Have you ever thought how a games console could affect your home insurance policy? Not if it got stolen, or you broke it you understand, but if while playing you became a hazard to everything in your home, causing destruction at every flick of the wrist, calamity from every sideways jump, ladies and gentlemen may I introduce the Nintendo Wii.

You must have seen the news stories about game players injuring themselves in the line of duty, playing shadow boxing on the popular console but have you ever thought what damage you could be doing to your home insurance policy by playing that little bit too exuberantly.

Danger

The console in question is a revolutionary hand held, inter active games player which has had celebrity families all across the land unite in advertising the brand on our television sets. Because all the games are played standing up rather than sitting down it stands to reason that accidents could occur in a room which is not designed for vigorous work outs.

If your character needs to roll once across the ground before executing a sliding knee slide all in one movement, instead of twiddling a few buttons you as the player may need to actually perform this movement, therein lies the problem.

Injuries

Casualty lists reported from the games player includes black eyes and bruises from hitting other game players with the remote. But for the purpose of this article it is the destruction of household items which are the most concerning. A large amount of homeowners have reported broken TV screens, smashed lamps, cracked ornaments and shattered windows over the past year, all of which may be a problem for any home insurance policy.

Research has revealed that children alone are responsible for around £553 million worth of damage in and around the home, damage to electronics such as TV’s DVD players, game consoles and stereo’s.  
Consumers have been urged to get up to speed with their cover to ascertain if they are covered in the case of damage.

Cover

Norwich Union for example has introduced a TV damage cover as standard in their policies stating that destruction from a flying Wii remote is covered on their watch. Some insurance companies may not be so generous however so it is best to check.

Martyn Foulds, senior claims manager for Halifax Home Insurance, stated that they had definitely seen an increase in Wii related accidents and so have issued this advice.

"We have noticed several home insurance claims for television screen damage coming through from people who have accidentally let go of the Wii handset."

‘‘With some plasma screen TVs retailing at over £2,000, householders would be well advised to make sure they are properly covered and tell their insurer if they have a television of high value," he added.