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Well, two buddies and I are working out the numbers to open a new company. It will be Video Game Center with 15-20 High end PC's and 2 big screen TV's for running console games. We want to provide people with a gaming experience that they normally wouldnt get at home. We will have high end pc's with high end graphics cards, all the newest games installed, good quality headphones, very comfortable chairs, and high speed interent. It will be a "pay by the hour" system with prepaying for time.

I am looking for any input that you can provide. Mostly the people that are semi-interested in playing games, what would attract you to a place like this? Thanks for the help. We are about half way there with all the numbers working out so that we can start looking for funding for the start-up costs.

Thanks

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I'll write more when I get back from work.

thanks!! Ill check the software that we are gonna use to run it all (cybercafe something or other) when i get home to see if any of the hot-keys (windows, alt-f4...)work with it.

Are you aiming at the older generation or a baby sitter location? I've seen places like this where parents drop their kids off and leave them while they go out on dates and such... On the other hand I've seen places that are 21 up and server alcohol and can be rented to groups...

We'd Kinda like to hit up both, if possible. Younger age in the day, and old at night. We thought about the alcohol but think it will become just a larger headache than needed. Live in a smaller sized town (about 60K). We would expect younger jr. high/high school people from like 2-10, and older people more in the evening/nights. We want to be "parent friendly" but not a babysitter.

We would like to do group stuff, like b-day parties, lan parties, ect.

i'd look for a few lan party communities in your area and sponsor them. give them about $100 or so and have them put your website banner on their homepage.

Have good Presentation and Art, nice lookin logos and professional attitude always bring me in somewhere over hand drawn posters and stuff.

Definetly Offer BAWLS, people might come just for the BAWLS

also it would be a good idea to have some kind of intro promotional plan such as a LAN tourney or something.


The best thing to do is to spread the word.

bawls for sure. Tourneys for sure.

Does anyone know about purchasing games in bulk would work? Just wondering if anyone knows if we would have to purchase one game per computer or like one game, and then buy more licenses...kinda like any network software.

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I get to keep the big tvs

those are what would bring me People around here just dont go to places like that. We had a couple, but they all closed up within a year. Costs too much to play, and some of them kids just ripped up!!

make sure you have insurance ;)

Mike

im just bringing this topic back up...we are still alive and working on it. I am starting to write our business plan...pain in the butt...

What console games would y'all like to see? i dont play console games so i wouldnt really know.

You say you want to provide a gaming experience people cant get at home and then list off a bunch of stuff the average american brat has at home.
This is a consumer society. You'd be amazed at how many people have widescreen TV's and surround systems these days. It really isnt as special as it used to be.

Getting back to the spoiled american brats, if you open it up to kids, you will have your gear abused within the first week and heavily damaged within the first month. People dont take good care of things that arent theirs and kids dont take care of anything. Kids also wont pay to play when they already have it at home. They may be spoiled with toys but usually have little disposable income.

IF you made it really nice and only allowed adults in, it could work. Sort of like a modern, hi-tech bar. Keep in mind when folks are drinking, they tend to get upset more easily. (Men especially.) Kind of important when you're playing video games.

thought about that... but there isnt a large enough market of older people that play video games yet. the large majority of people who play video games is kids. There are a bunch of these places around that are doing pretty well. there is one about 20 minutes from my town, and others that i have checked out on the net. they seem to be doing pretty well. it is plausable to make money off this. It isnt that the kids have the money, it is the parents that are willing to pay to have there kids be entertained for several hours while they go and do something. the median income within a 5 mile radius of where we would want the store to be is $71K. In my eyes, that is enough to live off and have some toys, but not higher end toys and all the newest games. of course there are people that have everything, but even then, if they have friends that all want to play together, they might be willing to pay to go to a place where 4 or 5 friends can all sit at a higher end computer and play some video games together.

A large majority of the people playing video-games ARE kids.
BUT, a large majority of the people spending money on stuff (i.e. customers) are grown-ups.
Since so many middle-class parents are willing to buy their kids hi-tech junk for the home, you have to decide just how much they are willing to spend on a day-care service. Then you have to decide if its enough to make it worth your while.
Five bucks per kid for a day really wont be enough. The toys will cost a lot and then you also have to pay for insurance. Five bucks per kid PER HOUR may be enough money for you, but its difficult to say if the parents will think of it as a good deal.

You should probably talk with your local Chamber of Commerce. They may have advice and info on running a day care or something similar.

I just saw a tv add My little town now has a place you have something to sell and you wabt to sell it on E-bay they say just bring it by and they will do all the work of putting it up on ebay for you. Iam not sure how it works They must charge a percentage of the sale and or a commision of some kind. I will check them out and find out there method of payment.

haha, sounds like something out of 40 year old virgin...

bigblockmatt wrote:haha, sounds like something out of 40 year old virgin...

I believe that's exactly what it is!!

If you buy the DVD you get a coupon for the store "Sell your stuff on eBay."

HAHA, nice.

man, writing business plans is a pain in the butt...

Don't base your company on the games. Use that as a secondary. Push drinks and food, most of those places that based their system on the games go out of business. I looked into doing this in AZ and couldn't get the numbers to jive.

Another idea would be a coffeeshop and use the shop for LANs like once a month (or twice) as a way to increase income and profits.

Something else that would help bring in the people would be half-naked chicks pole dancing on the tables.

Hell, I'd come to see that!

Well I've seen many cybercafes and gaming places in Dallas get built and then go down. Here are the ups and downs of each one and why I think they failed.

ZJ's Portal - Was cool because it had an actual cafe with good food in it. The actual gaming area was extremely small and got to be pretty crowded at times. I generally like my space.

ShadowLAN - Pretty cool place that has been around for awhile now. Has plenty of space for each gamer and two projectors for console games. They sell bawls and other drinks only so food is kinda hard to get but thats ok. One thing I really liked was the main server they had in a display case with some cool special effects. The goes along with the overall theme of the place.

The Hub - Was one of the first LAN cafes in my neighborhood. Was pretty popular and a good atmosphere up until they were bought out and just got plain awful