A microwave, a cell phone and a message to the past

A self-proclaimed mad scientist and his friends run a tiny, cluttered "lab" above a TV repair shop in Tokyo's electronics district. While tinkering, they accidentally build a microwave that can send text messages into the past, and every message they send quietly rewrites the world. What starts as a goofy, nerdy comedy turns into one of the most gripping time-travel stories ever told. A Steins;Gate-inspired rug brings its look into a room: glowing nixie tubes, a branching world-line diagram, a white lab coat, brass clock gears or Akihabara at night. Every design is printed into soft velvet and goes in the washing machine.

Steins;Gate-inspired designs

Design	The look	Best in
Nixie tubes	Glowing orange digits of your own number	Gaming setups, offices
World lines	Branching timelines on dark blue	Studies, dorms
Lab coat	A white lab coat on black	Labs, science rooms
Clock gears	Brass gears and clock hands	Living rooms, round rugs
Akihabara at night	Neon signs and electronics shops	Home theaters, hallways
Retro computer	A beige vintage computer and monitor	Home offices, gaming corners

The series

Steins;Gate began as a visual novel game by 5pb. and Nitroplus, released in 2009, and the studio White Fox adapted it into a 24-episode anime in 2011, followed by a film and a sequel series, Steins;Gate 0, in 2018. Rintaro Okabe, a dramatic college student who calls himself a mad scientist, runs his Future Gadget Laboratory with his gentle childhood friend and a hacker friend. When a brilliant young neuroscientist joins them, they discover their accidental invention can change the past, and a powerful research organization takes notice. Each change has consequences, and Okabe alone remembers how the world used to be.

Nixie tubes

A homemade meter with glowing orange digits shows how far the current world has drifted from the original. A rug of a row of nixie tubes, glass tubes with glowing orange numbers inside, showing a number of your choice, a birthday, an anniversary or a lucky number, is a striking, retro-tech design for a gaming setup or a home office. Under a desk chair, choose Standard, 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back, about 500 g/m², in 3.3×5 or 4×6 ft, which stays put and lets the wheels roll. Our custom rugs can print it in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′.

Real nixie tubes

Nixie tubes are a real technology from the 1950s through the 1970s: glass tubes filled with neon gas, with wire digits inside that glow orange when electrified. They lit up calculators, voltmeters and scoreboards before LED displays replaced them, and today hobbyists hunt for old tubes to build glowing clocks. A nixie tube rug is a fun piece for any lover of vintage electronics.

World lines

The series explains time travel with world lines, branching paths of history where small changes lead to completely different futures. A rug of glowing branching timelines on dark blue, splitting and converging toward a single point, is a clever, elegant design for a study, a dorm or anyone who loves science fiction. For more, see our space rugs.

The lab coat

The hero wears a white lab coat everywhere, as a costume as much as a uniform. A rug of a simple white lab coat on black, arms spread dramatically, is a funny, recognizable design for a science lover's room, a home lab or a chemistry teacher's classroom. Our office and studio rugs page has more setups.

Clock gears

Time is everything in this story. A rug of brass clock gears and hands, layered over a dark face with Roman numerals, is a handsome, timeless design for a living room or a study, especially as a round rug. Our round rugs come from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across.

Akihabara

The story is set in Akihabara, Tokyo's famous Electric Town, which grew from a postwar market of radio parts into a district of electronics stores and, later, a world center of anime, manga and gaming culture. A rug of its neon streets at night, crowded with glowing shop signs, is a moody, cinematic design for a home theater or a hallway. A custom runner up to 10 ft long fits most hallways.

Retro computers

A rare vintage computer plays a key role in the plot. A rug of a beige retro computer with a chunky monitor and a green-text screen is a fun, nostalgic design for a home office or a gaming corner, and a great fit next to a collection of old consoles. For more, see our retro rugs.

The legend of the time traveler

The series borrows from a real internet legend: in 2000 and 2001, someone calling himself John Titor posted on online forums claiming to be a soldier from the year 2036 sent back in time. His posts became famous, and Steins;Gate weaves the legend into its plot. A forum-style rug with a mysterious message of your own is a fun custom idea for a fan.

Real science, real rules

Time travel is still science fiction, but the series borrows real ideas: the huge particle colliders at CERN, which its secretive research group parodies, black holes, and the butterfly effect, the idea that a tiny change can ripple into enormous consequences. Fans love how carefully the plot follows its own rules, so every clue early on pays off later.

