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Gaming Pub

Started by The Boston Crab, February 04, 2019, 10:18:40 PM

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I've had a lot of PMs asking about what it's like running a gaming pub so I thought it'd be worth splitting this off from the topic about those students threatening to rape x100.


Me and a couple of mates bought a pub to make a gaming pub. I'm in charge of the games, pub drinks and decorating the pub. My mate does the accounting and gives us money and my other mate deals with insurance and licences and so on and 'operations'. No idea what that is but I don't give a fuck as long as the Internet, electricity and bogs are working!


Only thing is I haven't got a flipping clue what I'm doing hahaha. Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated and I'll be happy to share a few stories about what exactly is going on 'down the pub'! I can't share any details about name, location or prices because 'it's all subject to change' as they say!!


We had the soft opening tonight. Nice crowd came in. Twenty eight in total. exactly what you'd imagine. Standard nerds. We will try to rotate the games every week and the drinks every month depending on what is on offer at Tescos. This week is retro week so we set up a load of CRT tellies on the bar and a load of raspberry Pis playing Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. Great atmosphere and the nerds were loving life. In the snug we had an original Neo Geo playing Windjammers and Magical Drop III and a few Game Boy Colour I got for nothing off eBay. I also have two iQue Chinese licensed Nintendo DS handheld gaming sets which are not available anywhere now but I got them when I lived in China. You bet those Asia fetish nerds were living the life.


In the restaurant area, I set up my Nintendo Switch because any excuse ehh? It was also a lot quieter there when I wanted some time out to play on my Switch for half an hour. I played some Super Hydorah with the CRT filter so the nerds didn't flip about the 4K monitor we set up and I played Downwell which looks like a Spectrum game as well. Great choices for retro week I'm sure you'll agree.


Nobody was really drinking though. I think it's because their hands were always occupied. There's also nowhere to really put the drinks because CRT tellies are fucking massive. I just forgot about that. I also know from co-running a bar in China that it's hard to make money off drinks unless you get people really thirsty  and they drink to excess but then they get drink on the fucking games! Gastro gaming pub  Any suggestions ?


Once I've worked out the kinks I'd be happy to host a lock in for selected guests from here no worries.

TrenterPercenter

Nerd snacks mate, maybe retro crisps?

Shoulders?-Stomach!

If you want more drinking to happen then have an area just for that, or perhaps board games. Most game pubs I've been to had plenty of those, not just videogames.

Maybe chain a few drinks deals in with time. I dunno how it works at your LEVI BELLFIELD ISLAM CONVERSION AND STABBING PALACE.

Cuntbeaks

Fucking LOVE Windjammers.


That's a great idea Trent. Really good. Salt and Shake still available? Can probably charge through the roof to make back some of the money we spunked on forty CRT tellies. Gamers will pay pretty much anything if its retro and out of production..Maybe those bacon flavoured footballs.

I put a brave face on it up there but. No actually it's going great but just who would have thought you make so little money from a pub? I would have thought everyone would be getting smashed and playing games just drinking to excess for ages. Not on a Monday night. Maybe that's my mistake. Arcade Club in Bury are our nearest competitors and they only open Friday to Sunday pretty much so I thought we could capture the early to midweek market and have a chilled weekend getting pissed and playing games ourself. Might have to see how it goes. We'd end up working seven days a week just to pay the fuckin bills at this rate though.

TrenterPercenter

Local brewery get them to knock out the general shite but to call it stuff like "Donkey Kong" or "Metroid" put a indie gaming graphic on it and charge a fuck load per 3rd of a pint.

Make pub uncomfortably hot.

Pay attractive cosplayers to drink beer and look approvingly at nerds drinking beer.

Free salty snacks (peanut etc..) on gaming tables.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Do theme nights to drag the particular cliques in once or twice a month.

You'll probably get people to munch snacks while gaming so perhaps start with pushing the salty snacks and then they'll want a drink. Genius why am I not charging for this advice

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on February 04, 2019, 10:24:38 PM
If you want more drinking to happen then have an area just for that, or perhaps board games. Most game pubs I've been to had plenty of those, not just videogames.

Maybe chain a few drinks deals in with time. I dunno how it works at your LEVI BELLFIELD ISLAM CONVERSION AND STABBING PALACE.


I like the idea of a dedicated drinking area because that's where we're going to make the money rather than on games. Thinking about it now, the games themselves don't bring in that much money because they're all free play and all the retro gear and shit cost well let's just say we need to start making money and fast. More ideas will help. Definitely going to consider the drinking only zone. I don't know whether it's worth charging entry to start to pay back for the games we bought. I can accept I paid for the Switch games on my own Switch but wtf am I gonna do with fourty CRT tellies? I'm literally sweating now thinking about this  I can't believe we all gave up our jobs to do this fuckin thing now.


