Boulies Ninja Pro gaming chair review

Jun 21, 2023

Sitting comfortably on the more premium end of mid-range gaming chairs, the Boulies Ninja Pro is a gorgeous seat well-designed for anyone frequenting their desk for work or play. Its sophisticated design lends itself to most settings, it’s very comfortable and offers a host of adjustment options, from its 8-directional armrests to its full-length recline.

If I’m splitting hairs, I’d say its biggest drawback is the slightly janky controls; the tilt mechanism paddles are pretty stiff and judder in use, and the armrests don’t always seem to lock fully in place, meaning they can swing out if you’ve not paid attention when adjusting them. Personally, neither of these things bothered me much beyond the initial setup, and I’d certainly say the Ninja Pro has earned a spot among the best gaming chairs and most comfortable gaming chairs.

At $379.99 / £319.99 / AU$539, the Boulies Ninja Pro 2024 isn’t the cheapest gaming chair I’ve ever seen, nor is it most the expensive; but I’d say it hits the mark well in terms of value for money. It’s available directly from Boulies and through third-party retailers like Amazon in the UK already, but won’t release in the US or Australia until later this year.

We tested the more premium Boulies Ninja Pro 2024 model, which comes in black, white, teal, and red and uses regular ultraflex PU. The original chair is only available in the UK, retailing for £319.99 thanks to its slightly less premium perforated ultraflex PU finish.

Boulies runs seasonal sales throughout the year, meaning you have a few opportunities to save some money on this fairly expensive chair if you’re willing to wait. The chair comes with a lumbar support pillow and a neck pillow included, which I always love to see.

The Ninja Pro was incredibly easy to build, taking a leisurely 30 minutes from start to finish. Inside the box, you’ll find the back of the chair, the seat (with pre-installed screws you’ll need to remove and refit during construction), the pillows, two armrests, the tilt mechanism, the base, five wheels and a small kit with Allen keys and a few screws and caps to finish the chair.

The instructions are simple, so much so that in places they could have done with a touch more detail or better visual aids, as it’s fairly easy to accidentally mount components like the tilt mechanism the wrong way around.

As I’ve come to expect when building gaming chairs, the trickiest part is affixing the back to the side handles, which took me 10 minutes to align. I also struggled to fit the casing over these, but everything feels very sturdy once built.

This stylish seat doesn’t win points for design innovation on the surface level, opting for the traditional racing style form factor and fairly safe colorways - however, the materials, the sheer volume of adjustability options, and the ergonomic design warrant praise.

The Ninja Pro series has some pretty deluxe materials. Clad in a stylish blend of Boulies’ ultraflex PU leather and microfiber suede, the exterior feels robust; I tried scratching and scuffing the underside of the seat and didn’t leave a mark with my fairly sharp nails. Inside the chair is a steel frame wrapped with high-density molded foam to maximize comfort; if you’ve ever slept on a memory foam mattress, it’s a similar effect, just not quite as intense.

The chair also features 4D adjustable armrests, meaning you can adjust almost every dimension of the armrests; forwards, backward, side to side, angle, and height. This was a revelation for me, having just thrown out my years-old budget gaming chair, which had fixed armrests, and I've noticed a difference in my comfort and posture since I started using the chair.

The Ninja Pro could comfortably pass as a regular office chair, especially in its more muted white and teal colorways; both the black and red options have red accents that can read more “boy racer” than “zoom caller”.

As a more affordable high-end gaming chair, the Boulies Ninja Pro has done very well at not cutting corners, resulting in a very comfortable and adjustable chair.

I have fairly broad shoulders and thighs but found myself comfortably embraced by the side bolsters of the wrapped backrest. There’s no inbuilt lumbar support, but lumber and neck pillows do come included. I prefer this more customizable option and still found the pillows to be comfortable, but the lumbar support provided isn’t quite as deluxe as more premium chairs.

Despite its fairly heavy-duty build materials, I didn’t find myself struggling with overheating or sweating in the chair much, even when playing through some fairly testing puzzles in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on warm summer nights.

Having just retired a fairly limited chair in terms of adjustments, the Boulies Ninja Pro felt like a whole new world of comfort, but I’ve used other high-end gaming chairs before enough to keep the rose-tinted glasses at bay. Overall, the adjustment features are great; the backrest reclining control is pretty smooth and sturdy, allowing you to lie almost completely flat in the seat, the pillows are easy to position and stay in place, and there are plenty of options for height and armrest customization.

Despite its fairly heavy-duty build materials, I didn’t find myself struggling with overheating or sweating in the chair, even when playing through some fairly testing puzzles in ich don’t always lock your adjustments in place, leading the armrests to swing out at an angle now and then. If you tend to keep your settings the same most of the time, these issues won’t bother you but otherwise might be a little annoying.

Overall though, and at its price, I’d say the value for money in terms of performance is fantastic; and, my back feels significantly less achy after just a week of using the chair as my main seat for work and play.

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