The microwave

The lab's time machine is, of all things, a modified microwave connected to a cell phone. A rug of a retro microwave glowing with strange light, with lightning crackling around it, is a funny, offbeat design for a kitchen. Choose Standard for its grip on tile, and every rug goes in the washing machine.

Friendship and sacrifice

What makes the series unforgettable is its characters: a sweet friend who loves cosplay, a loyal hacker, a sharp-tongued genius and a hero willing to relive the same days again and again to save them. For best friends, a pair of rugs, a lab coat and a world-line diagram, is a fitting nod to that bond.

For teens and adults

Steins;Gate has dark, emotional turns, including death and trauma, so it suits teens and adults. The nixie tubes, the clock gears and Akihabara at night are the most widely appealing.

Gaming setups

A nixie tube or world-line rug pairs beautifully with warm orange lighting and a retro-tech desk. For more, see our gaming rugs.

Bedrooms and dorms

A world-line or clock gear rug brings a thoughtful, sci-fi mood to a bedroom or a dorm. Choose Standard on hard floors. For a softer bedroom rug, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, about 700 g/m². Our bedroom rugs page has more layouts.

Entryways

Just inside the front door, a small nixie tube rug showing your house number is a clever, glowing welcome. Keep it indoors, out of the weather, and choose Standard for its grip on tile and wood.

Pairing with furniture

These rugs suit cluttered, creative rooms: a workbench, shelves of gadgets, a soldering iron, an old CRT television, warm orange lamps and a whiteboard full of diagrams.

Colors

Steins;Gate-inspired designs look best in glowing nixie orange, deep black and dark blue, with brass, beige and lab-coat white.

Other anime

For more science and thrillers, see our Dr. Stone, Death Note and Ghost in the Shell rugs, and all our anime and manga rugs.

Gifts

A Steins;Gate-inspired rug makes a great gift for a science fiction fan, an engineer or a gamer. The nixie tubes with a meaningful date are the most personal; the world lines are the most elegant.

Your own design

Want nixie tubes showing your anniversary, a world-line diagram of your own life's turning points or a lab coat with your name? Our custom rugs can print it, or cut it to shape with our shaped rugs. Please only send artwork you're allowed to use; official logos and character art belong to their owners. Custom rugs are made just for you and can't be returned.

Sizes, shipping and returns

Rectangles come in 2×3, 2.6×3.9, 3.3×5, 4×6 and 5×7 ft. Round rugs come from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across, and shaped rugs from 2.6×2.6 up to 5.2×5.9 ft (80×80 to 160×180 cm). Custom sizes go up to 5′11″ × 10′, including long runners. 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. Unused rugs can be returned within 30 days on US orders; custom rugs can't be returned.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let it air dry flat. Vacuum on a low setting between washes, and blot spills with cold water right away. The design is printed into the fibers, so the nixie orange keeps glowing in every world line, wash after wash.

The Future Gadget Lab members

Okabe Rintaro, the self-proclaimed mad scientist Hououin Kyouma, numbers his lab's members. He is Lab Member 001. His childhood friend Mayuri Shiina, who greets everyone with a cheerful tuturu and collects Upa, small round mascot toys, is 002. Daru, the skilled hacker, is 003, and Kurisu Makise, the young neuroscientist Okabe insists on calling Christina, becomes 004. Later members include Suzuha, the mysterious part-timer with a bicycle, Faris, a cat-eared maid café star, and Luka, a gentle shrine keeper.

Those details give rugs a personal, playful side. A grid of lab member badges numbered 001 to 008, in the style of an ID card, is a clever design for fans who know every number. A small round Upa toy, green or metallic, is a sweet nod to Mayuri for a bedroom, and a lab desk scattered with circuit boards, a banana and a microwave captures the chaotic Future Gadget Lab in a gaming setup.

Okabe's dramatic lab coat, which he wears like a cape, and his habit of talking into a phone to imaginary allies are two of the series' funniest traits, and a rug of a lab coat draped over a chair with a phone beside it is an inside joke for anyone who has watched the first episode.

Because Steins;Gate begins as comedy and turns into a moving, sometimes painful story about time and friendship, these designs mean the most to fans who have reached its ending. Pair them with nixie tube lamps, a few gadgets on the shelf and a world-line chart on the wall, and the room becomes your own lab.

Lab member numbers come up throughout the story, so fans will know at a glance who each badge belongs to.

Padrift is an independent studio. Steins;Gate is named to describe what our designs are inspired by; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by MAGES, Nitroplus or White Fox, and our rugs do not use official logos or the characters' likenesses.