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Best Rowing Machines with Games

Most interactive rowers sell you filmed classes and scenic rivers. Only a handful publish games - and one of them is free on a machine you may already be shopping for.

By Stephen V.An enthusiast who reads the manuals and does the math. Not a coach, not a lab.Last verified July 24, 2026.

We earn a commission if you buy through the links on this page, at no cost to you. It has no effect on what we recommend or the order we recommend it in — we say “skip this one” on machines that pay us the same as the ones we like. How we’re funded.

If you need a game to get you onto the machine, say so and shop for it — it is a better reason to pick a rower than most of the reasons people use. The top pick is the Aviron Strong Series, because Aviron is the only maker we cover whose own product page sells the machine on games first: its membership is published as eight content categories, one of which is games, alongside live competition, streaming apps and scenic rows. If you want the same idea without a monthly bill, the Concept2 RowErg has games built into the PM5 monitor that cost nothing and need no account.

This page is short on purpose, and the reason is the whole point of it. “Games” and “interactive” are used interchangeably in rowing machine marketing, and they are not the same thing. A filmed class with an instructor counting down is not a game. A river you row along to with a scenic video playing is not a game either, however pleasant it is. A game has a score, a failure state and something you are trying to beat. Only three machines we cover publish anything that meets that description, so only three are on the list.

The machines we deliberately left off are the ones most people would expect to find here. Hydrow publishes instructor-led and scenic rows. NordicTrack publishes iFIT classes and SmartAdjust. Echelon publishes classes on a 22-inch panel. All three are good at what they do, and none of them publishes a game — so putting them here would be us filling a list rather than answering the question. They are covered on best connected rowing machines instead.

The short answer

Quick picks

Ranked on published specification, buyer fit and what each machine costs to keep over five years. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We have not rowed on these machines — here is exactly what we do instead.

#MachineBest forPrice
1
Aviron Strong Series

Aviron Strong Series

Dual air and magnetic resistance up to 100 lb, a 22-inch screen, and the cheapest membership of any connected rower here at $29/month.

Biggest games library
$1,999.00 · Check price on Amazon

$2,549.0022% off

Price as of October 22, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

2
Concept2 RowErg

Concept2 RowErg

The machine every other rowing machine is measured against, and the only one here with no subscription, a 500 lb user limit and a five-year frame warranty at under a thousand dollars.

Best games with no subscription
$990.00 · Check price on Amazon

Price as of October 22, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

3
Library photo of an indoor rowing machine in use — not the Aviron StrongGo

Aviron StrongGo

The screenless Aviron: same 100 lb dual resistance and the highest published user capacity here at 507 lb, with your own iPad doing the display work.

Best games on your own tablet

In detail

Every pick, and what is wrong with it

Each machine below gets the same four things: what it does well, what it does not, the five-year cost of owning it, and the case for buying something else instead.

Aviron Strong Series rowing machine

1. Biggest games library

Aviron Strong Series

Dual air and magnetic resistance up to 100 lb, a 22-inch screen, and the cheapest membership of any connected rower here at $29/month.

Five years of ownership: $3,739 — $1,999 for the machine and $1,740 in subscription, so 47% of what you spend is the membership. See the full table

Floor space: about 8.0 ft by 4.3 ft once you allow for handle travel and elbow room — roughly 34 sq ft.

What is good

  • Up to 100 lb of resistance from a combined air and magnetic system — far beyond what a pure magnetic budget rower reaches
  • $29/month, or about $24 on an annual plan, is the lowest recurring cost among the screen rowers
  • One membership covers unlimited household profiles

What is not

  • 27 inches wide is the widest machine on this page
  • 114 lb and 84 inches long, so upright storage is essential rather than optional
  • 1-year standard warranty

Skip this one if: Skip it if you row in a corridor or a narrow spare room — 27 inches plus elbow room is a real constraint.

$1,999.00 · Check price on Amazon

$2,549.0022% off

Price as of October 22, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

Concept2 RowErg rowing machine

2. Best games with no subscription

Concept2 RowErg

The machine every other rowing machine is measured against, and the only one here with no subscription, a 500 lb user limit and a five-year frame warranty at under a thousand dollars.