Some of the cunts are still in the bar playing Manic Miner and that and I'm just watching YT on the Switch app in handheld  I fucking HATE retro games anyway 

TrenterPercenter

Nah don't charge entry.  Vibe killer 100%.

thenoise

Sexy cosplayer barmaids will get them ordering drinks more. Are you charging for games? And if not, why not? Or have an entrance fee if you think it'll get too complex. People pay for pool and arcades etc so it's quite reasonable to charge them for games.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: thenoise on February 04, 2019, 10:42:00 PM
Sexy cosplayer barmaids will get them ordering drinks more. Are you charging for games? And if not, why not? Or have an entrance fee if you think it'll get too complex. People pay for pool and arcades etc so it's quite reasonable to charge them for games.

Maybe a very small nominal fee per player for "upkeep of consoles"?


Make it like a coin slot that says ready player one for each £2 or whatever goes in (maybe a street fighter emulation?)

Urinal Cake

If you want to make money I would get rid of most of the games and stream some Let's Plays. Probably buy some old gaming mags to feed their nostalgia. Have good drinks. Have good food.

bgmnts

Quote from: thenoise on February 04, 2019, 10:42:00 PM
Sexy cosplayer barmaids will get them ordering drinks more.

It will also up the rape banter.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Pretty much the same things that will make your pub work are what makes normal pubs work.

A- Choice and quality of drinks
B- Style and decor
C - Character, atmosphere, local life
D- Amenities and events
E- Value for money

You can get away with E and A being shit if you nail the others.

Beagle 2

Could you change it to a gay pub? You could use the g and the a from gaming pub so the sign would cost less to revise, and all the games could be gay games like Pitfighter and Kirby.

Quote from: TrenterPercenter on February 04, 2019, 10:33:33 PM
Local brewery get them to knock out the general shite but to call it stuff like "Donkey Kong" or "Metroid" put a indie gaming graphic on it and charge a fuck load per 3rd of a pint.

Make pub uncomfortably hot.

Pay attractive cosplayers to drink beer and look approvingly at nerds drinking beer.

Free salty snacks (peanut etc..) on gaming tables.

Sounds like your speaking from experience here. I love the salt idea and the retro labels. To be honest, we could probably do them ourself and use some of the names suggested in the other thread like Skolrim and Microsoft Excel 3D. We can't afford cosplayers and no offence to the kind of guys we have got in tonight, appreciate the support on opening night and that but I wouldn't be surprised if some of these were like... Hmm maybe a libellous comment. Let's just say I wouldn't want to encourage them or have a lawsuit on our hands this early on. Seem like nice guys but probably 'into JRPGs' if you know what I mean.



Blue Jam

Get a few Barcode Battlers. You'd sell loads of crisps then.

thenoise

High scoring customers get their name written on a chalkboard next to the game in question.

Cuntbeaks

I dont think any of the neckbeards would moan at paying a fiver entry fee.



Quote from: TrenterPercenter on February 04, 2019, 10:46:05 PM
Maybe a very small nominal fee per player for "upkeep of consoles"?

Make it like a coin slot that says ready player one for each £2 or whatever goes in (maybe a street fighter emulation?)

I've spoken to the other guys here having read out your posts and we'd like to offer you a very generous buy in offer.

I actually have a SF2 piggy bank which says 'YOU WIN. PERFECT!' when you put in a quid.

Quote from: Urinal Cake on February 04, 2019, 10:46:12 PM
If you want to make money I would get rid of most of the games and stream some Let's Plays. Probably buy some old gaming mags to feed their nostalgia. Have good drinks. Have good food.

Want to buy fourty CRT tellies and a Neo Geo? We have a gaming mag gaming rack with old Mean Machines and Amiga Power and that I got off eBay for about twenty quid. One guy used the first ever Amstrad Action as a fucking beer mat. Great.




Quote from: Blue Jam on February 04, 2019, 10:49:55 PM
Get a few Barcode Battlers. You'd sell loads of crisps then.


That's funny and very inventive. Any food with a bar code now I think about it.



madhair60

Knock the gaming shit on the head and just have a normal good pub for fucks sake.

Quote from: thenoise on February 04, 2019, 10:51:40 PM
High scoring customers get their name written on a chalkboard next to the game in question.

That's a good idea but we haven't got any chalk. We could use whiteboard pens on the wall though. Just cross it out each time.

Quote from: Cuntbeaks on February 04, 2019, 10:53:27 PM
I dont think any of the neckbeards would moan at paying a fiver entry fee.

They were all moaning about being threatened about not buying enough drinks. I said one drink per hour is very reasonable in a modern pub.

chveik

Quote from: bgmnts on February 04, 2019, 10:46:57 PM
It will also up the rape banter.

well that would make a nice tie in with the other thread though.

Mr_Simnock

QuoteArcade Club in Bury are our nearest competitors

Where are you based, sounds like the sort of place I might visit

QuoteThey were all moaning about being threatened about not buying enough drinks. I said one drink per hour is very reasonable in a modern pub.
You haven't made a comment to them about not drinking enough? that's an absolute no-no under any circumstances. Last time a barman tried that with something I was involved with years ago we just looked for somewhere else to base our activities at, realy does make you feel not wanted in a big way.

Funcrusher

So this pub isn't owned by a brewery?

Ferris


Shoulders?-Stomach!

Why not just say, a drink gets you an hour free play, or if you don't want another drink it's £4 for the next hour

Got to try and reduce both the pisstaking and the obligatory awkward conversations because of the pisstaking.