo still makes the best anchor: the series that started it all.

Home theaters and couch co-op

Halo has always been a couch game: split-screen campaigns, four-player Slayer, nights where nobody went home. If your Halo setup is in a living room or home theater, choose a larger rug, 5×7 ft, in Premium velvet, which is softer and warmer for long nights on the floor. In front of a sofa, a ring design or a Covenant landscape looks less like merchandise and more like science-fiction art.

Sizes and levels

Under a gaming chair, choose Standard in 3.3×5 or 4×6 ft: its 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back lets the wheels roll freely and stays put. In front of a sofa or in a bedroom, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, in 4×6 or 5×7 ft. A Master Chief helmet on a 3.9 ft (120 cm) round rug fits almost anywhere.

Gifts for Spartans

A Halo rug is a gift that lands with players who were there at the Xbox's launch and with younger fans who found the series through the Master Chief Collection or Infinite. If you don't know their favorite game, Master Chief's helmet or the ring is the safest choice. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that.

Care

Vacuum on a low setting each week, blot spills with cold water straight away and wash the rug on a gentle, cold cycle when it needs it; let it air dry flat. The design is printed into the fibers, so the visor stays gold.

A note on the series

The Arbiter and the Elites

Halo 2 surprised players by handing half the campaign to the enemy: the Arbiter, a disgraced Sangheili Elite commander who turns against the Covenant's leaders. His sleek armor, curved energy sword and four-mandibled face changed how fans saw the alien side of the war. A rug of a glowing energy sword on dark purple, or the Arbiter's helmet in silver, is a fresh take for players who rooted for both sides of the story.

Padrift is an independent studio. Halo and its characters are named to describe what our designs are inspired by; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Microsoft, Xbox Game Studios, Halo Studios or Bungie.