Five years of ownership: $990 — all of it the machine, none of it a subscription. See the full table

Floor space: about 9.0 ft by 4.0 ft once you allow for handle travel and elbow room — roughly 36 sq ft.

What is good

  • 500 lb published user capacity — the highest figure any manufacturer on this page prints
  • No subscription, ever. The PM5 records everything on its own and ErgData is free
  • Separates into two pieces in seconds for storage; front and rear sections stand upright
  • Five-year frame warranty, and a parts supply chain that still serves machines from the 1990s

What is not

  • 96 inches long in use, and Concept2 recommends a 9 ft x 4 ft footprint — it is not an apartment-corner machine
  • Air resistance is the loudest kind. Concept2 publishes no decibel figure and neither do we
  • The 14-inch seat is low; getting up off it is a real consideration if your knees are the reason you are rowing

Skip this one if: Skip it if your floor space is under 9 feet in one direction, or if you share a wall with someone who sleeps early — this is the loud one.

$990.00 · Check price on Amazon

Price as of October 22, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

Library photo of an indoor rowing machine in use — not the Aviron StrongGo
Library photo — not this machine

3. Best games on your own tablet

Aviron StrongGo

The screenless Aviron: same 100 lb dual resistance and the highest published user capacity here at 507 lb, with your own iPad doing the display work.

Floor space: about 8.0 ft by 4.3 ft once you allow for handle travel and elbow room — roughly 34 sq ft.

What is good

  • 507 lb published weight capacity — the highest figure on this entire site
  • Same dual air-and-magnetic system as the Strong Series without paying for the panel
  • Bring your own iPad, so the screen is one you already own and can replace

What is not

  • You still need the membership for the content that makes an Aviron an Aviron
  • 27 inches wide, same as its screened sibling
  • No integrated display means an iPad mount is now a load-bearing part of your setup

Skip this one if: Skip it if you do not own a tablet — budget for one before comparing this against the screened models.

How to choose

What actually decides this

Three things decide a games rower, and the second one is the one people regret ignoring. Here is what the makers publish about the three picks.

Published resistance type, monitor, membership cost and mains-power requirement for the three picks on this page
MachineResistanceMonitor as publishedMembershipNeeds mains power
Aviron Strong Seriesair+magnetic22" HD touchscreen$29/moYes
Concept2 RowErgairPM5, Bluetooth + ANT+NoneNo
Aviron StrongGoair+magneticBring your own iPad$29/moYes

1. Whether the games are the product or a feature. On the Aviron machines the games are the reason the machine exists: Aviron publishes its library as eight categories covering games, live competition, streaming apps, scenic rows and coached classes, and prices it at $29 a month or about $24 on an annual plan — the lowest recurring bill of any screen rower we cover. On the RowErg the games are a feature of a monitor you were buying anyway. Concept2’s own PM5 documentation describes a Fish Game built around modulating intensity, a Darts game that rewards a consistent tempo and power output, and Target Training, and states that the work you do in them is saved like any other workout. Two very different propositions, and the second one is free.

2. What happens when you stop paying. Settle this before the novelty wears off, because it decides what you own in year three. Aviron’s games live behind the membership, so the day you cancel, the machine keeps rowing and the games stop. The PM5 games are stored on the monitor itself, so there is nothing to cancel and nothing to lose. If the games are the only reason you will train, pay the membership happily and treat it as the cost of sessions you will actually do. If you suspect you will use them for three months and then row to a podcast, buy the machine whose entertainment has no renewal date. The wider version of that argument is on rowing machines with no subscription, and the arithmetic is on five-year cost.

3. Whether a game can actually move the resistance. A game that asks you to sprint is only interesting if the machine answers. Both Aviron machines publish a combined air and magnetic system reaching up to 100 lb of resistance, which is why their games can ask for a genuine surge. The RowErg is air throughout, so resistance rises with effort on its own — pull harder and the flywheel pushes back harder, which is exactly what the Fish Game is built around. A budget magnetic rower, by contrast, has a ceiling set by the level you selected, and no software changes that. The mechanism is in air vs magnetic.

The games-first machine you cannot buy on Amazon

The obvious omission from the picks above is Ergatta, and it is one we should explain rather than hide. Ergatta is the most games-first rower on the market: it is a WaterRower underneath with a screen on the front, and its membership is built around races and game-style challenges rather than instructors. It is also sold direct only, so there is no Amazon listing, no live price here and no buy button — which is why it is not in the ranked table. We cover it anyway at the Ergatta review, and the head-to-head most people want is Hydrow vs Ergatta. If a games-led water rower is what you want and buying direct is fine, read those two and ignore this page’s ranking.

What a games rower does not fix

It does not fix bad form, and it can quietly make it worse. A scoring system rewards whatever it measures, which on these machines is power and consistency — and the fastest way to produce power badly is to open your back early and pull with your arms. Before you chase a leaderboard, spend one session on rowing machine form and one on the common mistakes. The score will go up anyway, and your back will thank you for it.

It does not fix a machine that does not fit the room either. Both Aviron machines are 84 inches long, the Strong Series is 27 inches wide, they weigh 105 to 114 lb, and both need a mains socket. The RowErg is 96 inches long in use and needs no power at all. Measure the floor before you shop for a games library — space requirements covers what a published footprint actually means once you add room to row.

How to choose in one paragraph

If the games are the reason you are buying a rower at all, buy the Aviron Strong Series: the biggest published games library here, up to 100 lb of resistance for a game to pull against, a 22-inch screen and the lowest membership of any connected machine we cover. If you want games but not a subscription, buy the Concept2 RowErg — the PM5’s games are free, saved to the monitor, and sit on the machine that wins almost every other page on this site. If you like Aviron’s library but refuse to pay for a screen you already own, the StrongGo is the same dual-resistance machine with your tablet doing the display work, and the highest published user capacity here at 507 lb. For a games-led water rower, read the Ergatta review and buy direct.

Two neighbouring pages if this one has not settled it: best connected rowing machines covers the class-led screens this page deliberately excludes, and rowing machine appscovers the third route — a plain machine plus software you choose yourself, which is how most people end up rowing in the long run.

Straight answers

Questions people actually ask

What is the best rowing machine with games?

The Aviron Strong Series. Aviron publishes its membership as eight content categories, one of which is games, alongside live competition and streaming apps, and the machine's combined air and magnetic resistance reaches up to 100 lb so a game can ask for a real surge. The membership is $29 a month, or about $24 on an annual plan - the lowest recurring cost of any screen rower we cover.

Does the Concept2 RowErg have games?

Yes, and they are free. Concept2's own PM5 documentation describes a Fish Game built around modulating intensity, a Darts game that rewards consistent tempo and power output, and Target Training, and states that the work done in them is saved like any other workout. There is no account and no membership - the games live on the monitor.

Do rowing machine games need a subscription?

It depends which machine. Aviron's games sit behind its membership, so cancelling stops the games while the machine keeps rowing. The games built into a Concept2 PM5 need no subscription at all. That difference deserves more thought than the size of the library, because it decides what you own in year three.

Is Hydrow a game-based rowing machine?

No. Hydrow publishes instructor-led classes and scenic rows filmed on real water, which is a different product from a game with a score and a failure state. The same is true of NordicTrack's iFIT classes and Echelon's class library. They are on our connected rowing machines page rather than this one, because calling them games would be our word rather than the maker's.

Are games on a rowing machine actually worth it?

Only if they get you rowing, which for some people they decisively do. The honest caution is that a score rewards whatever it measures - usually power and consistency - and the quickest way to produce power badly is to open your back early and pull with your arms. Spend a session on form first and the score improves on its own.

What about Ergatta?

Ergatta is the most games-first rower on the market and we cover it in a full review, but it is sold direct only, so there is no Amazon listing, no live price and no buy button here - which is why it is not in the ranked table. If a games-led water rower is what you want and buying direct is fine, read the Ergatta review and the Hydrow vs Ergatta comparison.

The honest part

What we did not do

We have not rowed on these machines. We do not own them, there is no test lab here, and nobody writing this holds a coaching certification. Every ranking on this page is an argument from published specification and buyer fit, not from a stopwatch.

What we did do is read each manufacturer’s own published figures, record the ones they decline to publish, compute the floor space and the five-year cost, and date all of it. The full method is here so you can check our working or disagree with it.

Show your working

Sources

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